There’s some fun to be had watching the Vatican Follies, and speculating over what happens backstage and in the wings. Nevertheless, I agree with Simcha Fisher: there’s much too much agonizing over the shambling monster Frank Weathers is pleased to call the KasperBurke.
A “Calamitous Pope”?
Michelle
Arnold of Catholic Answers recently made the excellent point that to call
St. John Paul “the worst pope ever” is to show an appalling ignorance of papal
history. Similarly, to imply that Pope Francis is “calamitous”, as Rorate Caeli
has done in a
post uncritically copied and pasted by other rad-trad blogs, is to
exaggerate hysterically.
But in our zeal to defend the orthodoxy of Papa Bergoglio
against the cheers of the left and the jeers of the right, I’ve begun to think
that we’ve discounted criticism we should be listening to, whether we agree
fully with it or not. To put it differently, it’s past time for the honeymoon
to come to an end and face the reality of Francis’ reign.
This started for me when The
Blogger Who Must Not Be Named wrote a piece about the facepalm-inducing,
completely Holy-Dude-what-were-you-thinking selection of Cdl. Godfried Danneels
for the Synod on the Family — an appointment that could only be overshadowed in
insensitivity by nominating Fort Lauderdale mayor Jack Seiler to head up the
Office of Papal Charities. Whatever the choice says about Francis’ orthodoxy,
it was a bonehead play.
