A Few Thoughts…

…on the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia. 

The pope was…

Introduced by Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,”…

I almost skipped over this, but it piqued my interest:

Fanfare for the Common Man is a musical work by American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man".

What about the symphony-inspiring speech?

Vice President Henry Wallace gave this speech in 1942, a time when Americans were debating wartime strategy and America’s role in the post-World War II order. Wallace’s speech, also known as “The Price of Free World Victory,” reiterated support for Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” and criticized Henry Luce’s concept of the “American Century.” Wallace declared that the United States had an obligation to contribute to the war and to the post-war settlement. He described a liberal world system in which freedom, fairness, and opportunity would promote global peace.

It is a speech lauding the rise of the common man and labor movements, among other themes.  Some highlights lowlights from the speech (PDF):

This is a fight between the slave world and the free world. 

The Soviet Union being part of the “free world.”

Just as the United States in 1862…

Continuing from his speech to the US Congress, a reflection of more Lincoln worship by the pope (if you think I am making too large a leap – connecting the pope to this line in the speech – well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet).

Democracy is the only true political expression of Christianity.

The New Testament speaks of governance in the Church, but not in the broader body politic.  The Old Testament offered judges for the people of Israel, nothing more.  Well, nothing more until the Israelites begged God for a king.  God concluded that this was a rejection of His authority.

Wallace notes the value of universal public education in bringing the masses toward the goal of self-government (democracy).  He lauds the United States and many countries of Western Europe in this regard, but also notes one other state (emphasis added):

In many nations, a generation ago, nine out of ten of the people could not read or write.  Russia, for example, was changed from an illiterate to a literate nation within one generation and, in the process Russia’s appreciation of freedom was enormously enhanced. 

You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet: during this one generation the Russia, via Stalin’s freedom enhancing program, experienced the famine and the terror.  Yet no crime of Stalin is mentioned in the speech while Hitler is the “Satan…turned loose upon the world…the Supreme Devil operating through a human form…”  “No compromise with Satan is possible.”

Wallace includes in “this Great Revolution of the people” the American, French, Latin American (Bolivarian), German (1848), and Russian revolutions.  “Each spoke for the common man….”  A meaningless statement and unsupported by the history.  “Some went to excess.”  An understatement.

It was a speech of peace through war, as told via “the four duties of the people’s revolution”:

The duty to produce the limit.

The duty to transport as rapidly as possible to the field of battle.

The duty to fight with all that is in us.

The duty to build a peace – just charitable and enduring.

The fourth duty is that which inspires the other three.

War as a means to peace.  Nothing in the New Testament supports this; nothing in the early Christian Church supports this either.

Finally, in a blasphemous attempt to add moral authority to the call to war: “…on the side of the people is the Lord.”

This is the backstory of the pope’s introductory music.  Introductory music for the pope was not selected by chance.

Returning to the pope’s day in Philadelphia:

…the pope stood at a wooden lectern used by Abraham Lincoln for the Gettysburg Address in November 1863….

I told you that more Lincoln worship was coming.  The president singularly responsible for initiating the bloodiest war in US history – his wooden lectern is used as a symbol.

Finally, a statement that requires no further comment from me:

The birthplace of American liberty was on virtual lockdown to greet Francis.