By Stephen Sears

While campaigning for president in 1960, John Kennedy said, “I believe in an America where the separation of Church and State is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the President how to act, and no Protestant Minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote.”

But after the recent directive form the Vatican to all Catholics on how they should feel toward gay marriage, I have to wonder whether Rome understands anything Kennedy said.

In last Thursday’s set of guidelines, the Vatican wrote, “the Catholic law-maker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against (gay marriage). To vote in favour of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral.”

The Vatican has every right to issue edicts on their position regarding any issue, but they have no right, nor any amount of authority, to tell Catholic politicians how to vote. This is even more disconcerting considering the long history of troubles Catholic politicians have faced in this country.

Al Smith lost the 1928 presidential election mainly because he was Catholic. Kennedy had to repeatedly answer questions on his religion and whether he had divided loyalties, despite the fact that he served in the Pacific during World War II and his brother Joseph died in that same war. He did win the election and has been the only Catholic president in this country’s history.

Part of this is due to the long-held belief by many Americans that Catholic loyalty is divided between America and Rome. Catholic politicians have had to repeatedly state that they do not answer to the Pope. This ridiculous notion has been largely dispelled since 1960, but the recent statement by the Vatican only serves to resurrect these fallacies.

Presidential hopeful John Kerry, a Catholic, vigorously opposed the statement’s inherent challenge to the separation of Church and State. “It is important not to have the Church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line for this country,” he told the Boston Herald. Kerry knows that he, more than most other politicians, has to make clear that he is not beholden to the policies of his faith.

Protestant politicians rarely have to answer these sorts of questions when a minister comments on same sex unions or abortion. Not a day goes by without some minister making self-righteous comments on public morals and how public officials should uphold the tenets of the Bible. Just recently, Pat Robertson urged his audience to pray for the retirement of three liberal Supreme Court Justices after the Court decriminalized sodomy. He went as far as saying, “One justice is 83 years old, another has cancer, and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?” The public outrage over these comments was minimal. Imagine the response if the Pope or any American bishop made such remarks.

This is what makes the recent comments as disturbing as they are. As a baptized and confirmed Catholic, I can tell you that for me and many others, the Pope is a source of spiritual guidance, not political directives. The past few years have not been easy for Catholics, considering the tragic child abuse scandal. The last thing they need is an intrusion on state affairs by Rome when they have worked so hard to dispel the notion that they are beholden to the Church over their own country. The Vatican’s recent comments do nothing but perpetuate these lingering suspicions.

-Stephen Sears is a middler journalism major.