Pope's foot-washing last straw for traditionalists

[Eternal_Freedom]

According to the article, it wasn't that he broke the rules by blessing the dog, but rather that Vatican rules were broken by letting the dog on stage without prior arrangement.

“They said that Pope Francis had asked to meet me. He had seen Asi� and wanted to see both of us,” Forlani said.

“He said, ‘and a special blessing for you dog too.’ He broke the ceremonial rules as my presence on stage with Asi� wasn’t previously arranged,” Forlani said.

[Broomstick]

Oh, for Pete's sake, it's a guide dog, other civilized nations allow them to accompany their charges without a peep. I swear, there are too many people in the Catholic church who need to unbunch their panties and pull their heads out of their asses. I'm just waiting for one of these reactionary yahoos to start getting all weepy-nostalgic that there is no longer an Inquisition.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Oh, for Pete's sake, it's a guide dog, other civilized nations allow them to accompany their charges without a peep. I swear, there are too many people in the Catholic church who need to unbunch their panties and pull their heads out of their asses. I'm just waiting for one of these reactionary yahoos to start getting all weepy-nostalgic that there is no longer an Inquisition.

And this is why it's a good thing that the Pope specifically asked to meet the guide dog. As I said further up-thread, the notion of the Pope pissing off Catholics is just too damn funny.

[Siege]

The 'breaking the rules' part was letting an unknown dog get close to the pope without prior screening. It isn't to do with Church doctrine on blessing animals, it's to do with bodyguards getting nervous about situations that may not be fully under control. I bet the secret service wouldn't be thrilled if Obama did something like this either.

[UnderAGreySky]

Personally, I posted it only because I thought it was a nice thing he did - not as much to do with whether he pissed people off or if they thought it was wrong or inappropriate. I'm fond of dogs in generally, but guide dogs even more. This was... nice.

And Irbis - thanks. I didn't know about the militant / inquisitor nature of the man. I need to read more. Quite a few institutions back in India named "St. Xavier's"! Mine was run by the Jesuits but run very well - no preaching to non-Christians and encouraged all-round development over purely academics.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a nice act and I sincerely doubt he did it to piss off the nutters. However, I'm pretty certain someone would have mentioned it to him when he asked to see the journalist and his dog and he did it anyway. That's good.

[Civil War Man]

I had a cousin who was getting their first communion years ago, and the priest raised a bit of a stink because of her baptism. She was baptized at her grandparents' home by her (and my) great uncle, who was a Jesuit priest. The priest was questioning the legitimacy of the baptism because it was not performed in a church.

When her father pointed out that the baptism was fine because it was done by a Jesuit priest, the priest responded that the Jesuits have always "played fast and loose with the rules." Yes, those were his exact words.

I am happy that Francis is upholding this tradition.

[Ralin]

Catholic doctrine doesn't even require baptism to be done by a priest...

[Civil War Man]

Catholic doctrine doesn't even require baptism to be done by a priest...

Never said the priest in question wasn't an asshole.

Still, a combination of my great-uncle (who was generally an awesome person) and the "fast and loose" comment makes it so the Jesuits are generally considered to be one of the few brighter spots in the Catholic Church in my highly non-religious family.

[Stark]

That's frankly an appalling way to judge an organisation ('I knew a guy who worked there and he was ok' and 'haha they are such mavericks'). It's like saying they're a 'bright spot' because they've been implicated in so many conspiracy theories.

[Broomstick]

The 'breaking the rules' part was letting an unknown dog get close to the pope without prior screening. It isn't to do with Church doctrine on blessing animals, it's to do with bodyguards getting nervous about situations that may not be fully under control. I bet the secret service wouldn't be thrilled if Obama did something like this either.

Did they vet the journalist before he met the Pope? Then if you know the guy is blind and uses a guide dog vet the dog at the same time. Failure to do so means the security is run by dumbasses.

[Irbis]

When her father pointed out that the baptism was fine because it was done by a Jesuit priest, the priest responded that the Jesuits have always "played fast and loose with the rules." Yes, those were his exact words.

Which is ironic, really, seeing as their own rules demand absolute obedience to their superiors (to the point they adopted military ranks) and to the Pope. Of course, Pope Francis is his own superior so he might do anything he pleases.

Albeit yes, you can say they "played fast and loose with the rules" during holocaust, seeing Jesuits actually gave a damn about Nazis and tried to save lives unlike contemporary Pope and his clique who were willing to ally with anyone anti-communist enough.

[Siege]

Did they vet the journalist before he met the Pope? Then if you know the guy is blind and uses a guide dog vet the dog at the same time. Failure to do so means the security is run by dumbasses.

You're blaming professional paranoiacs for being paranoiacs. They most likely did vet the owner and the dog and they would have preferred the dog to stay away from the pope regardless. Hell, they probably would prefer people to stay away from the pope too, because it's their job to keep the pope safe and the easiest way to do that is to just not have him interact with anybody at all. But that's not an option, so they'll settle for minimizing all potential problems, i.e. 'don't let animals near the pope'. It's not a big deal, it's what bodyguards do.

[Broomstick]

I thought what was being reported was that the hardline Catholics were bitching about the dog, not the man's bodyguards.

[Siege]

Ah. Well, no complaints are mentioned in the article that UnderAGreySky posted. It only says the pope broke protocol by inviting Mr. Forlani on stage. That to me means he was not preselected for the honor beforehand, although he has to have some sort of accreditation; you're not likely to get into the pope's audience hall without getting past the Holy See Press Office first. Hence my comments.