Posted on 10/02/2013 1:42:03 AM PDT by Pinkbell
ROME, October 1, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - From inside the Vatican to the back halls of diocesan offices many officials are wishing Pope Francis would stop granting off-the-cuff interviews that have led to an ever-increasing need to correct misinterpretations.
While perplexed reactions are continuing to flow in following last week’s publication of the now-famous Jesuit magazine interview, another controversial interview with Pope Francis was released Tuesday.
The interview, published in Italy’s La Repubblica daily newspaper, was conducted at the Pope’s residence by prominent atheist Eugenio Scalfari, whom the Pope had addressed in an op-ed published by the paper earlier this month.
Perhaps the most startling assertion the Pope makes in the interview is that youth unemployment and loneliness among the elderly are the "the most urgent" problems facing the Church, and the “most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days.”
Scalfari begins his coverage of the interview this way:
Pope Francis told me: ‘The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old. The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other, and the problem is they don't even look for them any more. They have been crushed by the present. You tell me: can you live crashed under the weight of the present? Without a memory of the past and without the desire to look ahead to the future by building something, a future, a family? Can you go on like this? This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing.”
When Scalfari suggests those issues are largely political and economic problems for states, the Pope notes that these problems affect both bodies and souls. “It is not the only problem that we face, but it is the most urgent and the most dramatic,” the Pope said.
The Vatican has not yet issued any clarification to the interview and sources in Rome told LifeSiteNews.com that, as was the case with the Jesuit magazine interview, it is likely that the quotes from the Pope were approved before publication. Vatican Radio has released its own coverage of the interview, pulling out various quotes from the Pope.
Other quotations from the Pope in the interview that are likely to cause confusion include:
- Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense.
- And I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation.
- From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us. In the letter I wrote to you, you will remember I said that our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone.
- Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good … Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.
- Vatican II, inspired by Pope Paul VI and John, decided to look to the future with a modern spirit and to be open to modern culture. The Council Fathers knew that being open to modern culture meant religious ecumenism and dialogue with non-believers. But afterwards very little was done in that direction. I have the humility and ambition to want to do something.
- But I am the Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic world. The first thing I decided was to appoint a group of eight cardinals to be my advisers. Not courtiers but wise people who share my own feelings. This is the beginning of a Church with an organization that is not just top-down but also horizontal.
While some bloggers have noted problems with the English translation of the La Repubblica piece, LifeSiteNews has verified the above quotations are accurate translations of the original Italian.
http://www.movementforabetteramerica.org/abortionindex.html
Just curious what my fellow Catholics in particular have to say about this interview.
Other things that would see more evil: murder, rape, human trafficking, theft, abuse, government dictatorships, etc.
the idle youth and the loneliness of the old are both a result of and a contributor to the evil’s you have named IMO.
Remember, you can do all these things, and STILL NOT BELIEVE IN GOD TO GO TO HEAVEN!!
For us Catholics of traditional sensibilities, this Pope is going to be a wild ride.
Pope Francis is a flake.
I would rather read things in context of a complete interview and not some isolated quotes before I start hyperventilating. The most serious of problems facing our world is a lack of faith - all the worlds evils stem from this!
Mel
From the pope:
We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good … Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.
..........
This heretic is giving obama a run for his money as the most dangerous man on the planet.
I agree with you. After the sheer barbarism of Nairobi mall attacks he thinks loneliness and unemployment are the most serious evils? Just Wow. He has been headlined as saying a lot of things and defended as taken out of context... I think it’s time to admit he is the Pope the world has wanted. One who will be ok with homosexuality and abortion.. and Muslim slaughterers? I hope I am wrong.
This is coming from an ATEIST, so I’m NOT buying the interpretation....yet.
He’s off his rocker on this.
The odd thing is that he *does* talk about the evils of abortion. He seems to be just plain sloppy—like a guy who is prone to extreme statements that contradict themselves. He could come out tomorrow with another interview and say abortion is the greatest evil.
This man is an original thinker, not necessarily ruled by fear or the dictates of diplomacy. He does not appear to equate surprising someone (with his many unexpected statements)with disappointing someone.
The weird thing is that he isn’t ok with sodomy or abortion. But he’s so undisciplined in his statements that he makes people think that.
I’m Italian, but man, we need to bring back a German Pope. :)
What the Pope doesn’t say is just as powerful as what he does say. He did not say.. I reject the sin of homosexuality, but not the people who are lost in it. I am not a Catholic, but the previous Popes have been moral stalwarts.. This one is more communist than any German could have dreamed of. My goodness MSNBC is already gushing over him as the best pope ever. Like I said.. I hope I am wrong.
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That's how I read it. That strike at the foundation-less is to strike against the world's problems.
To upshore foundations with the impressionable youth and to show concern and care for the elderly is a path to ending great evils.
Hoping I am making some sense - this is not my most elegant post - I need to reflect upon this, but I think I see Pope Francis' point.
I think, but maybe not!
This was a conversation with an Italian atheist, and I think he was talking about two problems of Italian society (which, in fact, are the results of grave sins). The isolation of the elderly, for example, is at least in part because there aren’t enough young people in their families - as a result of abortion. But it’s also the result of the fact that Italian society (and ours) considers them to be nothing but old-fashioned burdens. Certainly, something should be done about this, especially since it is often an area where the Church should be involved.
Youth unemployment is something beyond the Church, but I think he’s very concerned with the aimlessness and lack of connection of modern youth, at least in part, again, because of an attitude that doesn’t value work but instead goes for fast money (look at the words of rap songs, where the singer praises drug dealers and robbers, because they’re ruthless and just take what they want).
He wasn’t talking to Catholics about moral issues.
If this does not smell of moral relativism, I don’t know what does. One does not decide what evil is. Muslims think that they are righteous. Does their behavior not epitomize evil? I disagree entirely, your holiness.
I am very concerned by his ambiguous, if not, downright, undisciplined statements. Pope Benedict was very concise and direct in his words.
I am trying hard to warm to Francis, but it’s not there.
Yep.
The pro-life movement is dissed by the Pope, once again.
He is not “one of us.”
I don’t doubt for an instant that he is deeply opposed to abortion. But no one who I would call a “pro-lifer” would ever say that any evil in the world today is more serious than the abortion holocaust. Fifty million babies a year!
If I understand what “flake” means, it’s someone who is likely to say almost anything. Or, at least, can’t be counted on to state his case clearly, without faux pas.
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