"Be Ministers of Mercy Above All"

Pope Francis' interview with Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, published in the Italian Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica back in September, caused quite a stir. The secular media were quick to take some quotes out of context, such as we cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods as evidence that an apparent major shift in papal teaching was happening.

But as Archbishop Allen Vigernon noted in a subsequent Detroit Free Press interview, Pope Francis has not changed Church teaching about these issues at all. I think the Holy Father has reminded us that we have to always place these teachings within the context of God's mercy, the archbishop wrote. And if people haven't heard us clearly enough on that, we'll have to look and see if we can do a better job.

In the original La Civilta Cattolica interview (translated into English and published in America), Pope Francis reiterates what has become a consistent message of his early papacy: Proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ that God loves you and his mercy knows no bounds. This message of salvation must always be proclaimed first, before [any] moral and religious imperatives. For God created all of us in his image, in his love, and never ceases to offer his healing mercy to all who are wounded by sin.

I see clearly, the pope continues, that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. 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. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. . . . And you have to start from the ground up.

The Holy Father went on to say,

The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all. The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. The rigorist washes his hands so that he leaves it to the commandment. The loose minister washes his hands by simply saying, This is not a sin or something like that. In pastoral ministry we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds.

How are we treating the people of God? I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess. The church's ministers must be merciful, take responsibility for the people and accompany them like the Good Samaritan, who washes, cleans and raises up his neighbor. This is pure Gospel. God is greater than sin.

Touching on an important aspect of the New Evangelization, Pope Francis continues.

Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent. The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return. But that takes audacity and courage.

So let us always be merciful and joyful in the exercise of our pastoral ministry, in imitation of Christ. Let us be ever mindful of Pope Francis' own motto, Miserando atque EligendoBy Having Mercy and by Choosing Him.