Apologies for the picture quality (it’s from live coverage by ABC News), but this shot of Pope Francis cracking up as he sees a baby dressed as a pope is just the sort of image that his conservative critics dread. That’s because it undermines their attempts to stop Francis waving through what they regard as a dangerous watering-down of Catholic teaching.
The Pope’s visit to the US, which has just ended, has been a public relations triumph. Meaning: a triumph, full stop.
Francis was eloquent, relaxed and amazingly youthful for a man heading for 80. He tilted in a liberal direction, but not far enough to create anxiety among most churchgoing Catholics anywhere in the world.
Maybe they should be feeling anxiety. Pope Francis seems to favour changes to pastoral practice – adove all, letting divorced and remarried people receive Communion – that could split the Church.
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