Vatican reacts to interview in which Pope criticised church's "small minded rules"

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• published: 04 Aug 2015
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Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church's moral structure 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 it a merciful, more welcoming place for all. Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as pope in a lengthy and remarkably blunt interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in Jesuit journals in 16 countries, including America magazine in the US. In the 12,000-word article, Francis expands on his ground-breaking comments two months ago when he said he should not judge gay people. In the interview Francis said he had merely repeated church teaching, but he went on to say "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 key, he said, is for the church to welcome, not exclude and show mercy, not condemnation. Father Thomas Rosica of the Catholic TV channel Salt and Light TV said the interview brought him to tears. "He is reaching out to gays, he is reaching out to those who have been divorced and separated, he is saying that women have to play a much greater role in decision making in the church," said Rosica. "If you read it carefully, you realise that the man who is occupying the See of Peter right now is a pastor with a Shepherd's heart who is concerned with people who are hurting," he added. "The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently," Francis said in the article, based on interviews conducted by a fellow Jesuit, the Reverend Antonio Spadaro, editor of La Civilta Cattolica. "We have to find a new balance; 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 interviews were conducted by Spadaro over three days in August at the Vatican hotel where Francis has chosen to live rather than in the papal apartments. The Vatican vets all content in Civilta Cattolica, and the pope approved the Italian version of the article, which America magazine, the Jesuit journal in the US, translated into English. Nothing Francis said indicates any change in church teaching, but in the interview his vision of what the church should be contrasts so sharply with many of the priorities of his immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They were both intellectuals for whom doctrine was paramount, an orientation that guided the selection of a generation of bishops and cardinals around the globe. But Francis said the dogmatic and the moral teachings of the church were not all equivalent. "The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently," he is quoted as saying. But the Vatican Secretary of State's media advisor Greg Burke said Pope Francis is not condemning his predecessors. "What he is saying is that we've spent a lot of time talking about the boundaries, we've spent a lot of time talking about what is sin and what's not, now let's move on, let's talk about mercy, let's talk about love," said Burke. The pope's blunt message was sure to reverberate in the US and around the globe as bishops who have focused much of their preaching on such hot-button issues are asked to act more as pastors of wounded souls. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6ecf9853d8d0c827894e7f4020906839 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork