Understanding Pope Francis---Ignore the experts

The pope made an off the cuff remark about gay priests that has gotten a lot of attention. One blogger used the headline "Francis Allows Gay Priests to Exhale," which I found astonishing unless she meant it as an ironic statement. Does anybody remember what things used to be like in the 80s and 90s? Except for the old ones, effete priests were so common that finding a priest who didn't show any womanish mannerisms and who was actually liked, not just tolerated by the men and boys (women on the other hand seemed to love them*) in the parish was like finding a black swan on your porch.

Some of those guys have retired but an unknown number  of them just moved up the ladder. They're running interference in the seminary, they are the gatekeepers in the chancery and have the power. Even if the bishop isn't one of them, your letter or e-mail of complaint has to go through the gatekeepers and the bishop may never know it existed. Nobody was waiting around with bated breath until the Pope said "Who am I to judge?" Even the pedophiles weren't afraid because in case after case we see that they kept on doing what they were doing right up until  they were gelded by the aging process or when the day they were arrested.



So what does the Pope's comment  mean? I don't know and neither do any of the Vaticanistas.    Whenever some self appointed expert tries to tell me what John Paul or Benedict or Francis really meant I tune them out. Until Pope Francis taps someone on the shoulder and says "This guy is my USA consigliere. You can take what he says as coming straight from my heart," don't trust them. The only thing I'm sure of is that the Lord gives us the leaders we deserve as either a comfort or a punishment and only time will tell what this particular wild card turns out to be.


*Interestingly enough, the masculine priests found that the biggest troublemakers when they took over a parish were the middle aged women who had been Fr. Effeminate's biggest fans. God only knows what THAT means.