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I frequently say that I don't understand Pope Francis's approach, and I don't think Americans in general understand it. And this kind of encapsulates why: the Holy Father frequently says things, beautiful things, that are in wonderful continuity with his predecessors and that to every appearance represent his sincere convictions. But in a great many cases, his actual decisions in the realms of personnel, administration, and legal decisions are ones that--from my perspective at least--seem calculated to have almost the opposite effect.

Sometimes I start to speculate about why or how this could be, but I find that it is not useful, so I just have to content myself with saying "I don't understand."

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I'm curious what the closest thing to "branding" looked like for jubilees and other big church events prior to the 70s. Surely nothing as milquetoast as what we've seen the past 50 years.

At least I haven't encountered any bishop's coat of arms presented in the style of Barney the Dinosaur.

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Iā€™m so very grateful for you guys. I found this article particularly helpful and your description of the popes letter on the liturgy as well as the Nancy Pelosi communion situation. I was very disheartened by what I was reading until I read your stuff.

I truly believe that the Pillar Catholic is one of the best things to happen to journalism in our church in a very long time.

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Fine work this week! I keep having to remind myself that before he is Pope, Pope Francis is a jesuit. For better and for worse. Iā€™ve been around Jesuits all my life and well. They are not diplomatic and they seek the boundaries to go and mess around with them. Sometimes they run headlong off a cliff. Other times they discover great treasure weā€™d have never found had we stuck to what worked.

I hear your and see your pain Ed on the logo. It made me sigh terribly. On the one hand, the logo ā€˜doesnā€™t really matterā€™ but neither does the Sistine chapel ceiling. The sad thing is that I know EXACTLY how much work goes into creating such a logo and It is entirely a product of committee selection that is trying to avoid offending anyone and pleases no one. Iā€™ve done logo design for local scale church projects and itā€™s a global problem. As a church we SHOULD be doing better than the bland corporatism tried to be made ā€˜funā€™.

Also, what a shame you didnā€™t have your ā€œcynical grumpā€ hat to sport whilst tossing tea bags into the Thames! That would have got you a few more polite enquirers.

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Would be interested to get the take on the logo from people from around the world. Now that you have several international people on board, ask them to ask people around their areas? Is the logo only childish for us Americans or for everyone around the world?

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