A Papal Biopsy

It is not insignificant that Pope Francis is so intent on marking a contrast to his predecessors that he has altered papal protocol by quoting himself much more than previous popes in his magisterial documents. This translates into action—for instance, by redressing the moral philosophy of John Paul II in the Kristallnacht of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family and the cauterizing of Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum with the ironically titled Traditionis Custodes. Such things are more than unsettling for those of a pious hue who are heirs to the assumption that though infallibility and omniscience are different, they have been pretty cozy partners in the public image of an unusually long line of estimable popes.