Pope Francis delivered another criticism of some
members of his own Church on Thursday,
suggesting it is better to be an atheist than one of
“many” Catholics who he said lead a hypocritical
double life. In improvised comments in the sermon of his
private morning Mass in his residence, he said: “It
is a scandal to say one thing and do another.
That is a double life.” “There are those who say ‘I am very Catholic, I
always go to Mass, I belong to this and that
association’,” the head of the 1.2 billion-member
Roman Catholic Church said, according to a
Vatican Radio transcript. Pope Francis He said that some of these people should also say
“‘my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my
employees proper salaries, I exploit people, I do
dirty business, I launder money, (I lead) a double
life’.” There are many Catholics who are like this and
they cause scandal,” he said. “How many times
have we all heard people say ‘if that person is a
Catholic, it is better to be an atheist’.” Since his election in 2013, Francis has often told
Catholics, both priests and lay people, to practice
what their religion preaches. In his often impromptu sermons, he has
condemned sexual abuse of children by priests
as being tantamount to a “Satanic Mass”, said
Catholics in the mafia excommunicate
themselves, and told his own cardinals to not act
as if they were “princes”. Less than two months after his election, he said
Christians should see atheists as good people if
they do good.


Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2017/02/pope-catholics-better-atheist/