If the purpose of t-shirt messages is to start conversation, the must successful effort I have seen was: 'Don't start me talking!' Nothing, it seems, gets people talking as effectively as silence.
It is not surprising that Pope Francis' sustained silence in response to accusations made by Vatican official Archbishop Viganò has provoked so much comment. He simply left it to the journalists to make their own judgment on the case, saying 'Read the statement attentively and you make your own judgment. I will not say a single word about this.'
Many commentators have claimed that his silence has been catastrophic for his reputation and popularity. That judgment reflects common wisdom about public debate. If accusations are made you get on the front foot, immediately argue your case, produce your evidence and use the media to muster public support.
The institution you represent and you yourself will be judged by whether you win over the public to your case. It is assumed that the public have a right to know and that you have a duty to respond to its media representatives who put questions to you. Silence will be taken to reflect contempt for the public, naivety about public conversation, or guilt. It is strategically disastrous.
That view underlies critics' claim that the Pope has lost credibility and support by his refusal to answer the charges made against him. They describe the events as a crisis. By derivation a crisis is a time of judgment. In common wisdom the judgment is made by the people on the strength of what the protagonists say.
In a recent article, however, Francis' biographer Austin Ivereigh claims that his response is not intended to be politically strategic but is made at a deeper religious level. Its rationale was honed at a time when he had been criticised and marginalised in Argentina. Silence in the face of calumny follows Jesus' way of poverty, humiliation and weakness, and can be expected to generate further assault.
It reflects the Fourth Gospel story of Jesus' silence before Pilate, which in turn is grounded in the mysterious Old Testament figure of the suffering servant. He took on the suffering of the people and carried their sins, and 'opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to slaughter'. Though he was despised, God worked through him.
"Bergoglio's conviction, echoed in his homilies in recent weeks, is that silence is a proper response to angry