It's the strongest bully pulpit in the world. What he says is noted by everyone. Everyone may not agree or follow what he says, but clearly he has the ear of the world — and that's a very privileged position.

When you compare him with his predecessor, who took the Vatican by storm and the world by storm, this is a much more low-key papacy to date.

He is doing what he can from his bully pulpit but he is not in a position to actively engage as a mediator without the cooperation of both sides,

He knows very well the kind of claims he makes have political implications. He intends for them to have political implications. He wants to influence public policy in numerous places in the world and hopefully sway the powers that be to his side, especially on so-called social issues.

We need the President to use the bully pulpit to get foreign leaders to respect our innovation.

'The bully pulpit' is somewhat diminished in our age of fragmented attention and fragmented media.