The number of Roman Catholics in the United Stated has shown an enormous growth over the last two decades affecting the whole structure of the general population. For example, while they were concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast in the past, today they overpopulate the Southern and Western parts of the country. This reallocation is not typical only for the Catholics. It is a result of citizens’ internal migration and immigration. In her article Who Are U.S. Catholics? Numbers Show a Surprising Shift, written for National Geographic, Victoria Sgarro cites Marc Grey who is a Senior research Associate at Georgetown Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) : “People go where the jobs are.” (Sgarro, 2015, n. p.) The alterations in the general population of the United States are more affecting the culture of the U. S. Catholics nowadays. This fact is not surprising since the Hispanic Catholic population in the United States increased by twenty four percent from 1987 till 2015. Victoria Sgarro goes on citing Marc Gray who wrote: “The fastest growing subgroup of the U. S. population is the Latino population, so it’s no surprise.” (Ibid) Further he explains that the cultural trends in the United States change mainly the marital status of the U. S. Catholics in decreasing the number of marriages they enter, the age of going married if married at all, and the increased popularity of living with a partner without marriage. (Ibid)
Considering the current situation of the Catholic population in the United States, bearing in mind the disappointing visit of Papa Francis who met quite different audience in comparison with his predecessors, the question whether the politics of the Vatican has any influence over the politics of the United States today, seems very reasonable. In order to answer this question, we have to compare and contrast the politics of both states.
The history of the establishment of the United States starts in the seventeenth century with the first British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Going through several wars, signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, periods of slavery, the Constitution was ratified in 1788 proclaiming the United States as a federal republic. President was George Washington. After that followed years of civil war between the Northern and the Southern states, ending the slavery, Bill of Rights, and many historical experiences that led to the high developed industrial country that the United States are today.
On the contrary, the Vatican started its history as a papal location, residence of the Catholic Church, with the reconstruction of a basilica that was situated over St. Peter’s grave in Rome. That happened during the 4th century A. D. The district developed as a pilgrimage site and commercial area. Meanwhile the papal court moved to France in 1309. After the return of the Church in 1377, the most popular buildings as the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel and the reconstructed basilica emerged within the city borders. From that moment began the Vatican’s glory as the domicile of the Catholic Church. With the signing of the Lateran Pacts in 1929, the Vatican City, known also as the Holy See, was established as a sovereign nation. .
The types of government of both states are entirely different. While the United States is a parliamentary democracy where the acts are issued and adopted by the Congress, the government of the Vatican City is ecclesiastical monarchy which means that it is governed by the Church. The executive power in the United States belongs to the President of the United Stated, elected in every four years, while in the Holy See it is exercised by the Pope and the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City, chaired by a cardinal. The Pope is also elected but his Ruling continues from
his election as a Pope, through his entire life till his death. The canon law determines the legislation of the Vatican City and the state is governed by the Fundamental Law of 2000. The courts in the Vatican City are part of the Church’s judicial system and there is only one court of first instance that deals with criminal and civil cases that appear on the territory of the City. The court system in the United States is multistage and is based on the current federal and state legislation as well as on the case law.
The Vatican is the supreme seat of the Roman Catholic Church and due to the great interest of the Pope not only in spiritual affairs but the temporal once as well, he governs the Church with the help of College of Cardinals. It is possible for him to act alone, without their agreement but he relies on them for executing the administrative issues while ruling the Church as well as for their advice. The whole administrative body has the name Curia Romana. (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012, n. p.)
Maybe the major difference between the two states is that women take part in all positions of legislative and executive authorities of the United States while in the Vatican City as well as in the Catholic Church as a whole, the Authority is represented only by men.
The Vatican City, as a supreme ruling body of the Catholic Church, is a juridical entity under the international law with its sovereignty. As such entity, the Holy See cooperates and consults on international issues of multiple interests with other nations in the world. There are good connections between the United States and the Vatican City based on mutual interest in the fields of human rights, prevention of peace, decreasing poverty in the world, environmental protection, etc.
According to the article U.S. Relations With the Holy See, Pope Francis served as a global advocate for justice and human dignity with specific accent on the moral commitment of ending persons’ trafficking and taking care for the poor and marginalized. (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, 2015, n. p.) Both countries have positive relationship and devote all their energy to keep “peace, hope, and justice.” (Ibid) Besides the official relationship, both countries do not have economic or trade connections and they do not contribute to the development of each other.
Dr. Steffen D. Mumford represented his book American Democracy and the Vatican: Population growth and National Security that was written in 1984 in the Church and State Magazine with Chapter 10 about the Influence of the Catholic Hierarchy on Government Policy where he writes that the most Catholic administration in the history of the United States was that of President Ronald Reagan which fact was never mentioned in the press. He wrote that the responsible people who dealt with national security and the population growth control issues were appointed by Reagan and had been Irish Roman Catholics. He also had employed Allen, Clark, and McFarlane as advisors in the field of national security; the CIA Director Casey; Haig as a State’s Secretary; Heckler as a Secretary of Health and Human Services; and Smith as a General Attorney. (Mumford, S., 2012, n. p.) Two exceptions existed: Schultz – a Roman catholic of the German extraction and Schweiker who was not a Catholic at all. Such was the situation with almost the whole administration.
Reagan admitted that he called the Pope for guidance when solving the most complicated issues of the national politics. (Ibid) Nevertheless the descendants of Irish immigrants to the
United States represent only twenty percent of the Catholics in the country, the American Catholic bishops stem from Ireland. No doubt that they are the most aggressive part of the Church. The author says that this ethnic group was favored strongly by the individual who assembled the Reagan’s team. He added that by his concern this individual was not Mr. Reagan. (Ibid) This arrangement seems so troubling due to the similarities between the Vatican and Reagan agendas. It can be contended that they had similarities about all important national issues like abortion, equal rights amendment, domestic family planning, support of repressive governments in Latin America, etc.
As a conclusion it can be said that many facts and data can be found supporting the thesis of the influence of Catholic Hierarchy on the policy of the U. S. government. Nowadays with the establishment of BRICS and the recent orientation of the largest countries of Latin America to this new economic union in search of independent development, determined to reach their future as rich industrial countries, the United States and the Vatican again have one common goal that is to keep these countries dependent to a North American state, the United States. Papa Francis, stemming from this part of the world, can exercise significant influence over the population of these countries which is mostly Christian Catholic.
References
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, 2015, U.S. Relations With the Holy See, Fact sheet, Retrieved on May 18, 2016 from www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3819.htm
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2012, Columbia University Press, Web Retrieved on May 18, 2016 from www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/vatican-city
Mumford, S., D.Ph., 2012, Influence of the Catholic Hierarchy on U.S. Policy Making, Ch. 10, Web, Retrieved on May 18, 2016 from
http://churchandstate.org.uk/2012/03/how-the-vatican-influences-us-policy/
Sgarro, V., 2015, Who Are U.S. Catholics? Numbers Show a Surprising Shift, National Geographic, Web, Retrieved on May 18, 2016 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150917-data-points-how-catholic
