Obama vs. Pope Francis: Different Views on the State of the World

By Published on September 23, 2015

On September 23, U.S. president Barack Obama will host Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. The two leaders, one described as a towering figure of American progressivism and the other as a liberal revolutionary, are often seen as allies. Strangely, the two men hold starkly differing views on the state of the world. Whereas Obama sees the world as generally improving, Francis’ statements often verge on the apocalyptic. Who is right?

Writing in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Francis wrote, “We have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. A number of diseases are spreading… and inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and, often, to live with precious little dignity.” Speaking to service members at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii a year later, Obama said that “the world is better, it’s safer, it’s more peaceful, [and] it’s more prosperous.”

 

Read the article “Obama vs. Pope Francis: Different Views on the State of the World” on nationalinterest.org.

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