The Populist Pope?: Politics, Religion, and Pope Francis

While religion and democracy have been intertwined since World War II, scholars have made little of the connections between religion and populism, largely conceptualizing religion as a tool of populism. In this paper, however, I argue that Pope Francis' deployment of Catholicism resists such in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McCormick, William A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2020
In: Politics and religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Pages: 159-181
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Summary:While religion and democracy have been intertwined since World War II, scholars have made little of the connections between religion and populism, largely conceptualizing religion as a tool of populism. In this paper, however, I argue that Pope Francis' deployment of Catholicism resists such instrumentalization by populist politics, and offers resources for political ills underlying populism. I show that Francis' focus on the people allows him to capitalize on populist currents in global politics, while also reforming those currents into something more constructive than populism. I further explore how his political theology and institutional autonomy render his thought and example relatively impervious to appropriation by political actors.
ISSN:1755-0491
Reference:Errata "The Populist Pope?: Politics, Religion, and Pope Francis—ERRATUM (2020)"
Contains:Enthalten in: Politics and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S1755048319000506