Antonio Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa have written a joint article in Civiltà Cattolica, a magazine published by the Jesuits in Rome of which Spadaro is the editor, considered to be close to the Pope’s thinking at this time. The article heavily criticizes evangelical fundamentalism and Catholic integralism, taking aim specifically at Donald Trump and his advisor Steve Bannon.
The authors denounce these two tendencies as particularly dangerous because they have contributed to a Manichean view which mixes elements of politics, morals and religion. This type of fundamentalism is said to lead to an improper use of religion, on questions that go from the war on the environment to attitudes towards minorities.
As regards Bannon – the strategist who certainly has an ideological vision, but who is also the source of many of the most interesting proposals within the Trump Administration – Spadaro and Figueroa compare his approach to that of the Islamic State, calling him a “supporter of an apocalyptic geopolitics.” The fundamentalists’ view of the battle between Good and Evil is said to lead them to ” submit the state to the Bible with a logic that is no different from the one that inspires Islamic fundamentalism.”
Pope Francis’s view, on the other hand, is to “break the organic link between culture, politics, institution and Church. Spirituality cannot tie itself to governments or military pacts for it is at the service of all men and women.”
The article does not deal with the rejection by so-called fundamentalists of the ideology of economic globalization and cultural globalism, a key driver of the anti-establishment sentiment among some segments of the U.S. population.
– Andrew Spannaus
July 22, 2017
Cultura, English, Notizie, Politica