The Holy See of the Catholic Church, known simply as the Pope, dominated the airwaves in America last week. Pope Francis was able to take Donald Trump out of the relevant news cycle for a week. Now that is something. Something that should concern all Americans.
The media and our government has allowed religion, the Catholic religion, to take over our country for an entire week. Turn on any news program, the Pope. Turn on an entertainment news program, Gloria Estefan performs for the Pope. Turn on CNBC, “Is Pope Francis a business basher?” You get the idea. The Pope 24/7.
That is very troubling. Just like what is required with political candidates, shouldn’t other faiths get equal airtime? Sept. 22 was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish faith’s calendar this year but you would never know it because the Pope was in town. When a leader of another faith comes to America, should we close down roads, and have incessant coverage on the airwaves? After all, Evangelical Protestants make up a higher percentage of the American faithful than Catholics. In fact, when you combine Evangelicals with traditional Protestants, they dwarf Catholics in the U.S.
Some would argue that the coverage is because the Pope is a head of state since the Vatican is a sovereign nation. Did you know that China’s head of state, Xi Jinping, was in town last week? Probably not. The Pope’s coverage has nothing to do with him being a head of state. It has everything to do with Pope Francis being the head of the Catholic Church.
So why does the Pope get so much attention? Organizational structure. The Pope is the infallible leader of the Catholic Church. Other religions are not organized in the same way. For example, each denomination of Protestants have a different leadership structure, with some not having a divine leader at all. The same for the Jewish faith, largely due to the diaspora, no ultimate divine leader. So the Pope is unique and his power comes from his position.
At Harvard Business School, one of my classes was called Power and Influence. The class looked at how leaders derive and use power. One type of leadership is simply positional power. You are the CEO and your power to influence others is derived from the position. That is what gives Pope Francis his power; the ability to minister to the over 2 billion Catholics in the world. Does that warrant 24/7 coverage? No.
While I support the Catholic faithful celebrating their Holy See, I do not think the Pope should have been shoved down the collective American throat on every news and entertainment channel.
Many wonder why the Catholic Church has so much power in the world. The power of the Catholic Church is its organization. One leader who speaks directly for his God. Last week illustrated the power of organizational structure and positional leadership at its best and its worst. Other faiths and organizations should take note. The civil rights movement was so effective because there was ultimately one leader – Martin Luther King. Imagine what our community could accomplish if one leader emerged. Whatever you think of the Pope’s visit, you can’t say it was not effective.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
