The former Pennsylvania senator and potential 2016 Republican presidential contender (again) is one of the most outspoken Catholic conservatives, but he and radio show host Hugh Hewitt were confounded by Pope Francis’ remarks about Catholics not “tempting God” by having families like “rabbits” have litters.

Santorum has seven living children (one died shortly after birth) and may have taken personally Francis rebuke to a woman with seven children who was pregnant again. “But do you want to leave seven orphans?” Francis told her. “That is to tempt God!”

Here is Santorum’s take on how he has to filter Francis:

“It’s sometimes very difficult to listen to the pope and some of the things he says off the cuff, and this is one of them.”

“I keep coming back to, the pope is the leader of the Catholic Church, and when he speaks as the leader of the Catholic Church, I’ll certainly pay attention. But when he speaks in interviews he’s giving is own opinions, which I certainly will listen to.”

“But from my perspective that doesn’t reflect – the idea that people shouldn’t be fruitful and multiply, and that we shouldn’t be open to life, that’s something that’s a core value of the faith. I don’t know what the pope was referring to there. Maybe he’s speaking to people in the Third World. But the problem in most of the Catholic world is not procreation.”