Mazur / Catholic News
Pope Francis laments the growth of populism, defends homosexuals and divorced people, and criticizes Catholic traditionalists while calling for a new role for the Church in a time of conflict and uncertainty.
In his autobiography Hopewhich is available this Tuesday in bookstores, Francisco warns of the risk of populism in which several countries are immersed: “promises that are based on fear, above all, the fear of others, are the usual censure of populism and the beginning of dictatorships and wars. For to the other, the other is you.”
In his book of more than 350 pages, the Pope also recalled the declaration he signed on the “blessings to irregulars”, published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in December 2023, in reference to the divorced or Catholics who do not meet the requirements of the doctrine.
“People are blessed, not relationships”because “in the Church, everyone is invited, even divorced people, even homosexual people, even transgender people”, writes Francisco, commenting on the controversy.
The “first time a group of transsexuals came to the Vatican, they left crying, emotional because they had held hands, a kiss… As if they had done something exceptional for them. But they are daughters of God! They can receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful and under the same conditions as others, they can be accepted in the role of godfather or godmother, as well as being witnesses at a wedding”, added the Pope, who condemned laws against homosexuality.
“There are more than 60 countries in the world that criminalize homosexuals and transsexuals, a dozen even with the death penalty, which is sometimes effectively applied”, but “homosexuality is not a crimeis a human fact and the Church and Christians cannot, therefore, remain indolent in the face of this criminal injustice”, he argues.
Sexual sins? There are much more serious
Regarding the reforms he imposed on the Church, Francisco considers that he was never alone in the decision-making process, minimizing resistance in sectors of the Church, “most of the time linked to scant knowledge or some form of hypocrisy”.
“Sexual sins are those that cause the most commotion for some”, but “they are not, in fact, the most serious”, unlike others such as “pride, hatred, lies, fraud or arrogance”.
“It is strange that no one cares about the blessing of a businessman who exploits people, and this is a very serious sinor with those who pollute the common home, while being scandalized when the Pope blesses a divorced woman or a homosexual”, he comments.
Powerless in the face of wars
As regards the war in UkraineFrancis recalls that, the day after the invasion of Russia, he canceled all audiences and went in person to the Russian embassy in the Holy See.
“It was the first time that a Pope did this” and “it was a limping Pope who presented himself to Ambassador Avdeev to express all his concern”, he recalls.
“I begged for an end to the bombings, I promised dialogueI proposed Vatican mediation between the parties, saying that I was willing to go to Moscow as quickly as possible”, but the Foreign Minister would later respond that this was “not the time”.
“The Ukrainian people are not just an invaded people, they are a martyr people, persecuted already in Stalin’s time with a genocide by famine, the Holodomor, which caused millions of victims” and, in these conflicts, “imperial interests, of all empires cannot, once again, be placed ahead of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people”, he added.
“At the moment, there are 59 wars going on in the world: declared conflicts between nations or organized, ethnic, social groups”, among others, involving almost a third of nations, the Pope listed.
This “should be enough to unmask the senselessness of war as an instrument for solving problems: it is just a madness that enriches the merchants of death and that the innocent pay for”, wrote Francisco.
“The Church must come out of rigidity”
As for the future, he writes, “the Church will move forward, in its history”.
“I am but a step” and “the papacy too will mature; I hope that it matures, also looking back, that it increasingly assumes the role of the first millennium”, he summarized.
For the religious leader, the Church must “break away from the rigiditywhich does not mean falling into relativism, but moving forward” and “escaping the temptation to control faith, as the Lord Jesus should not be controlled, he does not need caregivers or tutors”.
“The Spirit is freedom” and “freedom is also risk”, he warned.
The book Esperança, written in the first person in collaboration with Carlos Mussoarrives in bookstores to mark the Jubilee of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the same theme.
In the work, Francisco tells his origins as Jorge Bergoglioborn in 1936, son of Italian immigrants and his individual journey, part of it during the “long and terrible night” of the Argentine dictatorship.
Na Antena 1, Antonio Marujowho has already read the book, highlighted the gift of telling stories, which appears in the book: “The book is written in a rhythm of stories that the Pope has accustomed us to. He He is an excellent storyteller; and counts them, while reflecting on them“.
