--- title: Preaching Pope Francis's Politics May Be the Key to Becoming President description: Many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the pope's vision canonical: https://time.com/3970300/presidential-election-pope-francis-politics/ author: Christopher Hale article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-24T13:19:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:26.072Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Preaching Pope Francis's Politics May Be the Key to Becoming President og:description: Many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the pope's vision og:url: https://time.com/3970300/presidential-election-pope-francis-politics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte262432b94ed8113/6988590aa988ca70176b3451/pope-francis8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Vatican Pope Francis' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Preaching Pope Francis's Politics May Be the Key to Becoming President twitter:description: Many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the pope's vision twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte262432b94ed8113/6988590aa988ca70176b3451/pope-francis8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Preaching Pope Francis's Politics May Be the Key to Becoming President > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=1f660bbd-93cb-4da9-a0e9-4517d6db7ea7&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Vatican Confirms Pope Francis’ 2015 U.S. Visit [Watch (HLS stream): Vatican Confirms Pope Francis’ 2015 U.S. Visit](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bLAnNRoY.m3u8) (1:25)  _Published 2014-11-17. Pope Francis is officially coming to the United States next year for his first ever visit to the country as pontiff, and a lot of people are very excited._ by [Christopher Hale](https://time.com/author/christopher-j-hale-2/) ## Christopher Hale Jul 24, 2015 1:19 PM UTC  Pope Francis during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at Vatican City, on June 24, 2015. Pope Francis during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at Vatican City, on June 24, 2015. Massimo Valicchia—NurPhoto/AP by [Christopher Hale](https://time.com/author/christopher-j-hale-2/) ## Christopher Hale Jul 24, 2015 1:19 PM UTC To get elected in 1960, John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, was forced to tell the nation that he wouldn’t take orders from the pope. In 2016, no such separation will be needed. With a record number of Catholics seeking the presidency and the wildly popular Pope Francis visiting the nation this fall, many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the mission and vision of this Argentinian pontiff. The times have changed. With a Catholic vice president, six Catholic Supreme Court justices, a Catholic Speaker of the House, and a large number of Catholics in Congress, [the golden age of Catholicism in American politics has arrived](http://www.catholiccourier.com/news/world-nation/historic-number-of-catholics-to-seek-us-presidency-in-2016/). This would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Kennedy was the first Catholic president. Irish-Catholic Al Smith likely lost the 1928 campaign because of his religion. This ascendency of Catholics to the forefront of American politics has only been accelerated by the groundbreaking papacy of Francis. His [September trip to the U.S.](http://time.com/3941415/pope-francis-small-visits/) will be a major event of the 2016 presidential primaries. Politicians and candidates are likely scheming how they can best utilize the pontiff’s first trip to the U.S. to push forth their agendas. Francis’s trip isn’t about politics, but it would be naïve to ignore the political implications of a visit during which he is expected to lift up his recent encyclical letter on the care for God’s creation, the religious obligation to defend the dignity of immigrants, the poor, and the unborn, and the moral scandal of social inequality and of an economy that kills. The political pinnacle of his trip will be his Sept. 24 address to Congress. If his [recent trip to Bolivia is any indication,](http://time.com/3953591/pope-francis-bolivia-speech/) the 2016 candidates better pay attention. Since the beginning of his tenure, Francis has asked politicians around the world [to change the conversation from horserace political issues to core issues](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2013/11/26/getting-inside-pope-franciss-head/) that are foundational to the common good: “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons.” This will be a message that will push candidates of all political stripes to challenge their parties’ political ideologies that too often are rooted in radical individualism. “The pope offers a message that is inspiring and challenging,” says John Gehring, the Catholic program director at [Faith in Public Life,](http://faithinpubliclife.org/) and author of an [upcoming book about Pope Francis](http://www.amazon.com/The-Francis-Effect-Challenge-American/dp/1442243201). “He is making new again what is ancient religious teaching about the common good at a time when our politics and culture are shaped by a libertarianism on the left and right.” If [polling data](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m1jNVTFRSArMLAEyMwPBpYfrnUpXrwOZ6hG9X0czryQ/edit) released Thursday showing support for Pope Francis’s messages is any indication, following the way of Francis isn’t just a ticket to heaven but maybe to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, too. _Read next:_ [_Hillary Clinton, Republicans Play Different 2016 Gender Cards_](http://time.com/3969997/hillary-clinton-trump-mcconnell-gender-mcconnell/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429) ## Transcript Pope Francis is officially coming to the United States next year for his first ever visit to the country as pope. And a lot of people are very excited. We're excited beyond belief. And just so happy that the pope confirmed this morning. That's despite the fact the pope's visit attending the world meeting of. Families in Philadelphia has been pretty widely expected within the church since this past summer. Late July saw headlines like this one from the Washington Post attributing the information to an American Archbishop. While the Los Angeles Times flat out said Pope Francis would be coming next fall. And the organizers of the event were already planning on an Papal visit. Initially, it was planned that he might be in a stadium but we said this is the Pope of the people so we wouldn't be surprised if we saw upwards of a 23 million people for the mass. On that Sunday. The mass is set to be held on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which runs through the middle of the city and hosted the last pope to visit Philadelphia, when Pope John Paul II held mass there in 1979. The pope appears to have had his eyes on the US recently as well, commenting on one issue pulled straight from the headlines. In a speech on Saturday, Pope Francis, lumped in euthanasia with abortion and stem cell research as a sin against God, calling it an act of quote false compassion. That seemed particularly timely given the assisted suicide earlier this month of American Death With Dignity activist Brittany Maynard. 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