"Both/And?"

Having just heard an otherwise fine sermon which categorized Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as the catechist pope par excellence and Pope Francis as the evangelizing pope par excellence, that designation just does not ring true.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was the pope of the primacy of God, thus the philosopher/theologian pope par excellence, and yes, most certainly, firmly grounded in the Catechism and catechesis.

Pope Francis, though, for all of his enthusiasm, I am not sure what kind of a pope he is. It is not at all obvious. Evangelists do not confuse people. They shed light, not doubt, with the Gospel. If the evangelist sows doubt regarding the faith he must be forgetting his catechism, and is therefore no evangelists at all. Pope France is the Jesuit pope, or, if you prefer, the Argentinian pope par excellence, viz. an enigma with, at best, uncertain results.

"For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" I Cor. 14:8