Before I proceed any further, a little self-disclosure is needed.

I am not Catholic. I am a lifelong member of the conservative Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. However, I consider myself a Christian first, and as such I regard members of the Roman Catholic church to be fellow Christians, even though we may disagree on some issues of theology. Furthermore, my husband and I chose to send our children to a Catholic high school, and our eldest daughter is married to a Catholic.

I have admired the intellect of Pope Benedict and the courageous life of Pope John Paul II; indeed, along with President Reagan, Pope John Paul helped to bring the Soviet Union to its knees.

I must, however, wonder about the judgment of Pope Francis.

On a trip to Manila in the Philippines, the Pope was asked by a French journalist if there were limits to freedom of speech when it came to religion. The Pope answered:

“There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others. They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri (his aide) if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.”

“You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”

Is Pope Francis claiming that free speech should be curtailed when it comes to religion? Is he applying this to all people, or only to members of his flock? 

Pope Francis was not alone in his admonition to refrain from insulting religion. Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II echoed Francis’s remarks when he said, separately from the Pope:

“I refuse any form of personal insult, and when the insult is related to religions, they cannot be approved, neither at a human, nor at a moral and social level. They do not help the peace in the world, and do not produce any benefit.”

British author Salman Rushdie disagrees. Rushdie, as you recall, lived under the threat of a fatwa issued against him for his book The Satanic Verses. The fatwa was lifted in 1998.