Recently, for PJMedia‘s Faith section, I took a look at a Gallup poll taken between Dec. 2 and 6th, in which 824 adults were reached by cellphone and landline and asked:
What [woman/man] that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most? And what is your second choice.
Hillary Clinton, for the 20th time in a row, took the top spot for women. Click here to read the original story for the rest of that list (which didn’t include any practicing Catholics).
Of interest to us is the men’s list, which was topped by President Barack Obama (which, according to Gallup, is how it usually works out with the current POTUS).
It’s the second-place finishers that have raised a few eyebrows.
At five percent each were GOP presidential candidate, billionaire businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump, and Pope Francis — two men with very different lives.
Trump, a son of wealth from New York City, is all about the art of the deal, winning, making money, starring in “The Apprentice” franchise on NBC, owning beauty pageants, gilding everything in sight, marrying multiple women and having multiple children, and actively campaigning for the highest office in the land.
As a presidential candidate, his style is bombastic, aggressive, pugnacious and pugilistic, marked by bold statements and big promises.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina. He studied chemistry and worked as a bar bouncer and a janitor, and in a laboratory. At 21, he lost part of a lung.
Ordained a Jesuit priest, he took perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Humble even as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he lived in an apartment with a retired fellow Jesuit and took public transportation. After being named pope on March 12, 2013, he took the name of the Italian saint known for his love of the Gospels, the Eucharist and the poor.
Among other religious figures on the list were the Dalai Lama and the Rev. Billy Graham, who both had one percent.
I just want to know if either Trump or Francis were anybody’s first choice.
Images: Wikimedia Commons (Trump by Gage Skidmore)
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