In 1984, I gave a speech at Notre Dame titled 'Religious Belief and Public Morality.' I said that Catholic legislators will live by the laws of the church because we want to stay in the club.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Since politics fundamentally should be a moral enterprise, the church in this sense has something to say about politics.
The church is not a political power; it's not a party, but it's a moral power.
The problem is that you can't impose the church's teachings on all Americans as a matter of law.
I am deeply Catholic and always will be, but I'm no longer a member of the church. I left in 2003 because of the sex abuse scandal.
We've always had issues up for discussion at Catholic universities.
Let Catholics build their own churches and works.
After the war, prompted by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, I entered Parliament so that a priest could speak out for the poor, as canon law at that time still permitted.
I am a believer, but I affirm that in public buildings the law of the Republic overrides religious rules.
Catholicism is a wide tent in terms of political and legal positions. We could have nine Catholics on the Supreme Court and a great deal of diversity toward the law.
I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I'm here.