Chaput won't lead Philadelphia Archdiocese quietly

HE'S RIPPED into the death penalty, decried the ubiquity of guns in America, fought for the rights of immigrants - and told the National Catholic Reporter this week that "if we don't love the poor, and do all we can to improve their lot, we're going to go to hell."

So that means that Archbishop Charles Chaput, the new spiritual leader of 1.2 million Philadelphia-area Catholics, is a flaming liberal, right? Michael Moore in a clerical collar?

Not exactly.

In the same interview, Chaput called gay marriage - which he fervently opposes - "the issue of our time," and he's saved almost all of his most fiery and well-publicized political blasts for Democrats, including President Obama and Catholic voters who overlooked Obama's support for abortion rights.

The archbishop said just before the 2008 election that Catholic Obama voters displayed "a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion or worse" on the abortion question.

There's little confusion about this: The 66-year-old Chaput, who comes here after leading the flock in Denver, will be the most overtly and outspokenly political archbishop that the City of Brotherly Love has had in modern memory.

What isn't so clear is this: Will a high-profile, high-ranking spiritual leader who is not shy about naming names - Democratic ones, anyway - on abortion and other issues have any influence over presidential politics in Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the 2012 election?

After all, Obama carried the once-Republican-leaning Philadelphia suburbs - chock full of Catholic voters - in winning the Keystone State in 2008, but recent polls have suggested that Pennsylvania is up for grabs next year because of the lame economy.

Rocco Palmo, Philadelphia-based author of the widely read Catholic blog Whispers in the Loggia, said that although there's no doubt that Chaput relishes the political arena, he'll likely be too tied up with more pressing issues. That would start with cleaning up the deep stains left by clergy in the child sex-abuse scandal, but include local finances and expected parish closings.

"The church's stance on gay marriage or abortion is not going to close a massive financial deficit, and it's not going to get the church through five criminal trials and six civil trials," Palmo said.