Pope Francis on Tuesday called for big changes in the Roman Catholic Church – including at the very top – saying the church needs to rethink rules and customs that are no longer widely understood or effective for evangelizing. I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security, the Pope said in a major new statement. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures, Francis added. The Popes address, called an apostolic exhortation, is part mission statement, part pep talk for the worlds 1.5 billion Catholics. Francis bold language and sweeping call for change are likely to surprise even those whove grown accustomed to his unconventional papacy. Not everyone will like this document, said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author in New York. For it poses a fierce challenge to the status quo. And its not just a verbal challenge, the Pope said on Tuesday. I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance and important consequences. Since his election in March, Pope Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, has made headlines by decrying the iniquities of modern capitalism, embracing the poor and people with disabilities and reaching out to gays and lesbians. At the same time, the 77-year-old pontiff, has sought to to awaken a spirit of joy and compassion in the church, scolding Catholic sourpusses who hunt down rule-breakers and calling out a tomb psychology that slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum. An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! the Pope said.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 18:41:50 +0000
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