Yes, I know about “gaslighting”. However, again, I just think this Pope is too stupid to gaslight. Now, I think very stupid people can be very dangerous. However, at this point, Pope Francis could achieve much more, and more quickly, if he didn't send out tweets like that and if he didn't overplay his hand so dramatically. Two years ago, people like us already well recognized what we were dealing with in this Pope, but many other faithful Catholics either were in denial or were too congenitally conservative to speak up yet. Well, the relentless nonsense in which this Pope engages — from denying there is a Hell and having a spokesman issue a mere non-denial denial to hosting yet another purely secular conference at the Vatican to which pop stars are invited — has forced the hand of more good Catholics. The prayers have increased. A smarter man would let sleeping dogs lie while he more quietly plotted to undermine the faith. But Pope Francis is not a smart man. And thank God for that.
You may be right. His ambiguity and self-contradiction seem habitual, if not congenital.
On the other hand, it might be habitual because long-practiced.
Maybe like Columbo "crazy-like-a-fox."
For some reason, he doesn't WANT to lull us into sleepytime acquiesence. He seems to deliberately aggravate our allergic and immune reactions. Admittedly, that doesn't seem to be the way to sneak things in, but he apparently does it deliberately.
Could anything have been more obvious than the Delphi Technique game he played with the "Family" Synod process? He went so far --- overt conference-stacking, bullying, even blocking people's mail --- that cardinals were practically shouting at him.
I admit I can't figure him out.
I also can't figure out why practically nobody has come forward to stand with Burke. That last "Confusion in the Church" conference 4 weeks ago in Rome was just him, Schneider and Zen. Where the hell are all the rest of them?