Don't expect a meeting with Francis to change Trump

Don't expect a meeting with Francis to change Trump: Distinctly Catholic: I suspect Pope Francis will behave as a pastor as much as a diplomat, when he meets with President Trump next Wednesday.

MGB:_Neoliberalism hopes that a thriving capitalist sector will benefit everyone. It is not that differrent from trickle-down, except that taxes on the rich are a bit higher under neo-liberalism.

Francis and King Donald are very different. King Donald is a proto-fascist who believes he is the nation while Francis is simply trying to channel Christ and in so doing is shedding authority for collegiality. His economics is the same Democratic Socialism found in Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate, although it is a bit too sub rosa for my tastes.

Will Francis be a gracious host? Probably. Will that keep him from throwing a few barbs Trump’s way? No. Will Trump be too dense to take the hint? Almost certainly. Will Trump try to spin the meeting as a huge endorsement of himself? That goes without saying. Sadly, some of our bishops will spin it that way as a victory for their pro-life political machine, even though it was instrumental in giving us this disaster.