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Monday 27 April 2015

He said what?

I have a friend, good Catholic, very devout, with Stations and novenas and Sacraments and very devoted to service, with social justice and visiting the sick and building houses for the underprivileged.

More and more often, he is asking me, did you see where the Pope said.....? followed by something either flat contradictory to Catholic teaching, or really judgy about the kind of people the Pope is thought not to like, or just plain cray-cray.
It upsets him, because he's not accustomed to Questioning Things Popes Say, (even long dead ones, if speaking "officially" as opposed to  just talking the way we sinners are wont to occasionally talk, even with the best of intentions.)
(And some popes, sadly, can not be trusted to have had the 'best of intentions.")

I can often set his mind at ease, because what he has heard is someone else's dishonest paraphrase, or irresponsibility, or even completely fabricated balderdash, (you know, like the dogs go to heaven "news story," or the atheist citing from memory?)
And really, is there much the media is more likely to get wrong that anything in anyway related to religion?
But sometimes it's something of which I have not heard, of worse, have heard and know to be true but cannot think of anyway to put a good construction on what was said.

He had one in our most recent conversation that rang no bell, so I don't know if it was an accurate post or not.

And that's troubling, because I realized we've reached the point where we can't just flat deny something absurd out of hand because the Pope "wouldn't have" said it.

'Cause, you know..... he might.

 This was one that recently caused to to ask,  "Huh?"

“To find a woman, man first must dream her and then find her.”
That's really all I have to say. Huh?

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