The Pope’s visit still lingers over America, and between the good feelings and happy tears and the smiling faces of Catholic children, the remains of the day include a few bad moments too.
We don’t have to list them all, but you’ll surely recall the highlights: the Pope didn’t mention abortion in his big speech, but he did mention global warming and the death penalty; the Pope pushed liberalism’s social policies and attacked business, industry, success, and even the military; the list goes on. But it wasn’t only the right who came away with bad feelings. No, the left became outraged as soon as he left over the news that the pontiff had visited with history’s greatest monster, Kim Davis.
This endorsement of megadecahomophobia and anti-scienceness proved that no matter how good and foreign and Marxist a Christian is, they’re still bad and evil and wrong. MSNBC panels went nuts. The internet went nuts. Dan Savage played with his nuts. It was all too tragic. Not her! Say it isn’t so!
And voila, they have said it isn’t so.
Via Drudge, this report from CBS Chicago:
Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich is on his way to Rome tonight. Before he left, he spoke out for the first time on that controversial meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Cupich in essence told CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine not to read too much into it.
A highly placed source inside the Vatican claims the Pope was blindsided.
That’s right, the Pope was caught off guard by someone opposed to gay marriage, and wants you to know he didn’t mean to talk to her.
“The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi. *Whew*
But, but, but, but … that is NOT all. You see, not only did he accidentally meet with someone opposed to gay marriage, the Vatican went on to add that the only person he met with on purpose at that time was a gay man from Argentina named Yayo Grassi, who brought his partner of 19 years with him.
From CNN:
Earlier on Friday, the Vatican said that the meeting with Davis was not intended as a show of support for her cause and “the only real audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature (embassy) was with one of his former students and his family.”
“That was me,” Grassi said.
Grassi, who is 67, added that he is willing to talk about his private moment with the pontiff because he was upset about media coverage of the Pope’s meeting with Davis.
“I want to show the truth of who Pope Francis is,” he said.
The Pope has opposed gay marriage for some time, as one might expect a Pope to. One can assume that he still does. So why the sneering at Davis and embrace of Grassi? Why does the Pope leave conservative Christians high and dry and make every effort to reassure liberals that he’s on their side?
I guess you’d have to ask him. Grassi said he wanted to show who Pope Francis really is. Maybe he’s done just that. It certainly seems like the actions of someone who has a different set of priorities, someone who’s interests line up more with Barack than with Baptists (or Methodists or even many Catholics.) It sort of seems like these are the actions of someone who cares a whole lot more about Social Justice than he does about the Biblical kind.