I find it odd and a bit disconcerting to see Pope Francis refer the Holy Spirit as “it”, while Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI clearly uses “He” in his comments.
Quoting Pope Francis: The Church is free; the Holy Spirit does what it wants.”
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/gmg-26831//pag/1/
Quoting Benedict XVI: “The Spirit himself, soul of the Church, acts in her in every age, and his interventions, mysterious and efficacious, manifest themselves in our times in a providential way...” October 31, 2008 (Taken from Salvation’s post #6 in this thread)
It can be easier to say "it" than "He".
Having once expressed myself like that before on these pages, a few people then seized upon that to dismiss out-of-hand what else I was sharing witness of.
Where are those critics now? They were Roman Catholics, seeking to silence me (as usual). Now a pope uses the same terminology. Should all that that man says, now be shunted aside for (perhaps too casually?) using the word "it" when referring to the Holy Spirit? Will they run to lecture that man, as they did me, telling a pope there is no way he could know what he was talking about in the slightest, since he used the word "it" in referring to the Holy Spirit?
IIRC, my own usage was regarding receiving or under-going baptism of Spirit, resulting in there being a persistent presence of the Spirit living within a person. I said something along the lines of get "it". For doing so, I was attacked--- and everything else I was sharing stomped on, then figuratively thrown in the garbage.
Without the Holy Ghost, we are severely limited in what we can understand of the things of God. The fleshly mind (our natural minds) can hardly at all comprehend Him otherwise.