Pope Francis Praises Big Families as a gift from God -I bet you say that to all the wabbits.

Jumpin' without a parachute? Kinda dangerous, ain't it? - Bugs Bunny

At least we know he's getting the messages.

I also think his immediate reversal is an action taken in good faith to demonstrate he is on the same page with the fiat of woman.

When the Holy Father said we all need to listen to women because they can see things men can't, this is a shining example. And he did respond.

There are still several problems here and they are not insignificant problems.

1. The two-year history of ridiculing, rebuking, penalizing faithful Catholics while shilling for the goodness in adulterous relationships that has just got to stop.

"Stop breathing on my fur!"

He knows how to be careful with what he says. It's time to stop the off the cuff remarks. He knows his stream of consciousness is not orthodox by nature. It's time to give them ice cream on the plane without talking about theology.

2. He owes the pregnant woman he rebuked an apology.

3. He's given the world the idea that NFP is the approved-approved method of birth control.

Technically, this could be argued when a mother's life is in danger, but if there is the extremely rare genuine case where a pregnancy is killing the mother, the Church does not penalize the woman if the pregnancy is terminated.

We don't promote this as a valid Church-approved abortion.

See the theological and pastoral problem with the spin on contraception?

TTC readers are not going to like what I have to say about this one, but it could be we could hijack this and get women off of the pill and into using NFP.

Think about this for a minute.

The reality is, most contraception use is about the inability to afford a child. Most people are exaggerating their financial situation to delay a family, but there are some legitimate cases. If we were to jump on this to get women into good NFP programs that teaches the distinction, more good than harm would be brought to bear from this booboo.

Why not? Every mistake made by the Holy See gets put into full throttle into catechesis. Let's play the game.

4. He's got to stop appointing apostates.

5. This is the most important one: He has to teach moral theology and encourage priests to do the same.

While we have a captive audience, any other suggestions?


I wanted to post today's optional readings for the Memorial of St. Agnes. They are speaking to us. Having trouble finding them. the USCCB site, unbelievably, does not have them.