Donald Wuerl, the Archibishop of Washington, spoke with Fox News about Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato si'. Naturally, the reaction of various public figures came up in dicussion, and the Cardinal's response was...well, impressive.
Details below the Great Orange Colophon...
As Raw Story reports:
Wuerl reacted by pointing out that the pope was within his authority to provide a “moral frame of reference” to Catholics — like Bush — without dictating specific policies.
“So the pope is talking about what should we be doing, not here is a political agenda that you must accept,” Wuerl explained during an appearance on Fox News. “I think that’s the richness of his contribution to all of this. There is a human dimension in everything we do, and that therefore carries with it a moral and ethical dimension.”
OK, so far so good - the Pope isn't trying to dictate policy, he's talking about the multiple dimensions of the question...that seems a nice, polite, even anodyne assessment, if not a softball answer. However, Chris Wallace made it a point to ask Wuerl about Rush Limbaugh's comment that Pope Francis had "taken sides" on the political question. After listening to a clip of Limbaugh's statement, Wuerl gave what seemed a wry smile before responding:
“This is one of the great blessings of America,” Wuerl replied with a smile. “We’re all allowed to speak our mind even if we don’t have all the facts, even if we don’t have a clear view of what the other person is saying. We’re all allowed to speak our mind, and that’s what he’s doing. I think what the pope is doing is something very, very different from that.”
Ouch. Just...ouch. As they say...
that's gonna leave a mark.
For your viewing pleasure: