I remember the buzz earlier this year when Pope Francis was sending a message to the United States for the Super bowl. I wondered what he would say. I had hoped it would not be a rehash of his statements about migrants. I thought it was an interesting idea that the Pope would think to send a message, though. I wondered what John Paul II would say. I wondered a lot.
Remember that Pope Francis endlessly jabbed Trump on Twitter, until at one point, he made a reference that Trump took to say that Trump wasn’t Christian. Trump did defend himself there, calling the Pope’s jab “disgraceful.”
So, there was a lot to wonder of how Pope Francis would use his moment in the highest watched mass media event all year. He’s Pope and here he’d be in the middle of TV time in all those American homes! “WOW!,” I thought, “this has the potential to be really good.”
Then, the Superbowl came and this was the message:
Spanish? Really?
The message is targeted to Americans sitting down on a Sunday to watch a sporting event.
I complained of it under my breath then, but people kept giving excuses. “Oh, his English is bad.” or others would say “Oh, he wanted to speak in his native Spanish.” Yet, when he was in Germany, he spoke German! (Gunther is over there shaking his head yes.)
None of it made any sense. He was addressing America. I speak English because I live and grew up in America. He has people with people who can translate it for him. He could have rehearsed his English recitation in front of many before hand — it is recorded, and only 52 seconds, for Heaven’s sake!
No, the choice to send this message in Spanish was yet another jab, but this time it was not at Trump, it was at me (and every other red blooded American sitting there watching him on Superbowl Sunday).
Moreover, you’ll notice that the Vatican did not enable closed captioning on the video even. Had they at least done that, I could have turned on the English (albeit automatic) captions and participated. No… Pope Francis has marginalized me yet again, it seems.
The bottom line was simple: His speech was the least talked about thing and nobody got anything from it. Maybe Francis was happy because he taught us a lesson over here. Sadly, he missed the mark, Alabama, where I live, speaks English most frequently, and German second most. So, had he at least spoken German, not only would I have understood more, but apparently he would have reached more Alabamans, let alone Americans… So he marginalized them, too.
So, I can’t look at Wednesday’s meeting with any curiosity other than to wonder if he will try this Spanish only trick on President Trump, too.
Think of the things they could discuss. I dare you. Tell me in the comments if there is something.
Will he insult President Trump as he did on Twitter? Will he not see an opportunity to talk to the person in front of him (instead of marginalizing him?)…
What do you think? Will anything come out of the meeting worth talking about?
This article, The One Thing I Wonder About Pope Francis Meeting President Trump is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/one-thing-wonder-pope-francis-meeting-president-trump/
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