IN MEDIEVAL England, quarreling with the pope was a game with high stakes for anyone who wanted to wield earthly power. King John (1199-1216) was punished with a papal interdict, suspending all religious services in his realm, and then excommunicated; he finally yielded to the pope's will and to make amends his successors had to pay tribute to the Vatican for another 150 years. John is remembered as a terrible king; but 300 years later, when Henry VIII defied papal authority over his marital status, he earned a place as one of England's national heroes.
Whatever his political destiny, Donald Trump is unlikely to pay as high a price as bad King John for incurring the disapproval of the bishop of Rome. But at the very least, the public spat between the billionaire Republican presidential candidate and Pope Francis has rather painfully re-exposed some old fissures in the world of religious conservatism.
Here is what Pope Francis said (in Italian), when asked by a reporter on the papal airliner returning from Mexico, about how voters should respond to Mr Trump and his proposal to expel illegal immigrants and...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1Kv4KZ3
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