If someone questions papal infallibility, I reply, "I know one thing for sure: you shouldn't be wearing horizontal stripes".
It was not the sort of papal audience I'd expected, but I felt thrilled to be there.
As soon as I heard that then cardinal Bergloglio had selected Francis as his new "papal name," I said to myself, "Whoa!" I imagine some of the cardinals who had just voted for him had the same thought.
During a papal audience, I put folks at ease by asking, "Are you gay?" Then I say, "Kidding!" Then I go, "No, seriously, are you gay?" It's hard to tell all the cardinals apart, so sometimes I put different dinosaur stickers on their backs.
Papal Infallability Is a Problem for the Catholic Church.
Previously - Papal Infallibility Is a Problem for the Catholic Church.
In an almost papal way, I will say: "Look, everything we do is complicated.
In the days running up to this week's Papal Conclave I did a brief ring round of Catholics about what the Church needed from the man who would become the 266 Pope.
"If he brings that same desire for a simple lifestyle to the papal court, I think they are all going to be in shock," the Rev Thomas Reese, author of an authoritative book on the Vatican, told the Associated Press.
From my time on the papal plane a decade ago, I remember sumptuous meals wheeled up to the first-class section where Vatican officials sat.
