Lots of shoutouts for the interview Pope Francis gave to Italian Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica this week, including this piece from Friday’s Wall Street Journal front page.

Pope Warns Church Focusing Too Much on Gays, Abortion

Francis Sets Out Vision of More Welcoming Church, Less Preoccupied With Doctrine

Pope Francis warned that the Catholic Church had become so focused on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues that it risks overshadowing its pastoral mission, threatening to bring down the church “like a house of cards.”

The pope’s comments, part of a blunt, wide-ranging interview with the Italian Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica, didn’t mark a break with church teaching. But they appeared intended to nudge the church away from politically charged issues by setting out a vision of a church that is more welcoming and less preoccupied with emphasizing doctrine.

And a church more open to product placement, perhaps, given this WSJ jump headline:

Pope Urges ‘New Balance’ for Church

Think of the possibilities:

Previously, the Pope Wore Prada. (Although, maybe not.)

This Pope could wear New Balance. Fits in with the whole Humble Pontiff schtick. Not to mention the New Balance slogan:

The perfect blend of light, comfort and stability.

If that’s not the very definition of Catholicism, we weren’t the Oldest Altar Boy Ever (details to come).