In June Pope Francis said that the church must say that it is sorry "to this person that is gay that it has offended." 

"I will repeat the same thing I said on the first trip," Pope Francis continued. "I will also repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that [gay people] should not be discriminated against, that they have to be respected, pastorally accompanied. The matter is a person that has that condition [and] that has good will because they search for God, who are we to judge them? We must accompany well -- what the Catechism says. The Catechism is clear."

We are still awaiting the Church's apology. And now this ... a veritable slap in the face.

But there are many angles from which to view the current impasse. Francis will change nothing without the collegial consensus ... this might be his way of showing how the system is broken, and needs change. I know that James Alison has argued thus ... http://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/7164/love-in-a-changing-climate