Yesterday I took part in an interesting discussion at The Catholic Herald’s offices on the subject of Pope Francis’s first year. The question was, as it seemed to be for the BBC this morning, whether his ‘revolution’ has been one of substance or style. The answer, I reckon, is a bit of both – and a bit of neither. Yes, Francis has thrilled left-liberals everywhere by suggesting that the Church should be nicer to gays and women, by telephoning famous atheists for a chinwag, and by – altogether now – ‘snubbing the pomp and ceremony’ of the papal office.
But I’m not sure how radical a departure all that is, really. To listen to some commentators, you’d think that Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI had trotted about the world saying, ‘Well these poor folk are just getting what they deserve, lazy sods, and the sick deserve to suffer because they are probably gay.
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