Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.
/s ?
…Yes. Of course.
How could that not be a sarcastic statement?
sometimes it’s hard to be certain
“The Catholic Church has always loved free speech” is not an extremist position, it’s just factually false. Even people who love the Church acknowledge that the Reformation and Inquisition happened and heretics were burned for expressing “bad” ideas. That people shouldn’t be burned to death for heresy was even one of the statements that got Martin Luther excommunicated.
you’d be surprised with how many people wouldn’t know any of that and not get the sarcasm contained in your original post