The Pope Francis Model of 'Faithful Citizenship'

Three years after Paul Ryan and Joseph R. Biden debated each other as vice presidential candidates, Washington is anxiously waiting them to make anguishing choices about their futures, whether Mr. Ryan will answer his fractured party’s pleas to serve as speaker and whether Biden can overcome the death of his son to run for president. Mr. Ryan prefers making policy as chair of the Ways and Means Committee to trying to make a dysfunctional House work. He prefers to spend his time raising his young family over raising funds for Republican candidates. Mr. Biden thinks he is the most qualified, but publicly agonizes whether he has the emotional strength and singlemindedness to run for president.

This political limbo comes after Pope Francis’ historic address to Congress and John Boehner’s announcement the next day that he would leave the House and office of speaker. Mr. Boehner was brought to tears by finally bringing a pope to Congress and broke out into song as he announced his escape from Republican ideological warfare. The shocks continued as Kevin McCarthy, the presumed speaker-to-be, withdrew as voting was to begin, leading to the appeals to Mr. Ryan. 

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