In a recent speech ("given at the scene of the crime"), Archbishop Charles Chaput criticized former President John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign speech that "left a lasting mark on American politics" in which the politician spoke of a clear wall of separation between his duties as a Catholic and his public duties. The archbishop said Kennedy's speech was "sincere, compelling, articulate – and wrong." He also noted that Kennedy's remarks "began the project of walling religion away from the process of governance in a new and aggressive way" and said that "Today, half a century later, we’re paying for the damage."
"Further, it is unlawful to follow one line of conduct in private life and another in public, respecting privately the authority of the Church, but publicly rejecting it; for this would amount to joining together good and evil, and to putting man in conflict with himself; whereas he ought always to be consistent, and never in the least point nor in any condition of life to swerve from Christian virtue." (Pope Leo XIII, "Immortale Dei", 1885)
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