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Pope Francis is warning that the Catholic Church's moral edifice might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn't balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.
He likened the Catholic Church to a "field hospital after battle," healing the
wounds of its faithful and going out to find those who have been hurt,
excluded or have fallen away.
"It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and
about the level of his blood sugars!" Francis said. "You have to heal his
wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.
"The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded
rules ... The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has
saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all."
http://yhoo.it/16bRPXQ

Pope Bluntly Faults Church’s Focus on Gays and Abortion.

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 19, 2013 221 Comments

Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics.

An Interview with Pope Francis
Excerpts from his most extensive and revealing interview since he was elected in March.

In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” the pope told the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal whose content is routinely approved by the Vatican. “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.

“We have to find a new balance,” the pope continued, “otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

The interview was conducted in Italian during three meetings in August in the pope’s spartan quarters in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse, and translated into English by a team of translators. Francis has chosen to live at Casa Santa Marta rather than in what he said were more isolated quarters at the Apostolic Palace, home to many of his predecessors.

The interview was released simultaneously on Thursday morning by 16 Jesuit journals around the world, and includes the pope’s lengthy reflections on his identity as a Jesuit. Pope Francis personally reviewed the transcript in Italian, said the Rev. James Martin, an editor-at-large of America, the Jesuit magazine in New York. America and La Civiltà Cattolica together had asked Francis to grant the interview, which America is publishing in its magazine and as an e-book.

“Some of the things in it really surprised me,” Father Martin said. “He seems even more of a free-thinker than I thought — creative, experimental, willing to live on the margins, push boundaries back a little bit.”

The new pope’s words are likely to have repercussions in a church whose bishops and priests in many countries, including the United States, often appeared to make combating abortion, gay marriage and contraception their top public policy priorities. These teachings are “clear” to him as “a son of the church,” he said, but they have to be taught in a larger context. “The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.”

From the outset of his papacy in March, Francis has chosen to use the global spotlight to focus instead on the church’s mandate to serve the poor and marginalized. He has washed the feet of juvenile prisoners, visited a center for refugees and hugged disabled pilgrims at his audiences.

His pastoral presence and humble gestures have made him wildly popular, according to recent surveys. But there has been a low rumble of discontent from some Catholic advocacy groups, and even from some bishops, who have taken note of his silence on abortion and gay marriage. Earlier this month, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., told his diocesan newspaper that he was “a little bit disappointed in Pope Francis” because he had not spoken about abortion. “Many people have noticed that,” the bishop was quoted as saying.

The interview is the first time Francis has explained the reasoning behind both his actions and omissions. He also expanded on the comments he made about homosexuality in July, on an airplane returning to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, where he had celebrated World Youth Day. In a remark then that produced headlines worldwide, the new pope said, “Who am I to judge?” At the time, some questioned whether he was referring only to gays in the priesthood, but in this interview he made clear that he had been speaking of gays and lesbians in general.

“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” he told Father Spadaro. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.”

The interview also serves to present the pope as a human being, who loves Mozart and Dostoevsky and his grandmother, and whose favorite film is Fellini’s “La Strada.”

The 12,000-word interview ranges widely, and may confirm what many Catholics already suspected: that the chameleon-like Francis bears little resemblance to those on the church’s theological or political right wing. He said some people had assumed he was an “ultraconservative” because of his reputation when he served as the superior of his Jesuit province in Argentina. He pointed out that he was made superior at the “crazy” young age of 36, and that his leadership style was too authoritarian.

“But I have never been a right-winger,” he said. “It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/pope-bluntly-faults-churchs-focus-on-gays-and-abortion.html?hp&_r=1&

My friend, @italo, once told me here (and even bragged about it) that catholic church is a perfect church that cannot change their practices /traditions/doctrine which they have been doing for over 2000 years now. Here is Pope Francis making various changes since he assumed office. I wonder what happened to the perfectness that my friend claimed about his church. He condemns our churches for changing some of our traditions and each time we try to make him understand that these changes must always come as we keep growing in the knowledge of the word of God, he always tells us that catholic church is perfect and can never change any of their traditions. Today, Pope has proved him wrong serially with the series of changes he has brought into catholic.

alexleo: My friend, @italo, once told me here (and even bragged about it) that catholic church is a perfect church that cannot change their practices /traditions/doctrine which they have been doing for over 2000 years now. Here is Pope Francis making various changes since he assumed office. I wonder what happened to the perfectness that my friend claimed about his church. He condemns our churches for changing some of our traditions and each time we try to make him understand that these changes must always come as we keep growing in the knowledge of the word of God, he always tells us that catholic church is perfect and can never change any of their traditions. Today, Pope has proved him wrong serially with the series of changes he has brought into catholic.

did he realy change the teachings of the church? or is he saying that the manner or d tone these things are being taught should change so that d d moral teachings of the church does not fall like a park of cards? in oda words so dat people does not run away from d church due to strictness and insistence on these rules rather dan drawing them to closer to God with love first before applying d rules.

lacum:
did he realy change the teachings of the church? or is he saying that the manner or d tone these things are being taught should change so that d d moral teachings of the church does not fall like a park of cards? in oda words so dat people does not run away from d church due to strictness and insistence on these rules rather dan drawing them to closer to God with love first before applying d rules.

It's quite apparent from his statements that definite changes would be introduced into Catholicism very soon. For now, we may say he's only floating the kites to see how the world would receive his attempts at reformation.

We've got to keep in mind that it's the efforts to draw people closer to our form of religion that usually leads to reducing rigid standards and compromise. With Pope Francis, I'm very expectant of revolutionary reforms in the Catholic Church.

alexleo: My friend, @italo, once told me here (and even bragged about it) that catholic church is a perfect church that cannot change their practices /traditions/doctrine which they have been doing for over 2000 years now. Here is Pope Francis making various changes since he assumed office. I wonder what happened to the perfectness that my friend claimed about his church. He condemns our churches for changing some of our traditions and each time we try to make him understand that these changes must always come as we keep growing in the knowledge of the word of God, he always tells us that catholic church is perfect and can never change any of their traditions. Today, Pope has proved him wrong serially with the series of changes he has brought into catholic.

Conservatives always sooner or later come to realize that in a changing world, reform and changes are the only tools to combat revolution or decay. I see the pope as attempting to make a difference to save the Catholic Church from losing membership. But that definitely also means he has to allow for compromise. The changes are not certain yet, but like Pope John Paul II who summoned Vatican II, I'm expecting Vatican III of Pope Francis soon.

They should tell us all they know about the pědophiles in their midst first. Then they should hand over Joseph Ratzinger and all others involved in the coverup to the authorities for prosecution.

Abortion and gays can wait.

Evil Brain: They should tell us all they know about the pědophiles in their midst first. Then they should hand over Joseph Ratzinger and all others involved in the coverup to the authorities for prosecution.

Abortion and gays can wait.

@**** Brain, I'm not sure that the Catholic Church would be willing to wield the big stick on the paedophiles, rapists and adulterers in the priesthood. They are just too many. And the major cause... rules of celibacy. That, is what I believe, the pope would change. I'm watching... and waiting...

Mr pope, implement all this radical view you have been saying since your election and the church fall faster than a house of cards. You cannot make the church move with thrends, when you do that you reduce the church to a mere company who move with the thrends to attract new customers.

So pope francis, keep liberalising the church to attract westerners who have lost even idea of religion back to the fold, while chasing away rising fold conservatives in africa and south america. This is exactly what happened to the anglican church, they became too liberal to fill church seats in britain and america, so the largest parts of the church in africa broke off and renouced the see of caterbury. Continue on your part, pope francis and be the pope to preside over the crash of the oldest church around.

lacum:
did he realy change the teachings of the church? or is he saying that the manner or d tone these things are being taught should change so that d d moral teachings of the church does not fall like a park of cards? in oda words so dat people does not run away from d church due to strictness and insistence on these rules rather dan drawing them to closer to God with love first before applying d rules.

The changes are already begining to show face. Its no more hidden that it will take place. I am not against changes as long as they are in line with the scriptures. What am against is the boasting my frIend, @italo, that catholic church is perfect and therefore need no changes.

alexleo:

The changes are already begining to show face. Its no more hidden that it will take place. I am not against changes as long as they are in line with the scriptures. What am against is the boasting my frIend, @italo, that catholic church is perfect and therefore need no changes.

well so far there has been no in doctrine thus far and it has been so for about 2000yrs

Symphony007: Mr pope, implement all this radical view you have been saying since your election and the church fall faster than a house of cards. You cannot make the church move with thrends, when you do that you reduce the church to a mere company who move with the thrends to attract new customers.

So pope francis, keep liberalising the church to attract westerners who have lost even idea of religion back to the fold, while chasing away rising fold conservatives in africa and south america. This is exactly what happened to the anglican church, they became too liberal to fill church seats in britain and america, so the largest parts of the church in africa broke off and renouced the see of caterbury. Continue on your part, pope francis and be the pope to preside over the crash of the oldest church around.

Perhaps, the result of ambition to be popular as the most loved pope of all times. Or just a zeal to bring back the lost glory of the Catholic Church. Whatever it is, it is inordinate as far as religion or faith is concerned. Religion or faith are not meant to accommodate changes, else they begin to decay.

Ubenedictus: well so far there has been no in doctrine thus far and it has been so for about 2000yrs

Yes, because doctrines are not meant to change with the tide of times.