It’s become something of a routine now. Pope Francis delivers a spontaneous lambasting of priests who do this or that which he disapproves of, and priests discuss what we should make of it all. As it happens often enough, I have a three-part response, which I most recently had to employ after the latest rhetorical assault in which the Holy Father spoke of some priests as “animals” who practise “pastoral cruelty”.
The Holy See press office, always at the ready to adjust what Pope Francis said, helpfully explained that it was not that the Pope thought some priests were “animals” but rather treated their people “like animals”. Which perhaps is a bit better. At any rate, the three-step process works just as well whether examining the original remarks of the Holy Father or the amended ones issued afterwards.
