At the Italian news agency ANSA we find out a little more about what Francis has said to the gathering of priests of the Diocese of Rome ordained during the last 10 years, some 150.
The Pope, ‘chattering is women’s stuff’
The website Silere non possumus reports it. Francis would then add [NB: Italian giornalistic style at times resorts to the conditional “avrebbe aggiunto” to pad the statement a little, like saying “seems to have… or allegedly” even when it is a clear fact.] that in Rome ‘there are corruption problems in the Vicariate’
After the controversy over the colorful expressions that the Pope allegedly used [avrebbe usato] to talk about homosexuals in seminaries, in another closed-door meeting, yesterday’s one with young Roman priests, Pope Francis asked them to avoid bad-mouthing, saying that “chattering is something for women.” [Chiacchiera is “chit-chat” but also commonly “gossip”. I think “gossip” was meant here.]
The website ‘Silere non possum’ writes it.
Pope Francis would have added: “We have trousers, we have to say things.” Again according to the same site, the Pope responded to a young priest on the situation of the diocese of Rome, Francis replied: “There are problems of corruption”.
The site Silere non possumus (SNP) has some comments which are worrisome.
“chattering is something for women”
Especially with certain SJs. ?
“Chattering (gossip) is something for women”
This is how you know he was never a construction worker. The manliest of manly men also, in my experience, enjoy ‘chattering.’
Now, the line between news and gossip: that, like many a minute moral analysis, is a tricky one to parse out.
~TheCavalierHatherly
Gossip tends to, by its nature, involve detraction/slander/calumny/jealousy and thus the capital sin of envy. This makes it something that is more prone for the temperament of women to suffer from. The intention of gossip is also to gain or retain power at the expense of another (engaging in envy in a malicious manner).
News, scuttlebutt, rumors tend to be more fact-based but can also devolve into a sin of the tongue pretty quick. These can also be a form of boasting, which is something that men are prone to do as a sin of the tongue.
It is best to discuss the affairs of God than the affairs of other people, even around the water cooler
I at school I had this one teacher (funfact: it was a priest and he taught religious education) who used to say:
“Silence! Let womenfolk keep their trap shut.”
And then a boy would also chatter.
“Silence! The expression ‘womenfolk’ is not gender-specific.”
Is it just me or does it seem like the Holy Father’s teflon is finally starting to shed a bit? Phil Lawler’s recent column points to a piece in the “Reporter” by Tom Reese SJ in which the latter, heretofore an enthusiastic Bergoglian cheerleader, is sounding dispirited and exasperated with this pontificate. Has the worm turned?
It is a odd thing, very odd indeed, to tell a bunch of men not to engage in a behavior by saying it is “for women”, when the behavior itself is vicious. If it is a vice, then the women should not be doing it either. It would be like telling a group of young women to stop their leering at male construction workers by telling the “leering is for men”, as if it’s OK when men do it.
This is just another example (of hundreds or thousands now) of Francis saying things off-the-cuff that one shouldn’t look closely at because it doesn’t bear close examination. He speaks loosely, carelessly, glibly, and (sometimes) uninformedly as well. And that’s when he isn’t speaking from badly formed philosophy / political theory. The natural thing to do with a public figure who speaks out like this so often, is to STOP PAYING ATTENTION to him. Paying attention just encourages the buffoonery.