Let your “yes” mean yes

A Catholic News Agency article says that well-known, and highly regarded, Italian journalist Anotnio Socci is reporting that “Pope Francis was aware that his reported words in an Oct. 1 interview [with atheist Eugenio Scalfari] published in La Repubblica could be misunderstood, and took measures concerning this.”

What measures?

According to Socci, Pope Francis “regretted” the publication of the interview in “L’Osservatore Romano” and “complained of it to the director, Gian Maria Vian, in Assisi on Oct. 4.”

The dust up, according to Socci, primarily concerns that part of the interview where the pope said:

“Each one of us has his own vision of the Good and also of Evil. We have to urge it [the vision] to move towards what one perceives as the Good.”

Upon being asked a follow-up question and given an opportunity to clarify, Pope Francis said:

And now I repeat it. Everyone has his own idea of Good and Evil and he has to choose to follow the Good and to fight Evil as he understands it. This would be enough to improve the world.”

According to CNA:

The Pope’s knowledge that he could be misunderstood is why – according to Socci – Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, was “told to maintain that the text of the interview had not been revised by Pope Francis and that it was penned by Scalfari after an informal chat.”

Let’s rewind.

According to John Allen, who reported on Fr. Lombardi’s press conference:

Pressed by reporters on the reliability of the direct quotations, Lombardi said during an Oct. 2 briefing that the text accurately captured the “sense” of what the pope had said, and that if Francis felt his thought had been “gravely misrepresented,” he would have said so.

Even so, Socci, according to CNA, said hat “critics of Pope Francis for his view on conscience are double-dealing.”

“Would you really believe Pope Francis thinks that everybody can have his own idea of good and evil and thus justify what he does?” he asked. “Is it really possible Pope Francis has an idea that would make being Christians, or believing in God, into nonsense?”

I have a different set of questions.

If the pope is so darned concerned, why is the interview still published on the website of the Holy See? Why didn’t the pope issue a clarification? Why did Fr. Lombardi confirm that the pope was not misrepresented? Why in the hell are we still talking about this?

Enough questions; here are some answers. This pathetic attempt at damage control has the stench of political posturing. Let’s not deny what was said and upset the humanists who celebrated the interview; rather, let’s cast just enough doubt on what was reported to placate those rigid restorationists who still care about Catholic doctrine.

I have a better idea: How about letting your “yes” mean yes and your “no” mean no, Holy Father.

Is that too much to ask? After all, anything more than this comes from evil.

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