Papal Nonsense

Not being Catholic, I was something of an anomaly at the Jesuit boarding school I went to, but I liked the Jesuits. In particular I remember Father Beatty, a very kind, decent, and learned man who took a genuine interest in the boys' education. Some years after I'd left I found out he'd passed away—a loss keenly felt. As I remember him from time to time he still provides inspiration. He should be a saint. Anyhow, from my outsider's sense of Catholicism it was with more than a little dismay that I read the Pope's recent controversial speech. No substitute for reading the original text, is there? There're a lot of efforts now being made to wave away Muslim outrage, but reading the text it's quite clearly a mean swipe at Islam, dressed up, perhaps, in academese, but for all that a clumsy, bigoted, snarl of superiority. What the Pope needs, I thought (based on my extensive experience with such particulars), is a bucket of hot water, a mop, some bleach, and a few lavatories to scrub down, to get his priorities straight.