Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Vatican City: 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."
Pope Francis issued strong defence of the Myanmar's Rohingya minority saying they had been tortured and killed because they wanted to live their Muslim faith.
Up Next
Pope 'better to be atheist than hypocritical Catholic'
Drone footage showing hundreds of dead sharks fished by Chinese company Pingtan Marine Enterprise off the coast of East Timor is the latest example of a modern war on the high seas that is fast intruding into Australia's neighbourhood.
President Trump tells the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, on Friday that his plan to build a wall across the border with Mexico is not only progressing but is 'way ahead of schedule'.
Up Next
Trump says he's against 'fake' press, not the media
Trump says he's against 'fake' press, not the media
President Trump said to a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday that he's not against the media, but he is against the 'fake' press.
Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, probably the heaviest living woman in the world at 500 kilograms, was able to raise her arm and touch her face with her hand last week, thanks to efforts of doctors and therapists of Saifee Hospital in Mumbai.
Tom Stranger raped his then girlfriend Thirds Elva in 1996 while on a student exchange in Iceland, the two share their extraordinary journey of reconciliation. Vision: TED
Pope Francis issued strong defence of the Myanmar's Rohingya minority saying they had been tortured and killed because they wanted to live their Muslim faith.
"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.
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.
Pope Francis has often told Catholics, both priests and lay people, to practice what their religion preaches. Photo: AP
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.