That explains it. . .

This from Pope Francis:  I remember when I was a student of philosophy, an old Jesuit, sly, good but pretty sly, advised me: “If you want to survive in religious life, always think clearly; but always speaks obscurely”. 

Apparently Jorge was listening because it has become the single most confounding aspect of his papacy.  You never know what he is thinking because what he says can be positively obtuse.  Perhaps that is what he wants to do but it is more than unhelpful, it takes away from the witness and credibility of the faith.  The world may be adept at words that mean whatever you want them to mean or nothing at all but in the Church we deal with the Word that does what it says, delivers what it promises, and accomplishes God's purpose in sending it.  So when anyone who presumes to speak for God purposefully obscures the clear witness of the Truth, that person becomes an impediment to God's saving will and purpose.  Even worse is when this becomes the operating practice of the Church for then no one knows what is true and what is not.

Lutherans need to pay attention to this as well.  It is one thing to be rude when we are blunt.  We must take care to make sure that the truth spoken is spoken in love but it must always be the truth.  When we muddle the message we lose credibility with those to whom we are speaking.  In the same way we need to avoid distracting from the truth by speaking rudely or pridefully as if we were somehow above the message.