While I am not very comfortable in trying to interpret his words I think the Pope is trying to say we need to introduce people to God first. A true meeting of Christ ought to be enough for people to want to turn from their sin. Sometimes a preoccupation with specific sin/sinners seems to undermine, in people’s minds, the story of God’s salvific capacity to change people!
In these times we don’t need lukewarm. Too many who are lukewarm and have watered down doctrine. I think maybe this Pope might want to be admired and accepted as oh so progressive. I am not Catholic so I guess I can speak my feelings because I don’t take any man to be infallible.
Kelly, I am including you in this response, as well. Freeper melsec has presented a very good understanding of how Pope Francis approaches sin in contemporary society. Perhaps because modern man is more educated than previous generations, he has elevated himself above church teaching. As melsec points out "Sometimes a preoccupation with specific sin/sinners seems to undermine, in people’s minds, the story of God’s salvific capacity to change people!"
Essentially, to reach sinners, preaching is no longer sufficient. It creates a gap which some are unable to bridge. The pope points out first and foremost that he too is a sinner. He stretches forth his hand to help guide these souls back to God. He does not back down from church teaching. If anything, he takes from the Gospels and applies it to present day events.
Consider Luke 19. Here we meet Zacchaeus, "a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man". That's 2 strikes against him, in that society. {Tax collectors are generally described as being greedy, and taking more money than they are entitled to.) Zacchaeus is "seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature". So he runs ahead of Jesus and climbs a sycamore tree in order to get a better view. What happens next? When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." Now, look at the reaction of the crowd: When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." There was outrage from the crowds that Jesus would rather be the guest of a sinner than of a more respectable or "righteous" person.
How does Jesus react? He says: "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."
Jesus was a very controversial figure in His time. According to scripture, many of His disciples walked away because His teachings were too hard to follow.
With the above quotes, one must step back and look at the big picture. The church has tried to preach to sinners, but some are too attached to their sins to listen. Pope Francis is modeling himself on the actions of Jesus and reaching out to the sinners, inviting them to meet Jesus, the only One who can convert hardened hearts.
All hail the great pope (Malachy #112?) who caused abortionists to put down their knives, homosexuals to turn away from their same sex attractions, and Catholics to dump their contraceptives down the drain (all this by refusing to talk about their sins). I'll be waiting to hear all the success stories. Please ping me to them.
That's the feeling I get. Once people accept the teachings of Christianity they'll reject abortion and so many other things Christians abhor about today's moral decline.
I also think his strong stand on abortion helps us stay firm about not wanting to be involved in any scheme that funds it, and to question why the likes of Nancy Pelosi aren't excommunicated for supporting the murder of pre-separation infants.