“What are the data?”

From The Vicar of Christ, Walter F. Murphy’s 1979 masterpiece about the first American Pope, Francesco I:

I remember the evening when two of your seminarians from the North American College were pompously discussing [at dinner] the great theological difference between the Greek Orthodox and Roma on the nature of the Holy Trinity.  As you know, the Greeks assert that the Holy Spirit proceeds directly from the Father, while we know that He proceeds from both the Father and the Son. 

For ten minutes Francesco listened intently to the discussion, then asked his usual kind of question:  "What are the data?"

"Holiness?" the older seminarian inquired.

"I asked:  What are the data?"

"I do not understand, Holiness."

"You have been talking about a factual problem, not one of logical relationships.  Either the Holy Spirit proceeds one way or he proceeds the other.  Either is perfectly justifiable in logic.  What are the data on which we can determine which is correct?"

That sort of hardheaded indifference to 2000 years of theological debate, but gentle tolerance for those whom it pleased to engage in such activities — provided they kept themselves fully detached from the real world — was typical of the Francesco who had been Declan Walsh.

(Macmillan Publishing hardcover edition 1979, p. 538; emphasis added.)