To say that Pope Francis has energized Catholics worldwide would be an understatement.
With his vocal, refreshingly progressive stances on issues ranging from indigenous rights to poverty reduction to climate change and evolution, the decidedly 21st century religious figurehead even has a strong social media following. (His official Twitter page,
@Pontifex, boasts over 6.51 million followers.) So, it seems only fair that the enthusiasm he's drummed up among Catholic voters could also be leveraged by savvy politicians in the upcoming U.S. presidential race. Or at least, so argues Randy Boyagoda, an American studies professor at Ryerson university, in a
New York Times series about the Pope's power at the polls.
In [previous] elections, Catholics who prioritized their faith-informed commitments to pro-life and pro-traditional marriage concerns voted Republican, while Catholics who prioritized their faith-informed commitments to immigration reform and anti-poverty concerns predominantly voted Democrat.
But Francis, as Boyagoda goes on to point out, disturbs previous voting conventions along these rigid faith-based lines. While there is no distinct "Catholic vote," the scholar notes that "there are millions of Catholic voters coming into a new consciousness of their faith and their world and the responsibility of one toward the other," thanks to Pope Francis.
Read the rest
here.
Source: New York Times