# The Pope has a wicked sense of humor

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [September 24, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402 "2015-09-24T14:49:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402/21 "2015-10-12T17:24:56Z")

</div>

> [@WillFarnaby](#):
>
> I thought you were going to reference when he mentioned Abraham Lincoln, “the guardian of liberty”. That was a real knee-slapper.

The Pope is probably also against slavery…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402/22 "2015-10-13T17:26:08Z")

</div>

Lincoln was ambivalent to slavery, at least as POTUS. The Emancipation Proclamation was more of a military gambit than anything.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402/23 "2015-10-13T17:31:26Z")

</div>

Lincoln was unambiguously opposed to slavery; he just had a number of higher priorities. He was willing to tolerate slavery if that’s what it took to keep the Union together, but in such a case, he viewed it as the lesser of two evils. And in any event, it turned out that his priorities aligned, and that the best way to preserve the Union was to stamp out slavery anyway.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pope-has-a-wicked-sense-of-humor/732402.md?page=1)