Because Pope Francis is clearly wondering, GOP Rep. Steve "cantaloupe calves" King has
some advice for the Pope on what he should tell Congress during his Thursday address.
Steve King: If Pope Francis would come here and address two topics and only two topics, it should be life and it should be marriage, and if he emphasized those two points and went back to the Vatican, he would leave a lasting impact on the entire United States of America [...] and I agree with both of those positions completely.
Danny Vinik: What if he comes in here and talks about climate change and inequality, among other issues? Can that leave as lasting an impact, as well?
SK: It would be a different kind of lasting impact, certainly. And I don't think that it could move our national policy nearly as far or coalesce our national policy, because these topics that Democrats are more likely to embrace that we anticipate he'll bring up are less religion and theology and more politics.
Naturally, King clarified that he meant a "steadfast opposition to abortion" and marriage "being between a man and a woman" elsewhere in the interview. King's list of no-nos also included any talk of "redistribution of wealth" or criticism of "free enterprise capitalism." He wants the Pope to "focus more on theology" because of all those times same-sex marriage was mentioned in the Bible and its relative lack of attention to helping the impoverished.