Who Am I To Judge?

Father Longenecker has a take on this at his blog.  I cannot describe how exasperated I am by that line.  I'm besieged by it from every angle. I almost quit RCIA over it.  I will never get past that statement. It will be like the apocryphal statement "preach always and when necessary use words" in that it's utterly devoid of meaning without context, except that in the case of "who am I to judge" the quote was actually said by the person credited with it.

The thing that no one realizes is that Pope Francis is the most judgmental Pope in my lifetime. The first year of his papacy was marked by a never-ending string of invective directed towards his foes: "little monsters", "vain butterfly priests", "smarmy, idolater priest", "leprous courtier" and of course the famous "self adsorbed Promethean neo-pelagian".

I don't even know what those mean.

I get called a "Pharisee" sometimes.  Usually it goes something like this.  "You pharisaical swine!  Why can't you be open minded and nonjudgmental like me, you cold hearted, judgmental, monster!"  And that's what my friends say.

Pope Francis may be right to call someone a "modern gnostic" (I understand that one) or a "fomented of copraphagia" (eww!). But it's hard to square that with "who am I to judge?"

So why does Francis have a rep as a easy going, welcoming, nonjudgmental, guy?  Is it because he insults the same people the media want to see insulted?  Is it because his insults are incomprehensible  in English ("promoter of the poison of immanence")?

I may never know.