At Last, a Pope Who "Gets It"

On Thursday, Jesuit journals around the world published an interview with Pope Francis.  In it, the pope called for a church that would be a "home for all."

As an answer to critics who have called for him to talk more about the church's stand on birth control, gay marriage and abortion, the pope explained his reticence this way:   "It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.  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, 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."

 "I see the church as a field hospital after battle.  It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars.  You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else."

Father Spadaro, who conducted the interview in the spartan Vatican guest house where Pope Francis has chosen to live rather than in the isolated opulence of the Papal Palace, had this to add:  "We have a great pope.  There is a big vision...His big vision is to see the church in the middle of the persons...It is the middle of the world."

Of course, there are those priests who aren't entirely in step with the new leader of the Catholic church.  Also on Thursday, Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, spoke at a Vatican conference about what he called the "priority of the abortion issue."   "Nobody should try to use the words of the pope to minimize the urgent need to preach and teach about abortion.

what eye thynk:   At last, a pope who "gets it".  One who sees that a church is more than rules and ceremony, who remembers that Jesus taught love and acceptance above all else.

While Pope Francis' remarks do not change church doctrine, they certainly give it a new focus, a new softness, a new hope for acceptance for those who have felt disenfranchised by the two previous pope's focus on strict adherence to church doctrine.

As for Rev. Pavone, he needs to re-read the papal interview, because minimizing the "urgent need to preach and teach about abortion" and stopping the constant high octane focus on doctrine over all else is EXACTLY what Pope Francis is talking about. 

I don't expect the Catholic church to start performing same sex marriages or to begin condoning the use of birth control any time soon;  but the pope's interview does give me hope that, at last, there is someone at the top who acknowledges that Catholics don't all come in the same shape and size.

Love first--doctrine second.   Jesus would be proud.