- Nov 9, 2013
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"Larry Chapp and Kale Zelden discuss a demoralized Church," is a YouTube conversation that took place on November 24th, a month before Fiducia Supplicans was even published. I believe the conversation captures the frustration that many of us are feeling, both with respect to Pope Francis and with respect to those who constantly try to explain and re-interpret everything he does. The whole introduction is quite good, but at the 25:00 mark (link) there is a discussion of the way that the "popesplainers" constantly tell us not to trust our lying eyes, as if our basic interpretive apparatus is fundamentally flawed and untrustworthy. "Don't believe your eyes!" This form of gaslighting is deeply problematic, and it is no coincidence that it elicits strong reactions.
For those who wish to defend Pope Francis, what this means is that you cannot defend him to the extent that you just call anyone who criticizes anything he does a blind fool or a heretic. Among other things, such an approach is uncharitable, unrealistic, unproductive, and impractical. It also makes the pope superhuman, beyond criticism or objection, which is both false and problematic.
For those who wish to defend Pope Francis, what this means is that you cannot defend him to the extent that you just call anyone who criticizes anything he does a blind fool or a heretic. Among other things, such an approach is uncharitable, unrealistic, unproductive, and impractical. It also makes the pope superhuman, beyond criticism or objection, which is both false and problematic.
