Kissing the papal ring is sometimes allowed and sometimes not.
Just to keep up to date: at the moment, it is allowed.
Pope Francis was photographed allowing nuns and priests to kiss his papal ring during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday.
But earlier in the week – on Monday – a video showed him consistently pulling his hand away as he was greeted by the faithful.
Some of Francis’s conservative critics feel he is abandoning church doctrine and tradition for jerking his hand away.
They see his preference for not being kissed as evidence of him shunning age-old traditions.
LifeSiteNews called the episode “disturbing” in the headline of an article that included a long history of the rings popes wear and their significance.
Rorate Caeli, a website read by Catholic traditionalists, tweeted: “Francis, If you don’t want to be the Vicar of Christ, then get out of there!”
But many noted that a short clip that went online didn’t give the full picture.
They say Francis only began pulling his hand away after having greeted a large number of people.
Those coming to his defense noted that he still had to greet sick people and lead a prayer.
The papal biographer Austen Ivereigh countered by tweeting: “He’s making sure that they engage with him, not treat him like a sacred relic. He’s the Vicar of Christ, not a Roman emperor.”
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