I cannot deny that it was an ordeal, and it did not help that the Washington Post published a piece about me that was filled with distortions and lies. Despite the claims they printed, I have never told people not to wear masks or not to socially distance, nor have I suggested that anyone violate civil laws or norms. In addition, I certainly never said that those who have not returned to Mass by now are lukewarm Catholics. There are many people who should not be attending Mass just yet due to vulnerabilities.
Fake news, he might have said, but continued in his uplifting account.
With near-devastating results:
Thanks be to God for my staff, who protected me from the hate mail that arrived, electronically and via “snail mail.” They told me that the mail was more awful than they could ever have imagined. Thanks be to God, too, for all of God’s faithful who did not believe the things written about me in the article and repeated on local television news stations. I am sincerely grateful to prominent journalists Claire Chretien and Chris Bedford, each of whom wrote an article to set the record straight.
His stunning observation:
Lying flat on my back in the ICU I sighed to the Lord. But he reminded me, “I’ve got you close to me right now at the cross. Remember, Carlito, they distorted my words, too. They gave false and conflicting testimony, and I too suffered respiratory failure on the Cross.” An old gospel song says, “God says, ‘I got this, so you let go.’” Okay, Lord, it’s yours.
Not an idle comparison, in that crucifixion is suffocation when your arms and legs give out and you have to let it go.
Blithe Spirit 