MARK SHIELDS: I cannot think of a single public figure\u201d\u201dsecular, religious, or any other kind\u201d\u201dwho has inspired, provoked the level of civil discourse and discussion and animated exchanges that this man has.<\/p>\n
[BOB] ABERNETHY: But could all the adulation of Francis be too much?<\/p>\n
[JOHN] CARR: One of my more cynical friends, someone skeptical about all this, said \u201cthis is just a big Vatican PR campaign.\u201d\u009d And I said, \u201cName the last successful Vatican PR campaign.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
ABERNETHY: Alongside Francis\u2019s popularity, Brooks saw a danger. He called it \u201cmushiness.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
[DAVID] BROOKS: Francis\u2019s core message is the person of Francis. The risk therein, it seems to me, is the Church is not only a feel-good institution about a humble guy. It is a doctrine and a creed, and it is a specific set of beliefs and convictions, and they are beliefs that are reasonably tough-minded, and if you lose contact with the doctrine, the stuff that actually makes outsiders a little uncomfortable, with a charming guy who washes people\u2019s feet, then you are losing something elemental to the Church.<\/p>\n