spontaneity. The compromise that was announced was that there would be reports from the Holy Father

s why Fr. Frederico Lombardi, spokesperson for the Vatican, not even two months into Francis papacy explained that they would not publish entire daily homilies from Francis since different celebrations, circumstances provide different contexts. They wanted to honor people

predecessors might have thought or even privately said the same thing. What is novel is Francisto a world-wide audience who can hear it and read it almost instantly.

t mind speaking somewhat loosely, casually to the world - even making jokes. Back in October when he visited a cloistered convent in Assisi, he quipped, '' It makes me sad when I find sisters who aren't joyful. They might smile, but with just a smile they could be flight attendants

s become routine now, an hour or so after a daily Mass in the Domus (where the Holy Father has chosen to reside) has concluded, that anyone can click an app on their iPad, or a link from a tweet and read what the Holy Father said in their own language. That must be a bit more challenging than one might assume when we think of how these journalists have to somehow translate this constantly surprising, spontaneous even somewhat unpredictable 77 year old pontiff. Francis doesn

to have staff present to give reports on what he said during his homilies, but in the way he speaks and the content of his talks. It

s speeches, homilies and audiences than our brothers and sisters from just a decade earlier, Pope Francis, seemingly from the night of his election has had an even greater connection with people around the world. Not simply by making his daily Masses semi-public and allowing Vatican Radio and L

While in the last decade or so people already had greater access to the Holy Father

t the vast majority of faithful men been unfairly maligned enough as a result of a small number of deviant priests who sexually abused young people?

Quotes like these, along with moves like severely limiting the number of priests eligible to receive the honorary title Monsignor has caused some to feel the Holy Father has been unfairly critical, making priests the focus of a lot of his concern. In light of the numerous, publically enumerated lists of problems facing the Church that people talked about before his election, this seems surprising. What do parish priests know of the Vatican banking scandal? The release of private, confidential and personal documents from Pope Benedict (aka

reference, in another daily Mass homily, while comparing modern day clerics to the priests in the Old Testament in the book of Samuel who were not the best examples of being

s Online Dictionary had a nicer spin on it (but not much). They describe Smarmy as:

one of the first definitions I saw on the results page was: Smarmy: A certain attitude often accompanied by a squinty look and a superior smile that makes you instantly hate a person. Similar to snobby. I instantly thought - Yikes, Pope Francis

ve learned, you have to be careful when doing, because sometimes the results aren

because they are always vain... [This kind of priest] does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ

Those who put their strength in artificial things, in vanity, in an attitude... in a cutesy language... But how often do we hear it said with sorrow:

We are anointed by the Spirit, and when a priest is far from Jesus Christ he can lose this unction...And instead of being anointed he ends up being

We are anointed by the Spirit, and when a priest is far from Jesus Christ he can lose this unction...And instead of being anointed he ends up being smarmy. And how damaging to the Church are smarmy priests _ Those who put their strength in artificial things, in vanity, in an attitude... in a cutesy language... But how often do we hear it said with sorrow: > This is a butterfly-priest, = because they are always vain... [This kind of priest] does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ _ He has lost the unction: he is smarmy. @

t like the reporter was using the word to describe what Francis said... The Holy Father said it himself. Three times to be exact:

I confess my ignorance, I had never heard of the word before - but it sure didn

I was excited to have a spiritual reflection on the priesthood from the Pope who has captured the hearts of people - Catholics and non-Catholics alike - around the world in such a short period of time. As I did, there it was - the word

Which leads back to the A Smarmy @ question. A few months ago a headline that caught my attention read, A Pope Francis: the true priest and his relation to Christ. @ I was excited to have a spiritual reflection on the priesthood from the Pope who has captured the hearts of people - Catholics and non-Catholics alike - around the world in such a short period of time. As I did, there it was - the word A Smarmy. @ I confess my ignorance, I had never heard of the word before - but it sure didn = t sound good. Reading the article, you realized quickly that it wasn = t like the reporter was using the word to describe what Francis said... The Holy Father said it himself. Three times to be exact:

Of all the many issues facing the Church at this time in history, Francis = pointed, public critiques of priests on the surface feel like part of A a piling on @ that many priests feel they were already experiencing: from their parishioners, from those who no longer go to Church, from their Bishops, from the media, and from themselves: A If we are far from Jesus Christ, we necessarily compensate for this with other, worldly attitudes. And so [we see] all these figures... priest-wheeler dealers, priest-tycoons... @ One priest-friend remarked when I told him this topic I was writing on asked, A So are you planning on beating yourself up in the process? @

That reaction kind of surprised me. Don = t we believe that the Holy Spirit seems to raise up the right man in each day and age to address the problems, the failures, the obstacles to the saving message of Jesus Christ being lived and proclaimed by the Church? When Karol Wojtyla = s name was first announced on the balcony of St. Peters Square in 1978 and thousands of Italian spectators in stunned silence wondered where in the world was this first non-Italian pope in 450 years coming from? - few could = ve anticipated the global implications John Paul II = s papacy would have not just on the Church but on the entire world. His contributions to the fall of Communism can be traced to his leading the Church in advocating freedom as one of God = s most precious gifts to humanity. To those deprived of that gift, he became a global champion fighting for those oppressed. To those born into freedom, he became a voice of conscience reminding us that freedom A consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. @ With John Paul II = s death only being 9 years ago, just that short distance has given us a bit more appreciation for some of the reasons the Lord raised John Paul to lead the Church at that time.