Since the pontificate of St. John Paul II, the Pope has been a leader of world significance, which brings the Holy Father into contact with the President of the United States (POTUS). John Paul II dealt with five chief executives. The recent history of presidential-papal interactions suggests five roles into which Presidents cast the Pope and three lessons about the relationship between POTUS and Peter.

Adding the phrase “Roman Catholic” to “political philosophy” implies that political philosophy is a work of reason that, in its own order, reaches legitimate issues and problems that it cannot itself resolve. This phrase suggests that, contained within revelation, are responses to the unanswered issues as posed in political philosophy. These responses suggest that there is a coherent relation between reason and revelation that arises directly out of political philosophy as such.