Pope Francis, insult comic

Hailed for striking a gentler tone, the pope is actually the vicar of snark

Yukking it up.
(Image credit: (Getty/Franco Origlia))

The pope's favorite American prelate, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, opined this week on the character of the church's biggest celebrity. According to O'Malley, Pope Francis isn't about to launch a revolution in the church, he's just changing the tone.

O'Malley said the shift in emphasis is necessary because the church has been in the past "too strident, maybe too repetitious." The interview's main pitch is of a "softer" church.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.