September 18, 2015

This Catholic Congressman Is Boycotting Pope Francis’ Speech to Congress

<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Francis_Malacanang_7.jpg">Benhur Arcayan</a>/Wikimedia Commons


When Pope Francis addresses a joint session of Congress next Thursday, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll talk about climate change, one of his favorite subjects of late. Paul Gosar, a Republican Congressman from Arizona, is not happy about that. 

Plenty of climate change deniers, Catholic and not, have expressed their displeasure with the Holy Father over his stance on climate. But Gosar, himself a Catholic, just became the first member of Congress to announce he will boycott the speech because of it.

In a column published in Town Hall yesterday, Gosar wrote:

The earth’s climate has been changing since God created it, with or without man. On that, we should all agree…If the Pope wants to devote his life to fighting climate change then he can do so in his personal time. But to promote questionable science as Catholic dogma is ridiculous…

When the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.

Obviously, Gosar, a dentist by trade, does not think man-made climate change is a real thing. He also isn’t a fan of clean energy: Earlier this year, he sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission calling for an inquiry into allegedly deceptive trade practices by the solar industry. (It was later revealed that the letter was originally drafted by Arizona’s biggest power company and slipped to Gosar’s office.) He also wants to impeach the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency and has accused her of perjury.

Gosar Wikimedia Commons

Apparently, Gosar didn’t get the memo that Congress, which is usually where hope for climate action goes to die, is supposed to be on its “best behavior” for the pope’s visit.

So far, at least one faith group has called foul on Gosar. John Gehring, the Catholic program director at Faith for Public Life, said in a statement, “This stunning display of disrespect toward Pope Francis from a Catholic elected official shows a profound ignorance about the church’s teachings when it comes to stewardship of creation.”

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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