Appeal to the unconverted: The pope has reached out through words and deeds to Muslims, homosexuals, atheists, the disabled and women – groups of people who traditionally feel ostracized or marginalized by the Church. Gingrich compares the pope’s efforts to Jesus Christ, who was “radical in meeting people where they were – washing the feet of his disciples, eating with tax collectors, letting prostitutes wash his feet with expensive oils, engaging with the adulterers at the well.”

The GOP must be as inclusive, said Gingrich, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 2009. “Nobody is off limits.” Writing off 47 percent of Americans who typically vote Democratic, many of them minorities “in its spirit is anathema to a good political leader,” Gingrich said, a slap at 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

“It starts with meeting people where they are,” Reed said of the GOP. “If somebody is hungry, feed them. If somebody is naked, clothe them.”

Make the party more approachable: Pope Francis famously checked himself out of his hotel after his election. He owns a 1984 Renault given to him by an old priest. He stiffs security and mingles in crowds. He cold-calls ordinary people, such as the Italian woman who feared she would not be able to baptize her baby because it was born out of wedlock. “Francis is a happy warrior,” wrote Feehery, “with a vision that focuses on the bigger picture, and he is determined to open the Catholic tent to embrace the world and make believers out of nonbelievers.”