Avoiding public scandal is so imbedded in the Church’s DNA that many (not all) bishops will do and say anything to avoid such scandal.
Danneels, yet another liberal “papabile,” (pope-able) joining other liberal aspiring popes, like Bernard Law, Joseph Bernardin and Roger Mahony.
Bernadin, incidentally, was a Satanist; Mahony was a pagan, and Law just crumpled under media pressure.