Kresta in the Afternoon – December 5, 2023 – Hour 1

Author: Bryant Schoenle Published on: December 5, 2023 Published in: Al Kresta

Why was Mozart Pope Benedict XVI’s favorite composer? Al tells the story. Also, Paul Kengor looks at the life of Henry Kissinger and Robert Whaples explains why inflation got so bad in Argentina, formerly one of the world’s richest countries.

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Kresta Comments: Why do theologians love Mozart?

On this day in 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at the age of 35. Considered one of the greatest Western composers, he was a favorite of Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict even contributed to a collection of testimonies about Mozart, sharing his memories of attending a Mozart Mass as a young boy. Al shares the story and discusses why Mozart’s influence remains so strong to this day.

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The Mozart of Theology and His Favorite Composer

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In Cold War, Kissinger’s Realism Bowed to John Paul II’s Vision

Henry Kissinger, who died Wednesday at the age of 100, had many admirers and detractors, but anyone who has studied him would acknowledge his influence on the last century of American foreign policy. In the early years of the Cold War he advocated a policy of détente, accommodating to the Soviet Union. This was later rejected by Ronald Reagan, a strategy that John Paul II supported. But was it the right policy for the right time? Paul Kengor joins us.

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In Cold War, Kissinger’s Realism Bowed to John Paul II’s Vision

Opinion: The principle that animated Henry Kissinger’s foreign policies

Henry Kissinger Was a Complex Man for a Complex Century

Last Words From Kissinger

Paul-Kengor — Paul Kengor is author of several books, most recently The Worst of Indignities: The Catholic Church on Slavery. His other books include The Devil and Bella Dodd, The Devil and Karl Marx, and A Pope and A President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century. He has also written spiritual biographies of Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and George W Bush. He’s professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., and senior academic fellow at the Institute for Faith and Freedom and is the editor of the American Spectator.

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Argentina was once one of the world’s richest countries. What went wrong?

We spoke recently about the election of Javier Milei, a frequent critic of Pope Francis, as President of Argentina. Less than a century ago, Argentina had one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world and Buenos Aires was dubbed the “Paris of South America.” Today, it’s in economic turmoil and is facing triple-digit inflation. Milei was elected on the promise to turn things around and has proposed such radical things as adopting the US dollar as official currency. Robert Whaples gives us his analysis.

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Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries. Now poverty is rife and inflation is over 100 per cent

Rising poverty grips Argentina as runaway inflation takes its toll