POST EDITORIAL

For all the praise he’s won from “progressives,” Pope Francis proved he’s not so easy to put in an ideological box. He made the point with a surprise visit Wednesday to the beleaguered Little Sisters of the Poor in Washington, DC.

The order runs nursing homes for the elderly — but that’s not why it’s in trouble. The nuns’ problem is with the Obama administration, which is relentlessly trying to force them to endorse contraception.

The Little Sisters argue they shouldn’t be forced to offer health coverage that violates their religious beliefs. Team Obama argues — seriously — that the order isn’t religious enough to qualify for an exemption from its ObamaCare mandates.

The papal visit “is a sign, obviously, of support for [the nuns] in their court case,” said the head of the Holy See press office.

Thus, also, Francis’ visit today to Our Lady Queen of Angels, a Catholic elementary and middle school in Harlem. As Fr. Timothy Scully notes on the opposite page, the visit is a vote of confidence in “the future of our Catholic schools, because these places are putting young people firmly on the path to college and to heaven.”

The pope also put traditional notes in his careful speech to Congress Thursday. “I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened perhaps as never before, from within and without,” he said. “Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.”

When you get down to it, Pope Francis is still a Catholic.