What the Pope is trying to do, I think, is to get back to the mystical dimension of the Church - in all aspects, as Body of Christ, as Bride of Christ, and as our Mother.
Vatican II theology ignored these traditional formulations and instead went for the dull bureaucratic term, “People of God,” a term that can only lead to smugness and exclusionary behavior. It did, in fact, lead to the development of a Church that was indistinguishable from the Protestant churches: inhabited only by the righteous and a dwindling number of people who saw the sacraments not as spiritual realities but as membership cards. And with a clergy that viewed everything p, including their jobs, in equally bureaucratic and unspiritual terms.
It is this view of the Church that permits people like nancy Pelosi and Katherine Sibelius to consider themselves good Catholics because, after all, their paper work is in order and clearly, since confession is rarely offered anymore and the assembly of the perfect just gathers to shake hands and wave at each other every Sunday (when they bother), they feel they’re good to go. This is the view that Francis wants to change. He wants to bring it back to a matter of life and death, and this is what he feels will convert people.
We have a WINNER!
And also he is doing this because he knows that over the course of time, the attacks against Christians is going to go up so he is also preparing them as well.
“the mystical dimension of the Church” is a good point. Coming as a life long Protestant, I’ve grown into seeking the mystical dimension and delving into the long history Christianity and the writings of the Saints.