Pope Francis’s Strange Bedfellows, by James Kalb

One would assume a radical pope like Francis would at least keep a few token conservatives in his entourage. On the contrary: many of his appointees are well to the Left of his own public image. Much can be gleaned about the Holy Father’s mind by studying the men he entrusts with power and authority.

Take the appointment of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia to head the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family. The regime-change took place two years ago; now, as expected, Paglia is conducting a Stalin-style purge of the Academy. All the members of the Institute who subscribe to John Paul’s view of marriage and morality are being handed pink slips—a color which suggests the new direction that Paglia has in mind for the Institute.

Of course, this is the man now famous for having commissioned an enormous homoerotic fresco to “grace” an interior wall of his cathedral. In the picture, a semi-nude (his lower half is mercifully shielded by a sheet) Archbishop Paglia is seen clutching a nude man who returns his embrace. ….

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