Wooden says, "According to a Vatican News report on the homily, Francis said that it was with silence that Jesus defeated the 'wild dogs,' the devil, who had sown lies in the hearts. It wasn't people, it was a pack of wild dogs that chased him out of the city,' the pope said. But Jesus is silent. 'It is the dignity of Jesus. With his silence he defeats the wild pack and walks away because it was not his hour. This teaches us that when there is this way of acting, of not seeing the truth, silence remains,' he said."
So at least for the time being, Pope Francis is not going to respond specifically to Archbishop Vigano's various allegations. But the pope's colorful characterizations in his homily seem to be characterizations of Vigano. In addition, Pope Francis himself does not sound like he's ready for prime time, as they say.
However, apart from possible colorful characterizations of Vigano, just how far does Pope Francis plan to go on maintaining silence about Vigano's various allegations? I hope that sooner or later the pope and the Vatican say something further about disgraced Cardinal McCarrick's record of sexual activity with young seminarians and priests (i.e., not minors).
Now, it is entirely possible that Pope Francis himself does not know anything about Harvey Weinstein and the various actresses that he allegedly manipulated into having sex with him. But the American Catholic bishops are certainly aware of Harvey Weinstein and the allegations made against him. Consequently, the American bishops should understand how Vigano's allegations about McCarrick are going to sound not only to American Catholics but also to non-Catholic Americans today.
On the literal level, the story in the Gospel of Luke seems to suggest that Jesus has the power to free himself from the grip of the crowd and then pass through the midst of the crowd in silence and go away in silence. But does Pope Francis actually believe that he has the power to do something like this in the present circumstances by maintaining silence about Vigano's various allegations?
If former Pope Benedict XVI did indeed place some kind of sanctions on then-Cardinal McCarrick, as Vigano alleges, surely Pope Francis should be able to investigate Vigano's claim and find out what exactly happened, if indeed anything happened.
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