How manly and virile can he be while dressed in the episcopal garb forced on him by medieval convention? Get rid of the lace rochets, cappa magnas, mitres and such, and you might give him a fighting chance.
Elsewhere someone mentions the feminization of America being a problem; the Catholic Church has been struggling with that burden for centuries. Short of the Broadway stage, a homosexual couldn't find a better costuming option than Holy Mother Church.
LOL I hear ya, brother. Yet John Paul the Great's virility and manliness was such that even in his military uniform Jaruzelski quailed and quaked and appeared girlish when standing next to the Pope.
Ever see the Bishop Fulton Sheen re-runs? He was quite manly.
A real man wouldn't let trappings bother him. The manliness would show right through. Think of kilts.
And, by the way, lace wasn't fashionable on a man until the 16th century and really didn't disappear until the later part of the 19th.