Carefully Crafted Bad Language …

but from the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth?

Gutter Language: The Sh-t Hits the Fan

Photo credit: By Bengt Nyman - originally posted to Flickr as IMG_2356-1, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11676038

The “Copro” Hits the Fan

In an interview with Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio Francis said of those whom he considers his detractors — because they publish the growing tension between the pontiff and orthodox Catholic media concerning the “Dubia” or five simple questions that can answered in one word: “yes” or “no” relative to his post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia — the following (quoting Reuters News):

“Using precise psychological terms, he said scandal-mongering media risked falling prey to coprophilia, or arousal from excrement, and consumers of these media risked coprophagia, or eating excrement.”

Francis then added, “And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.”¹

From a Pope? We are Ashamed …

A pope using this language concerning those with whom he disagrees?

Everyone knows the four-letter word he is using and instantly sees beyond the sanitized psychological nomenclature. We know what he was “really” saying … and thinking … and are shocked by it ... ashamed of it.

Any parent who changes an infant’s diapers and says, “Oh, my … there is so much copro in this diaper, but since I am not hungry I will throw it away!” has serious verbal, linguistic, and communication problems with the rest of the world — to say nothing of an apparently widespread psychological disorder.

Let us, then, render this arcana into terms comprehensible to the rest of the world:

“Using ordinary terms, he said scandal-mongering media risked falling prey to being aroused by sh--, and consumers of these media risked eating sh--.”

Francis then added, “And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of eating sh--, a lot of damage can be done.”¹

How is that for cutting through the bull-copro?

Can you imagine a head of state (which Francis is) using this language to denigrate his perceived detractors? Good grief, even the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) defines “indecent speech” as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.” ³ That is to say, were the interview broadcast, the FCC would have banned Francis’s depiction of those in disagreement with him as “indecent”! No, wait! He sanitized them, so it’s okay. Or is it …?

Catholics, non-Catholics, atheists, and anyone else living on this planet will likely respond in utter incredulity with words we can only hint at: “H- -y Copro! Did the pope himself really say that?!”

Sadly, yes …

To quote Lifesite News:

“So now, if the translation [Reuter’s] is correct, as most of these usually are, if we dare to see and report what are obviously newsworthy developments that do not reflect well on the pope or his close collaborators,
we are “scandal-mongering,” “eating excrement” and being sexually aroused by this excrement of reporting uncomfortable truth. How can a pope, the Vicar of Christ, make such vile accusations? Whatever happened to, “Who am I to judge?” ²

Perhaps we live in parallel universes, but Francis’s apparent conviction that “people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia” is startling. We had never so much as heard of the word, let alone encountered the tendency within ourselves or anyone else on the planet that we have met.

There is, however, another affliction much more common, and we fear that the more our present pontiff speaks, the more we are led to the frightening conclusion that Francis is non compos mentis (not of a sound mind). Like coprophilia and coprophagia — that he appears to see in others as a broad tendency — it is a sickness of the mind. This is not said disdainfully or sarcastically. It is said with great pity — and great alarm.

Let us pray for his speedy recovery.

Editor
Boston Catholic Journal

Printable PDF Version