{"id":47603,"date":"2020-05-13T12:48:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T16:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=47603"},"modified":"2020-05-13T12:48:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T16:48:47","slug":"does-pope-francis-have-foot-in-the-mouth-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/05\/does-pope-francis-have-foot-in-the-mouth-disease.html","title":{"rendered":"Does Pope Francis Have “Foot-in-the-Mouth” Disease?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

Reflections on the hysteria, irrationality, and fanaticism of the anti-Francis mentality, from 1-22-15 \u2014 originally on Facebook.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t found yet where he is at fault in these 10 million clueless accusations thrown at him (certainly not in any major<\/em> way). People can say that I simply defend him no matter what if they wish. I was accused of the same with regard to St. John Paul the Great, too. Nothing new under the sun.\u00a0I\u2019ve done the research and made the arguments; including writing an entire book<\/a> about it. Anyone is welcome to try to overthrow them, rather than simply say, \u201cwell, hey, ten of my friends think his foot is permanently in his mouth, too<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Give the devil his due. I think Satan has been extremely clever in bringing about this state of affairs where the Holy Father is relentlessly trashed and made an object of suspicion and disdain even from otherwise perfectly orthodox Catholics.\u00a0It\u2019s a\u00a0diabolical masterstroke of great genius.\u00a0And we Catholics are equally stupid, dumb, and imbecilic in falling for this tactic and strategy; enthusiastically volunteering to be dupes and pawns and useful idiots of the devil in his design of mocking and weakening the Catholic Church and its witness to the world, and message of hope.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a straight shooter. He\u2019s not this remote, super-pious figure. He speaks in normal, vernacular terms, so people can better relate to him. This is what St. Paul taught: \u201cI have become all things to all men,\u201d and what Vatican II urged all Catholics to do.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

And the stupid, clueless criticisms of the pope\u2019s statements can be criticized as both stupid and scandalous. Not every public statement he makes is infallible in the first place. Most of them are not.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

If someone doesn\u2019t like my (or anyone else\u2019s) defenses of the pope (and to me the defenses are perfectly plausible and sensible), they can go and knock themselves out showing that they are invalid, point-by-point. But no one ever wants to do that<\/em><\/strong>, because that takes work<\/em> and actual thinking<\/em>, rather than the easy way out of the quick accusation, moaning and groaning, simply parroting the gossip of others, and furthering the false narrative about the Holy Father.\u00a0Anything<\/em><\/strong> but actual rational analysis<\/em> and interacting with different points of view.\u00a0I\u2019m sick to death of it by now . . .<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Most of the trumped-up, pseudo-controversies come down to:<\/p>\n

1) mere style,<\/p>\n

2) genre,<\/p>\n

3) rhetorical devices in response to others.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The misinterpretations come from reading him out of context and not taking into account #1-3 above.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I was already dissenting against what is likely to be in his encyclical about global warning even before it was published (which is perfectly fine because it\u2019s not a \u201cfaith and morals\u201d issue).\u00a0That alone puts the lie to the cynical characterization that I never disagree with anything the pope writes or says. In the past I\u2019ve disagreed with popes (to some extent) on capital punishment.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I like this pope and feel good about his personality not because I \u201chave\u201d to but because he is a likable and cool guy! Period. I have defended him against bum raps, and every time I set out to examine the latest supposed \u201ccontroversy\u201d I have found that it was ultimately groundless.\u00a0I can\u2019t change what my experience has been . . .<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I mock stupidity where it is found. If people want to want to run down the pope, it is quite appropriate for me to run down dumb and stupid (and inexcusable) reasons for misinterpreting what the pope says.\u00a0All people had to do in this case was read the transcript in context and then cease the idiotic comments for a change.\u00a0Of course people will be offended if they hold a view that I characterize as \u201cstupid.\u201d That\u2019s to be expected. It doesn\u2019t follow that I don\u2019t call a spade a spade. I didn\u2019t take this job to win a popularity contest.<\/p>\n

I defended Pope St. John Paul II, over the Assisi conferences and the kissing the Koran incident. I had to wrangle with self-described \u201ctraditionalists\u201d all the time who ran him down. Robert Sungenis has attacked John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI as rank liberals, and I defended both. Nothing new there. I recently defended Pope Benedict XVI and his Summorum Pontificum<\/em> against \u201ctraditionalists\u201d who wanted to give up on liturgical reform.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written a book and a bunch of papers giving defenses of )ope Francis. They are there to serve Catholics. if someone is troubled, they should give my papers a shot.\u00a0I\u2019ve done the hard work (and am taking arrows as usual), and I see thousands of people who can\u2019t even give the pope the courtesy of reading a paragraph to get the entire context of what he said.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Someone asked me: \u201cIs any criticism allowed without being called stupid?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, of course: if it is a thoughtful, rational criticism made with full knowledge of what the thing is<\/strong><\/em> in the first place, that is being blasted. You guys in effect call the pope stupid over and\u00a0over, as if he doesn\u2019t know basic theology or the slightest thing about being a good pastor. Many today lecture him like some snot-nosed child.\u00a0Yet if I call you out on it and use some strong (but absolutely justified) language I am Attila the Hun and Vlad the Impaler.<\/p>\n

What is stupid<\/strong><\/em> is (for whoever does this) to not read a paragraph, to make any<\/em><\/strong> attempt to understand<\/em> the basic point that the pope is making before lashing out at him in public, with many people making fools of themselves.\u00a0That is STUPID: S, T, U, P, I, D. It is on the level of basic interpretation of words, and (far more tragically) in terms of spreading a scandal that is no scandal at all: making Catholics look totally ridiculous, as if we can\u2019t read.<\/p>\n

What I call \u201cdumb and stupid\u201d is this particular practice of not even reading properly, and then going out and saying asinine things about the Holy Father. It has to stop, and soon. If people don\u2019t protest against it it will continue to get worse. It\u2019s way out of hand already.\u00a0The \u201crabbits\u201d fiasco is perhaps the most ridiculous I\u2019ve seen yet: in a long string of these ludicrous tempests in a teapot. The devil is laughing so hard over the stupidity of Catholics doing this again and again, that he must be crying and wetting his pants (if he wears them).\u00a0It\u2019s one of the most ingenious plots he has devised yet, to divide Catholics and make us look ridiculous to the world.<\/p>\n

I was specifically referring to lashing out about the \u201crabbits\u201d comment without even understanding the perfectly legitimate, orthodox, Catholic point that the pope was making.\u00a0My words which had to do with the pope being taken out of context over and over, are themselves now being taken out of context (the same error repeated) [i.e., in the original Facebook thread], thus dramatically helping to prove my point. Critics of the pope need to read and think a lot better than they have been doing. It\u2019s pathetic.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The only way to objectively approach the matter (given the \u201cpro\u201d and \u201ccon\u201d views out there) is to grapple with defenses of what he says, such as what I do: on a case-by-case basis: to actually discuss the thing<\/em>[s] and not merely mouth the objection that the pope supposedly has perpetual foot-in-the-mouth disease.<\/p>\n

The latest thing is the \u201crabbits\u201d controversy. If someone thinks I have not plausibly defended him, and shown that the objections are groundless, then by all means they should show all of us why and how. No one else has yet been willing to do so. I\u2019m happy to let\u00a0my readers read thoughtful, cogent presentations on both sides of the issue and make up their own minds as to whether the Holy Father has done anything wrong in this instance. Here\u2019s where I wrote about it:<\/p>\n

Pope Francis and Catholics Reproducing Like \u201cRabbits\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(+\u00a0Facebook discussion<\/a>)\u00a0[1-21-15]<\/p>\n

\u201cIrresponsible\u201d Pope Francis? (Woman Who Had Seven C-Sections)<\/a>\u00a0[1-23-15]<\/p>\n

Pope Francis: 7 C-Sections is \u201cIrresponsible\u201d (Group Discussion)<\/a>\u00a0[1-23-15]<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

One can also say (as I would), \u201cwho gives a fig<\/em> anymore what the liberal media thinks in the first place?\u201d It will always distort Catholic and other Christian and conservative and traditional and pro-life thought, no matter what. So why worry about it\u00a0so much? Just speak truth and let the chips fall where they may.\u00a0Biblically speaking, those who are supposed to accept these truths will, by God\u2019s grace. Those who will not<\/em> to, will not.<\/p>\n

Good grief. If I were always this concerned about how my writings would be received, I\u2019d never write anything. I\u2019d have permanent writer\u2019s block, trying to please and appease men all the time.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Related Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
Replies to Critiques of Pope Francis (Dave Armstrong)<\/a>\u00a0[170 of my\u00a0own<\/em>\u00a0articles]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Pope Francis Defended: Resources for Confused or Troubled Folks<\/a>\u00a0[223 articles from others]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflections on the hysteria, irrationality, and fanaticism of the anti-Francis mentality, from 1-22-15 \u2014 originally on Facebook. ***** I haven\u2019t found yet where he is at fault in these 10 million clueless accusations thrown at him (certainly not in any major way). People can say that I simply defend him no matter what if they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":47606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[5332,3435,1760,285,4443,5335,4791,3434,5187,2140,1134,353,1761,5642,5329,2644,4800,156,159,158,157,1848,162,1713,5169,2648,1688,135],"class_list":["post-47603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-papacy-infallibility","tag-aka-catholic","tag-cardinal-burke","tag-catholic-family-news","tag-chris-ferrara","tag-correctio","tag-criticism-of-popes","tag-deference-to-popes","tag-dubia","tag-henry-sire","tag-hilary-white","tag-karl-keating","tag-liberalism","tag-lifesite-news","tag-lost-shepherd-the-francis-feud","tag-louie-verrecchio","tag-one-peter-five","tag-phil-lawler","tag-pope-francis","tag-pope-francis-dissidents","tag-pope-francis-and-the-media","tag-pope-francis-myths","tag-pope-bashing","tag-popes","tag-rorate-caeli","tag-ross-douthat","tag-steve-skojec","tag-the-remnant","tag-theological-liberalism"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes Pope Francis Have "Foot-in-the-Mouth" Disease?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I offer no particular argument here; 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}