Abstract
This article argues that Pope Francis’ approach to foreign policy is guided by a Doctrine of Mercy, informing his policies on economic development, environmental degradation, and approach to socially exclusive groups. The Doctrine of Mercy is grounded in the Catholic interpretation of Mercy as being driven by compassion, forgiveness, and love and transforming that sentiment into actions to improve political challenges on earth. We further argue that the Doctrine of Mercy sets the conceptual parameters to the Pope’s soft power which is derived from the papacy’s religious authority. Examining the Pope’s writings and speeches, we find evidence to support our claim in regard to three important foreign policy issues: the environment, economic under development and inequality, and marginalized groups.
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Notes
Dowd, Mark, “Why did the Pope Resign,” http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25121121. November 28, 2013, Last accessed, 5/5/2018.
Byrnes, Timothy A., “Sovereignty, Supranationalism, and Soft Power: The Holy See in International Relations,” The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4, 6–20 (2017), p. 6.
Grogan, Courtney, “What Makes the Holy See’s Dipomacy Unique?” July 26, 2018 “https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/how-the-holy-sees-diplomacy-is-different-from-other-countries-95458 (Last Accessed: February 22, 2019).
Nye, Joseph. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, NY, 2004), p. 1.
Ibid, 2.
Ibid, 6.
Lamy, Steven L., John Baylis, Steve Smith, and Patricia Owens, Introduction to Global Politics, 2nd Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 485.
Ibid, 8.
Ibid, 11.
Sikkink, Kathryn. (1993). “The Power of Principled Ideas: Human Rights Policies in the United States and Western Europe,” Chapter 6 in Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane, eds., Ideas & Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 167.
Ibid, 167.
For a discussion of the part of the language and “religious actors” see Barbato, Melani, “Diplomatic Language in the Deepavali Messages of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,” The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4, 93–104 (2017), p. 93; Thomas Diez observes that “Gone are the days in which analysts had assumed that religion would no longer play a role in politics, let alone international politics.” Diez, Thomas, “Diplomacy and the Transformation of International Society,” The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4, 31–38 (2017), p. 31.
For recent scholarship on the relationship between the Holy See and International Relations see the following: Barbato, Melanie, “The Diplomatic Language in the Deepavali Messages of the Pontifical Council for interreligious Dialogue, The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4 (2017); Diez, Thomas, “Diplomacy, Papacy, and the Transformation of International Society, The Review of International Affairs, 15:4 (2017); Troy, Jodok, “Two “Popes” to Speak for the World: The Pope and the United Nations Secretary General in World Politics, The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4 (2017); Albert, Mathias, “Beyond Integration and Differentiation? The Holy See and the Pope in the System of World Politics,” The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 15:4 (2017), and Byrnes, Timothy A., “Sovereignty, Supranationalism, and Soft Power: The Holy See in International Relations, 15:4 (2017).
McCarten, Anthony, The Pope: Francis, Benedict, and the Decision That Shook the World (New York: Flatiron Books, 2019), Prologue.
Michael Walsh, “Catholicism and International relations: papal intervention,” in Religion and Global Order, edited by John L. Esposito, and Watson, Michael (Cardiff: University of Whales Press, 2000, p. 110).
Ibid, 110.
Fr. Anthony Rosevear, O.P., homily given at St. Andrew Newman Center, Riverside, CA, on March 21st, 2016.
Catholic doctrine has exact teachings on the purpose of marriage, which is to bring forth children. For this reason, there are strict guidelines on sexual behavior for all individuals regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Namely, any and all sex outside of marriage is condoned whether it is homosexual or heterosexual.
McCarten, Anthony, The Pope: Francis, Benedict, and the Decision That Shook the World (New York: Flatiron Books, 2019), p. 130.
The Boston Diocese under Cardinal Sean O’Malley provides an excellent example of the measures the Catholic Church has undertaken in the past 20 years to protect children and rebuild the trust between the church and its adherents. O’Malley has become one of Pope Francis’ top advisors on protecting children from sexual abuse. See for example https://www.wsj.com/articles/it-will-cause-a-scandal-the-pope-and-a-trusted-u-s-cardinal-clash-over-sex-abuse-crisis-11550156764?fbclid=IwAR3ZEob-9BS_Oew8xfSiBBOJ4eFzJ9T96wsiLYoUBNL6yHpJBSAf0Ri15As.
Ibid, 128.
Douthat, Ross, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism,” (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018), p. 40.
Ibid, xi.
Ibid, xvii.
For an excellent analysis of Francis handling of the Child Sex Abuse crisis see the Prologue in McCarten’s The Pope.
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Crespo, R.A., C. Gregory, C. The doctrine of mercy: moral authority, soft power, and the foreign policy of Pope Francis. Int Polit 57, 115–130 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-019-00187-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-019-00187-7