UNITED STATES
Crux
By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor February 15, 2016
One could have an argument about this, I suppose, but I’m going to state the claim baldly anyway: There’s no public figure in the world today with an image defined by a more misleading soundbite than Pope Francis, whose signature line from almost three years ago remains, “Who am I to judge?”
Uttered in connection with his attitude toward gay people, that celebrated phrase has been taken to suggest an accepting and laid-back sort of pontiff, more or less “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” in a white cassock.
Reality couldn’t be more different.
In truth, Francis is one of the most “judgmental” figures around, in the sense of never pulling punches when he thinks something is wrong. We’ve had several stinging reminders during his current trip to Mexico, from his thundering denunciation of drug dealers with their “hands drenched in blood” to his strong pleas for justice for immigrants and indigenous persons.
There’s yet another constituency in Mexico right now feeling rather thoroughly judged by the pontiff, and, for the record, found not altogether up to snuff: the country’s roughly 170 Catholic bishops.
In a remarkable 4,500-word address to the bishops on Saturday, one of the most developed and detailed speeches of his papacy, Francis laid out a vision of the kind of prelate he believes the Church needs today — and left little doubt that it’s not always the kind of shepherd it actually has.
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