wisdom & compassion

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 12, 2003

I suppose it's inevitable that some of the Pope's feel-good discourses required by the less important occasions in his travels will be composed by his hosts and simply pushed into his hands for him to read. The USCCB website includes this collector's item from John Paul II's first visit (as pope) to the U.S., in 1979.

I commend the bishops of the United States for their wisdom and compassion in establishing the [Catholic] Campaign for Human Development ten years ago; and I thank the whole Catholic community for the generous support given to this initiative during all these years.

Note that the CHD was rechristened the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in response to criticisms that its principal occupation was funding leftist groups out to kneecap Catholic social thought. The web editor helpfully added the anachronism in brackets.