The Pope opines that war is how the great world economies ‘keep their balance sheets in the black’. I repeat: shouldn’t he be more careful with what he says?

The Holy Father has just delivered himself of one of his famous spontaneous declarations, the likes of which prompted Damian Thompson to dub him (affectionately and respectfully, I am sure) our “chatterbox Pope”. I wrote about this phenomenon last time, quoting the judgement of Fr Dwight Longenecker, who is, like me, an admirer of the present Pope, but who is nevertheless getting a little worried about this aspect of his pontificate. “In almost every impromptu press conference, personal phone call, informal conversation, and unscheduled event”, he wrote, “the Pope’s candid and relaxed style has caused confusion, consternation, and bewilderment among the faithful … such an informal and often ambiguous method of communication cannot help but erode the more solemn teaching authority of the papacy”. To that may be added the fact that much of this confusion is caused by the fact that some at least of what he says appears not entirely intellectually well thought through; at times it is even totally incoherent. Take the following quote from Pope Francis, from a “wide-ranging interview” published on June 12 in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia.