Is Playing Politics A Sin?

Some have little choice but to play politics well.  For them it could be a matter of survival.  Others have chosen to do so for reasons that are as different as the personalities that drive them.  Still others dabble in politics because they can, being in positions of power.  In this third group one finds the current pope and his minions.

This last group of characters do not realize that they are merely conduits for Christ, the One from Whom they derive their existence, the One Who lived and died by the Truth and within that Truth there has never been room for politics nor will there ever be any occasion for political comment.

In commenting on migrants and their families, Archbishop Chaput applied twisted logic and masterful deceit to reach his political conclusions. [1]  This blogger is not against migrants and migrants' families but is bothered by Chaput's theory that wealthy nations have a duty to address world poverty, implying that the United States has enough money to welcome the world's poor, including those entering illegally, without mentioning the fact that the United States has umpteen trillions of debt [2] which cannot be paid off at anytime in the foreseeable future.  Mr. Chaput failed to realized that debt is not wealth.  Mr. Chaput also failed to admit that the only reason he is so sympathetic to the migrants from certain countries is because they are, or supposedly are, Catholics.  Had these migrants been Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, atheists and Satanists, this blogger doubts he would be equally as passionate and enthusiastic in welcoming them.  Certainly, he was silent on the United States not opening its doors wide to the many millions of Syrians refugees, many of whom are Muslims, who are fleeing their homes due to war, in sharp contrast to Catholics leaving their countries for economic gain and entitlements provided by the United States federal, state and local governments.

When Mr. Chaput spoke of poverty, he was referring to economic poverty.  Nowhere in the Gospels did Jesus encourage those who were poor to break any law in order to gain an advantage over and at the expense of those protected by such a law.  Mr. Chaput, instead, subtly encouraged the breaking of laws and thereby inserted himself gratuitously into the realm of politics when he ought to be speaking about the wealth that families working cooperatively can bring, the power of prayers and miracles (unless he does not truly believe in them) and the richness of love for each other and for God.  While in the sphere of economics and politics, Mr. Chaput's silence on government corruption and the drug trade is notable, probably because poverty does not exist there.

This Catholic priest's involvement in politics is not an isolated incident.  Many priests are political, as is the pope but he may have an excuse since he is the head of state of Vatican City, but permitting those under him to play politics implicates him as a player of politics.  Jesus avoided politics. Being the vicar of Christ [3], the pope ought to stay out of it too but that is not about to happen without a miracle.  As distasteful as politics is, one should hope that playing politics is not a sin, otherwise Hell would have its share of Catholic priests and popes.



[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/trumps-immigration-plan-undermines-american-identity-archbishop-chaput-says-41314/
[2] http://www.usdebtclock.org/
[3] http://www.gotquestions.org/vicar-of-Christ.html