Bishop Robert Barron
Appearances
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
The standard line everyone's using here is he's the least American of the American Cardinals, which could be one reason why he attracted the super majority that he did. So I hope it's good for our church in America. I hope it revives a sense of the church and the faith in America. But I suspect, Ben, in the long run, people will look at him. They'll look at, okay, what is he saying?
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
What is he doing? Will matter much more than where he was born.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
Yeah, I think that's true. You know, he's a man that worked in Latin America much of his priesthood. So he has a natural, I think, sympathy for, empathy for people who've immigrated to this country, to our country. So I think you're sensing that natural sympathy he has for them. I would suspect that he fully knows Catholic social teaching defends a nation's right to maintain its borders.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
That's part of our social teaching because, as you well know, if we don't monitor our borders, that leads to all kinds of moral problems. That's not a xenophobic position, or that's not some jingoistic, nationalistic position. That's a considered moral point of view. So, I mean, I'm sure the new pope would affirm that.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
You know, it's when you get down to brass tacks, you get down to the specifics of policy, we can disagree about, okay, how much should you regulate immigration, et cetera. But in terms of the great principles, I don't think he would disagree with that. The famous Ordo Amoris question, you know, as I read J.D.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
Vance, he was just citing both Augustine, by the way, so this new pope was an Augustinian priest. He was citing Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. I think what people tend to miss on that is they're talking about the kind of objective dimension of love, not the subjective. To say there's an order of love does not mean that subjectively I favor certain people and others I don't care about.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
It's not that at all. If to love means to will the good of the other, well, there's only so much that an individual or a nation can do. So the best example is if your family is under attack, Well, yes, you're going to defend them first. If there's a fire going on in your neighborhood and your house is on fire threatening your family, that's your first obligation.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
That, to me, is all the Ordo Amoris is saying. And we've kind of made it into into this sort of co-celeb or this, you know, point of controversy. So I don't know. I think if they got into a room with J.D. Vance and the Pope, I have a feeling they would probably pretty much agree on these things.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
God bless you, Ben. Thanks.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
Thanks, Ben. Always good to be with you.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
It was extraordinary. There was a lot of, you know, kind of tension beforehand. It's always, you're sort of on tenterhooks during a conclave period, the interregnum, and we weren't sure. A lot of names were being bandied about, including the name of Robert Prevost, though most of us didn't take it seriously. And then I think leading up to the conclave, there was just a lot of
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
anticipation, a sense of forces jockeying against each other. The announcement itself was amazing. It came so quickly. Most of us thought this would be a longer conclave that might last into the third, even fourth day. And on the second day, we have the white smoke. And so most of us again thought, oh, it must be someone like Cardinal Parolin or one of the really expected candidates.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
No one expected Robert Prevost, and certainly not on the fourth ballot. So there was a lot of I think both excitement, surprise, the wonderment about it.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
Well, you know, I would look at him in terms of his name. I keep going back to his name, Leo XIV. It's very telling. You know, he could have chosen Francis II, obviously. He could have chosen John Paul III. He could have chosen John XXIV, in which case we would say, oh, he's clearly on this side or that side. Choosing Leo XIV is very interesting. Going back now to a figure more than a century ago,
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
who represents, I call it, an intelligent, creative engagement with modernity. So think of the 18th century revolutions and then the 19th century innovations in philosophy. Think of Kant, Hegel, Marx, the revolutions, etc. The church's first response to that was an emphatic no, and indeed the church was very persecuted by revolutionary France, for example.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
As this is happening, our son turned to some substance abuse.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
But then by the end of the 19th century, you've got a figure like Leo XIII, who represents this intelligent engagement. It's both a yes and a no to modernity. I think that's what this new pope was gesturing toward in choosing that name, that he was in the tradition of Leo XIII. You know, and conservative Catholics, to this day, find a lot in Leo XIII they like.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
Liberal Catholics find a lot they like in him. So it was a very clever choice, actually. Even before you get to particular kind of political issues, just the general attitude toward the modern world, he was telling us a lot about that.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2196 - A New Pope…Plus Will Trump RAISE Taxes?!
You know, I think in the long run, it probably doesn't make that much difference. Maybe we're all kind of hyped up about it now because it's never happened before. This is a very international character, too. You know, he's from Chicago indeed, but, you know, studied overseas, has been a missionary overseas, spent many years here in Rome. He's a very international sort of player.