Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church’s focus on abortion, contraception and gay marriage risked overshadowing its pastoral mission and threatened to bring down the church “like a house of cards.”
The Pope’s comments, made as part of a blunt, wide-ranging interview with the Italian Jesuit journal Civilta’ Cattolica, didn’t mark a break with church teaching. But they set out a vision of a church that is more welcoming and less preoccupied with strict doctrine.
In doing so, Pope Francis appeared to put more distance between himself and his two predecessors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, who strongly supported traditional church dogma. Indeed, the interview comes in the wake of grumblings from some bishops that the new pope has failed to issue strong pronouncements on divisive issues.
At our very small church, we seem to do better by focusing on the things we have in common and not so much on our differences. We don’t forget that they are there (nor do we forget where people stand), but do try not to get preoccupied with them. Bless Francis as he tries to lead the Roman Church forward.
I have found comments from Father Z’s blog http://wdtprs.com/blog/
“Reading Francis Through Benedict” to be helpful in coping with a pope who gives soundbites that are taken wildly out of context by people and organizations with agendas, leaving traditionalist apologists with much less cover. In his latest post, Father Z talks about how the media constructed a “virtual Benedict” and a “virtual Francis” by twisting papal statements, much as Benedict said the Catholic Church constructed a “virtual Vatican II” that was a distortion of the actual Ecumentical council. He would make an excellent resource for the margins of this Blog if the Elves are listening.
I think the pope is on target on where he wants the church to be, but the way he is getting there is troublesome to me. If I was a conservative catholic (I am a conservative Anglican), I would be really bummed about having to defend my catholic credentials after this. This dramatic shift in perspective without bringing along the institution would make me lose some trust in the institution and feel unappreciated.