From Purgatory Pope Alexander VI called a press conference:
I would like to thank so many members of the media for coming. I realize many of you are quite familiar with the Infernal Regions, but the trip to Purgatory is a strange one and an arduous one for most of you and I appreciate that I called this press conference on very short notice.
Lately I have taken note that many Catholic bloggers have taken to comparing me with one of my successors, Pope Francis. I must protest this. I am here for my various lamentable sins which are too well known for me to have to recite now. However, when it came to the doctrine and beliefs of the Church, I was their champion during my life. I frequently did not uphold the teachings of Christ in my private life, to say the least, but I never doubted they were true and just. Pope Francis on the other hand is constantly flirting with heresy and may well have crossed the line, although my loyalty to the papacy will not allow me to say more. You may ask why a man in Purgatory, as I am, would care about this. A man may hang for his manifold crimes, but he still may protest a crime he is falsely accused of. As Pope I never dreamed of altering the teachings of Mother Church. I died truly repentant of my many, many sins, and through the grace and mercy of God am here in Purgatory. May my successor have a similar fate, and may he cease attempting to tamper with the Truth of our Holy Faith!
And with that the press conference came to an end.
While I agree Francis has played fast and loose with matters of Church discipline (and for what it’s worth, discipline always implicates matters of doctrine) I don’t agree that Francis is altering what the Church has perennially taught. And I know that’s not a popular opinion around here.
Now I suppose you could argue that what Francis has done is worse, in that, in failing to teach clearly, and in deliberately (? –probably–) creating the impression that a loosening of discipline will lead or has already led to a “development” of doctrine, he’s contributed in a material way to the scattering of his flock. Maybe that counts as formal heresy, I don’t know. But it certainly isn’t pastoral. And isn’t Francis supposed to be the champion of the pastoral approach?