Dear Vatican Media …

Dear Vatican Media:

Thank you for all you do to help tell the story of our faith and keep us up to date on what the Holy Father is saying and doing. It is an invaluable service.

But, please note: when Pope Francis is meeting with bishops to hear how the church in the U.S. has been “lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse,” to the point where many believe our church is facing one of its biggest crises ever, this is not the picture to release as the official photograph.

I’ll put it bluntly: this is awful. If you can’t see why, something is seriously wrong.

Optics matter. Words matter. Especially now.

This doesn’t help. At all. Consider this a PR FAIL.

Please do better next time.

Thank you.