Rome, Italy, Apr 21, 2010 / 10:56 am
Following criticism of his recent JFK speech by an Italian scholar, Archbishop Charles Chaput responded today, addressing each argument raised against his lecture. The prelate said that although he was grateful for the Italian professor's comments, “he and I clearly differ” not only on the implication's of JFK's 1960 speech, but also on the role of religion in American public life and the “proper understanding” of separation of Church and state.
On Wednesday, Vatican expert Sandro Magister published Archbishop Chaput's response to the scholar on his website Chiesa. Before presenting archbishop's reply, Magister discussed responses he received from Americans supporting the prelate's JFK arguments, most notably from Prof. James Hitchcock of St. Louis University, whose letter Magister published as well. Prof. Hitchcock reiterated that Kennedy's speech marked a definitive break in the public friendship between religion and democracy.
Magister previously published an essay on April 11 by Luca Diotallevi, a sociology professor at the University of Roma Tre, who raised several critiques of the Archbishop's March 1 lecture at Houston Baptist University.
At his lecture in Texas, the Denver archbishop criticized President John F. Kennedy's historic 1960 Houston campaign speech about his Catholic faith’s impact on his political decisions.