One of the biggest misinterpretations of Pope Francis is the assumption that he doesn’t carefully consider his actions, as opposed to his often careless, occasionally confused, language. Case in point:
Go here to read the rest. Popes have often been cautious when facing adversaries who can harm Catholics. It is a fine line between not unnecessarily antagonizing dangerous enemies, and being pusillanimous. PopeWatch would give the Pope the benefit of the doubt in this case. Supporters and critics of this Pope would do well to remember this incident. Pope Francis would seem to be far away indeed from considerations of Realpolitik, but even Metternich would be appreciative of the Pope’s pragmatism shown in this incident. Yes, this is definitely something to recall when analyzing what the Pope does, as opposed to what the Pope says.
It gives me hope— like I keep saying, maybe he’s not just totally off the cuff and there’s someone that this stuff is actually helpful towards.
I think he is sincere about his concern for others – as shown here. The problem is that he can still be wrong about the efficacy of some of his solutions. Like with many liberals/progressives, his heart may be in the right place, but often his head does not seem to be.