But, and it's a big but, one key responsibility of any leader of anything is to make sure he doesn't look foolish, and by extrapolation, to make sure his followers don't look foolish.
This looks, IMNVHO, very foolish. It also reeks of unprofessionalism. This would, or might have been, a commendable private interaction, followed by a public "teaching moment," to answer the questions I and many others might have about it.
The Borgia Popes would have handled it in a much better manner.
The Borgia Popes as bad as they were.... were Catholic.