Over the past several months, Pope Francis' outreach efforts have included Protestant evangelicals. In late July, he became the first pope to visit a Pentecostal church in Italy. "Among those who persecuted and denounced Pentecostals, almost as if they were crazy people trying to ruin the race, there were also Catholics," Francis said, referencing Mussolini's fascist regime. "I am the pastor of Catholics, and I ask your forgiveness for those Catholic brothers and sisters who didn't know and were tempted by the devil."

The attempt at reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants is nothing new, and has often been fueled by conservative politicians pursuing a right-wing social agenda. During the Christian Coalition's heyday, Ralph Reed, the executive director of the Pat Robertson-founded organization, attempted to launch a Catholic auxiliary.

In 1994, conservative Catholics and evangelicals in the U.S. created Evangelicals and Catholics Together, an ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical and Roman Catholic scholars in the United States.

In a piece in 2011 titled "An Improbable Alliance: Catholics and evangelicals used to fight over religious liberty. Not anymore," Watergate felon Chuck Colson and Timothy George wrote that, "Catholic and evangelical theologians [were] seeking common ground on religious liberty, an issue that has caused frequent strife between the two groups."

The common enemies helping forge this "common ground" was opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and Obamacare.

Copeland and Robison meet the pope

Kenneth Copeland is considered a pioneer of the prosperity gospel. He heads up Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Eagle Mountain International Church, enterprises that have built a worldwide audience through its television programs, crusades, conferences and prayer request networks.

James Robison, a longtime conservative activist and spiritual advisor to George W. Bush, heads up, along with his wife Betty, LIFE Outreach International. Robison played a leading role amongst conservative Christian leaders attempting to unseat President Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.

In "Laws of Prosperity," Copeland laid it out for his readers: "You must realize that it is God's will for you to prosper. This is available to you, and frankly, it would be stupid of you not to partake of it."

"God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you," Copeland's wife, Gloria, once preached, according to The New York Times.

According to christiannews.net, "In 2008, CBS News released a detailed report on Kenneth Copeland Ministries, saying an investigation 'raises serious questions about the Copeland's religious empire.' For example, according to the report, the 'ministry' operates private jets which are often used for vacation trips." A former employee suggested that the Copeland and his wife were using money from the ministry "for personal business."

James Robison sounds off

Robison, an unapologetic ultra-conservative, reportedly described the meeting as a "supernatural gathering" and "an unprecedented moment between evangelicals and the Catholic Pope." After returning from Rome, he told Fort Worth's Star-Telegram that the "meeting was a miracle." "This is something God has done. God wants his arms around the world. And he wants Christians to put his arms around the world by working together."

In April of this year, People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch reported that "Robison told listeners on last week's Tea Party Unity conference call that the country is about to witness a merger of the Religious Right and the Tea Party that will bring God's blessing back to America."

Robison said he will be working to "get the message and the truth that flows from the heart and mind of God and the wisdom of God" to activists, while making sure that it won't be 'filtered down, misrepresented and ignored by a very biased, upside-down-worldview prevailing media.'

"We are creating a communications stream, a faith and freedom communications stream that the enemy will not be able to hinder," Robison said. "Freedom is in the process of perishing, so this communication stream will bring together the leaders of the free market and the faith community and we will create a stream hopefully that will get more traffic than Drudge does."

Just weeks before his meeting with Pope Francis, in a column related to immigration issues, Robison sounded a Cliven Bundy-esque call to arms: "if American leadership and the majority who can help correct our perilous course do not fall on their faces before God and cry out for His mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, healing, and the wisdom He offers, you are about to witness ALL HELL BREAK OUT!"

In a recent Charisma News column titled "Americans Are Bowing to Demonic Pharaoh," Robison lashed out at "America's national leadership," claiming that critics (like him I presume) are being "branded a racist" or "called a hostage-holder." If you support the ideal of marriage, you are chastised as a homophobe who opposes fairness and equality. "If you uphold the sanctity of human life, you are characterized as opposing freedom of choice. If you allow your faith in Christ to actually mean something, impacting your words, actions, and beliefs, you are compared to jihadists and labeled an enemy of America."

In fiery rhetoric, Robison insisted that, "We are witnessing the enemy, the father of lies, attempting to overthrow God and exalt a new pharaoh, false kings, unreliable rulers, a federal monarchy, rotten policies, and terrible laws. We are now told if Congress has passed a law, it's not to be challenged. That logic means we must bring back slavery and prohibition, which were once the law, and cancel a woman's right to vote and all civil-rights legislation because those changes were made to reject previous, bad laws. If this Senate passes it, we are now told, don't dare challenge it.

"We have awful laws and policies now being thrust--yes, forced--on the American people. They are not only unprincipled; they are unbiblical, ineffective and unsustainable. If you believe in proven principles and dislike bad practices and proven-to-fail policies, you are now to be perceived as the enemy. Americans who pray and care deeply are not trying to bring the government down--they are trying to bring it under control."

In his very long diatribe, Robison never once mentions the poor, the downtrodden, or anything even remotely related to social justice.