(1) Not loony, but ignorant of Traditional Catholic teaching. Some are intentionally so; others not.
(2) Funny how the kids get it.
Here, let's try an experiment: I just asked my 13 year old daughter how she'd respond to the pope being blessed by the archbishop of Canterbury. She said "I'd probably vomit, why, is this true? where's the bin, that's so stupid." I didn't guide her reaction by my question either.