Reporting live Thursday from the Vatican ahead of Saturday’s funeral mass for Pope Francis, CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson ended the show with a veiled hit on President Trump as a contrast to Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders as the former (using the catch-all phrase “American politics”) embraces “flash and hubris” while the other show humility and love.
In much the same way his commentaries at the end of CBS Evening News Plus go (as well as his hot takes in general), they usually have a connection to current events and this was no exception.
“In three separate conversations I had today with a cardinal and archbishop and a priest, the comparison to American politics came up when talking about how the next pope will be chosen. But there is a significant difference between the two systems,” Dickerson began.
This went into a more direct comparison with help from a writer for a far-left Catholic magazine:
In American politics, candidates boast. Flash and hubris often win. In the conclave, those same traits are liabilities. As Colleen Dulle, Vatican reporter for America magazine, explained to me, he who enters a conclave a pope exits a cardinal, meaning, if any cardinal campaigns too openly for the job, his chances diminish.
To represent an implicit contrast to Trump, Dickerson ended by invoking George Washington and that true leaders in any form should be those who aren’t exactly looking for power:
That same suspicion of ambition shaped the early American presidency. George Washington didn’t campaign, nor did many of the first American presidents. It was believed that gross ambition was a cancer. So maybe the systems aren’t that different. Both are shaped, at least in their ideal, by a common fear, that the person who most wants power may be the last person who should have it
Co-anchor Maurice DuBois was in obvious awe: “Well said, John. What a concept.”
It wasn’t entirely surprising to see Dickerson’s decision to offer a commentary blasting American politics when, earlier in the show, he started to go down this road by emphasizing “humility” in leaders as countercultural with a local priest in Rome (an American who previously served in New York City as Dickerson’s parish priest) (click “expand”):
DICKERSON [TO BERRIOS]: What are you looking for in the next pope?
FATHER MATTHEW BERRIOS: A shepherd, first and foremost, a man that can listen, a man that can lead, but a man that knows how to be humble.DICKERSON: Why is humility so important?
BERRIOS: Because that is a pure imitation of Jesus. Being a leader is not about vaunting yourself. It’s not about putting your name on buildings and proclaiming yourself. It’s about putting yourself in love at the service and care of others, especially of the most vulnerable.
DICKERSON [TO BERRIOS]: Really sounds like your description of Pope Francis.
BERRIOS: Absolutely.
DICKERSON: The shepherd must smell like the sheep, Pope Francis said. And all day long, the flock has gathered as bells pealed, the rain fell to celebrate his push to put his life, his office and his church among the people. Not everyone embraced Francis’ style. Yet, in a church short on priests and losing parishioners, his authenticity, his joy, his humility wasn’t just holy, says Father Matt; it was necessary. [TO BERRIOS] Does the church have to find a balance that allows it to be more accessible for people in a modern world?
BERRIOS: I think so. It’s trying to find the fundamental proclamation of faith and proclaim it in a way that is in the language of the everyday person spoken in the language of the culture.
DICKERSON: Some people we spoke with here say Pope Francis made the church feel close, so close he could call himself the world’s parish priest. The task for the church now? Finding a pope who nurtures that same feeling, where it’s possible to run into your neighborhood priest in Rome and have it feel like more than a coincidence.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 24, click here.
