Can we please talk about the pope…

… I’m a convert, see, and in my memory I only have two popes.

Benedict and Francis.

So I have to ask, has it always been like this?

Love Benedict and you’re old stodgy fart stuck in the dark ages. Hate Benedict and you hate tradition. Love Francis and you are liberal, neo-con little ‘c’ Catholic. Hate Francis and again, you’re a stodgy old fart stuck in the middle ages.

Are we not allowed to have an opinion about the pope without having our Catholic street cred called into question?

I can like someone but not like every little thing do. I can also dislike someone and still find something pretty decent about them.

So Francis kissed that guy’s hand. JPII kissed that Koran. You know what each instance has in common — neither are exactly great moments in papal history yet the Church didn’t implode in on itself.

Can popes do silly things. Sure they can. Are we any less Catholic for thinking or even saying we think some of the things they’ve been known to do are silly? Do I even need to ask?

Of course not.

So why have we drawn these lines in the sand?

You like Francis, you must be a stinking liberal. You hate Francis, you must be stricken with a spiritual cancer and paranoid.

Honestly, I hate the fact that I can’t even talk about Francis. If I say anything slightly negative then I am not respecting the office of the papacy, am paranoid, and lack faith or some other nonsense. If I express disquiet, or even confusion, then I am spreading the disease of disunity among the faithful.

Do you know how unbelievable hard it’s been to not talk about the pope? Worse, being afraid to express the fact that I’m not in love with every little thing he does.

Why is this?

Can we please talk about the pope? Can we talk about him without the labels? The politics? The mindless group think? And mostly without the ad hominem attacks?

And for the love of all that’s holy, can we please stop mocking each other and pointing fingers?!? It’s really getting embarrassing, the way we are treating each other.