Re: Is Francis the Worst Pope Ever?
Concerning "gossip sites": one of the many strange things about Pope Francis is that he INTENTIONALLY gives provocative quotations to journalists who are well-known to engage in gossip and to generally be less-than-reliable, such as the pope's atheist-leftist-journalist friend Eugenio Scalfari. It is universally acknowledged that Scalfari does not take notes even when he intends to "quote" someone --- and the Pope continues to speak to him for the purpose of a published conversation. So, Scalfari reports (more than once) that the pope denies the existence of hell. The Vatican does not really deny the report, but notes that the quotes are not exact/accurate. That leaves the public with the heretical idea and also "plausible deniability" for the pope. This is not a secret conspiracy of the pope, but an open agenda against traditional doctrine and an open method of doing it through provocative open statements (some of which can be denied or disputed later). For the media to report accurately on what the pope is up to, they need to access Scalfari, because the pope likes to be interviewed by him. The pope's agenda is open.