The gentle takedown of our elected leaders began almost the second Pope Francis started speaking Thursday morning at the majestic U.S. Capitol, where polarization and ugly rhetoric have become a twisted badge of honor.

“Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation,” Pope Francis started.

“You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.”

“Whaaa?” some of our most pugnacious lawmakers may have wondered. Politics isn’t about retweets and Fox News zingers and MSNBC shoutfests?

And that’s when we all watched our elected officials — the folks so bent on destroying each other they’re ready to shut down the entire government in the name of political gamesmanship — being reminded of what their jobs actually are.

“A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk,” he said. “Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.”

Does that put it in perspective, oh demigods of dysfunction?

Members of Congress, the pope is telling you that you’re not elected to preserve your party’s power, to forward your team’s agenda, to score one for your side. You did not join a gang when you were elected to office. You were invited to care for the people.

Nice, Pope Francis. We get it now, your magic.

This pope draws a Muslim family to the White House parade route at 5 a.m. Wednesday, smiling and waving wildly as his popemobile drove by six hours later. They were texting photos they got of him to all their friends and told me how he waved right at them.

He brings three gay folks dressed like sparkly, drag queen nuns — members of a radical activist group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — all the way from Georgia to thank him for opening the door to tolerance.

And he makes Democrats, Republicans and presidential contenders who have fueled the mean-spirited insanity that is Washington politics stop for a moment, look at each other and, just maybe, wonder if they’re doing this all wrong.

“Who am I to judge?” the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff famously said, when addressing the explosive topic of homosexuality and its place in the church.

Here’s a guy who can speak about immigration, abortion, clergy sexual abuse, climate change and homelessness and still inspire tens of thousands of adoring fans to flock to see him and act like unhinged teens who just got a selfie with Taylor Swift. He hits our third-rail issues but still leaves folks feeling all rainbows and unicorns.

And it’s not because he’s soft on issues. The pope says lots of pretty controversial things.

The victims of the church’s sexual abuse scandal — and many others, myself included — were appalled by the way he congratulated U.S. bishops Wednesday for “their courage” on that front, but didn’t address their culpability or the impact of those crimes on the victims.

But we’re not appalled by the pontiff, because he shows us it’s possible to disagree without demonizing, converse without condemning. Eloquence, not bombast.

And somewhere along the line, our country has forgotten that.

“He exudes humility, love and compassion, which are values sorely lacking in today’s world,” a 65-year-old retiree named Kerry Kemp told my colleague DeNeen L. Brown on Wednesday. “He’s the anti-Trump.”

In a race-to-the-bottom presidential campaign, Trump has called undocumented Mexicans “rapists” and dismissed the heroism of Sen. John McCain, who spent five years as a POW during Vietnam. He sounds right at home in a political environment in which talk radio hosts label women as “sluts” and congressmen compare President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.

And we Americans tolerate — even encourage — this brand of nasty, mean-spirited discourse. Instead of listening to one another respectfully, we get all tribal on big, complex issues, taking sides like it’s all a big football game, one side versus the other, labels, camps, polarization, black-and-white, ignoring the gray.

This, Pope Francis told Congress, is our folly.

He said to our elected leaders — the masters of the dark art of division — that the temptation to pit people against one another is “the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners.”

“The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps,” he said. “We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within.”

Hear that, Trumpsters?

We have folks analyzing what the pope has said and gaming where he stands. Is he a liberal? He talked about climate change and the poor, that’s on THAT side. But then again, he’s not moving on abortion or same-sex marriage. Is he a conservative? That’s on THAT side.

That kind of categorization is missing the point. And it’s tearing us apart.

“Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice,” he told Congress, asking them to summon the courage to resolve our complex issues without such stridency.

“We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.”

And if that message doesn’t make it to Congress,we can listen to what he says. At our kitchen tables and living rooms, at Thanksgiving, on Facebook chats and in the voting booth we can be inspired by the way Pope Francis speaks.

And we can always remember, “Who are we to judge?”

Petula Dvorak is a columnist for The Washington Post.