[Mrs. Don-o]

I first got my diagnosis of R.A. 31 ears ago. It has inexplicable flare-ups and remissions. When I first got it it hit me hard: I had inflammation in 18 major joints. Then it went down to 4. Then two. Then disappeared. Then went after both knees again, slowly simmered down, then went after one knee in a horrible way. The whole thing calmed down during my first pregnancy, then hit like demons within a week of my son being born. Some days I couldn't even pick him up from the crib.

And on. And off. And on. And off.

And although more women have RA than men, it hits men, too.

So I wouldn't make the cheeriest assumptions about a 77-year-old man's joints, ligaments and tendons. It would be just, would it not? -- as well as charitable, to consider that he might miss a genuflection from joint pain rather than from denying the doctrine of Transubstantiation?

[ebb tide]

I never said Francis denied Transubstantiation, did I? Why do you try to put words in my mouth?