In new interview, Francis pushes for a
church big on mercy, tough on law
·
Mercy Interview
Pope
Francis has offered his most detailed outline yet for the role of the Catholic
church in the modern era, saying in a new book-length interview the church
needs to follow Jesus' example more closely and seek to "enter the
darkness" in which many of today's people live.
The pontiff has also
responded sharply to church leaders who have criticized his focus on the
boundless nature of God's mercy and who suggest that the focus obscures church
teachings.
Francis
compares such criticisms to "angry mutterings" that Jesus also heard
"from those who are only ever used to having things fit into their
preconceived notions and ritual purity instead of letting themselves be
surprised by reality, by a greater love or a higher standard."
In the new book, titled The Name of God is Mercy and
to be released Tuesday, the pope states: "Jesus goes and heals and
integrates the marginalized, the ones who are outside the city, the ones
outside the encampment. In so doing, he shows us the way."
Reflecting
on Jesus' healing of lepers -- who were forbidden to be visited or touched
under Mosaic law for fear of causing contamination to the rest of the community
-- the pontiff says the Gospels show there are two types of logic of thought
and faith.
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"On
the one hand, there is the fear of losing the just and saved, the sheep that
are already safely inside the pen," says Francis. "On the other hand,
there is the desire to save the sinners, the lost, those on the other side of
the fence."
"The
first is the logic of the scholars of the law," says the pope, using a
term he frequently references in homilies to speak of those who emphasize
strict adherence to church teaching over the practice of mercy.
"The
second is the logic of God, who welcomes, embraces, and transfigures evil into
good, transforming and redeeming my sin, transmuting condemnation into
salvation," he continues.
"Jesus
enters into contact with the leper," says Francis. "He touches him. In
so doing, he teaches us what to do, which logic to follow, when faced with
people who suffer physically and spiritually."
The new book is the result of an interview between the pope and
Andrea Tornielli, an Italian journalist and the coordinator for the Vatican
Insider news website. The book is being published in 86 countries and about 20
languages on Tuesday. NCR received an advance copy of the
English-language version of the text.
The book
contains an extensive conversation Tornielli had with Francis in July 2015,
just after the pope's visit that month to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay and
before he presided over the contentious worldwide meeting of Catholic prelates
known as a Synod of Bishops in October.
Tornielli
states in the forward that he wanted to ask the pope questions on the themes of
mercy and forgiveness "to analyze what those words mean to him, as a man
and a priest" in the context of the Jubilee year of mercy Francis opened
Dec. 8.
Throughout
the 99 pages of the interview -- broken into nine interconnected parts in the
book -- the pontiff speaks expansively about how he understands mercy and what
it means to him personally and to the wider church.
He also
responds at several points to those who say he has focused too much on mercy,
and offers a clear vision for how the church should act in the future. He
frequently bases his thoughts on the parables offered by Jesus, even saying
once: "We must go back to the Gospel."
Francis
also offers a number of personal anecdotes from his priestly work and notably
quotes four times from homilies and writings by Albino Luciani, the man who
served as Pope John Paul I for only 33 days before his sudden death on Sept.
28, 1978.
Outlining
what the church should be doing today, Francis states plainly: "We need to
enter the darkness, the night in which so many of our brothers live. We need to
be able to make contact with them and let them feel our closeness, without
letting ourselves be wrapped up in that darkness and influenced by it."
"Caring
for outcasts and sinners does not mean letting the wolves attack the
flock," says the pontiff. "It means trying to reach everyone by
sharing the experience of mercy, which we ourselves have experienced, without
ever caving in to the temptation of feeling that we are just or perfect."
Speaking
more specifically about the so-called "scholars of the law," the
pontiff again speaks plainly.
"I
will say that there is often a kind of hypocrisy in them, a formal adherence to
the law that hides very deep wounds," states Francis. "Jesus uses
tough words; he defines them as 'whited sepulchers' who appear devout from the
outside, but inside, on the inside . . . hypocrites."
"These
are men who live attached to the letter of the law but who neglect love; men
who only know how to close doors and draw boundaries," says the pope.
"Chapter
23 of the Gospel of Matthew is very clear on this; we need to return there to
understand what the Church is and what it should never be," Francis
continues.
"He
describes the attitudes of those who tie up heavy burdens and lay them on other
men’s shoulders, but who are unwilling to move so much as a finger; they are
those who love the place of honor and want to be called master," states
the pope.
"This
conduct comes when a person loses the sense of awe for salvation that has been
granted to him," he continues.
"When
a person feels a little more secure, he begins to appropriate faculties which
are not his own, but which are the Lord’s," he says. "The awe seems
to fade, and this is the basis for clericalism or for the conduct of people who
feel pure. What then prevails is a formal adherence to rules and to mental
schemes."
"At
times I have surprised myself by thinking that a few very rigid people would do
well to slip a little, so that they could remember that they are sinners and
thus meet Jesus," Francis
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