The Church of Mercy

Foreword

Preface

PART ONE  |  
The Good News of Christ

  1.  
The Embrace of God’s Mercy

  2.  
The Light of Faith

  3.  
The Christian Message

  4.  
The Revolution of Freedom

  5.  
Being with Christ

PART TWO  |  
A Poor Church for the Poor

  6.  
Listen to the Cry of the Poor

  7.  
A House of Communion

  8.  
A House That Welcomes All

  9.  
A House of Harmony

10.  
Sent to Bring the Gospel to All the World

PART THREE  |  
Listening to the Spirit

11.  
Be Guided by the Holy Spirit

12.  
Good News, Harmony, Mission

PART FOUR  |  
Proclamation and Testimony

13.  
Do Not Be Afraid

14.  
Bringing the Word of God

15.  
Called to Proclaim the Gospel

16.  
Conveying Hope and Joy

17.  
Giving All

PART FIVE  |  
Full-Time Christians

18.  
Coming Out of Ourselves

19.  
Walking

20.  
Taking the Cross

21.  
Evangelizing

PART SIX  |  
Shepherds with the “Odor of the Sheep”

22.  
To Be a Pastor

23.  
Priests Who Come to Serve

24.  
The Anointing of the People

PART SEVEN  |  
The Choice of the Last

25.  
To the Outskirts of Existence

26.  
Hospitality and Service

27.  
Refugees and Those Uprooted from Life

28.  
A Culture of Solidarity

PART EIGHT  |  
Demolishing the Idols

29.  
The Logic of Power and Violence

30.  
The Cult of the God of Money

31.  
The Leprosy of Careerism

32.  
Undressing the Spirit of the World

PART NINE  |  
The Culture of Good

33.  
Free to Choose Good

34.  
The Hunger for Dignity

35.  
The Commitment to Peace

36.  
For a New Solidarity

PART TEN  |  
Mary, Mother of Evangelization

37.  
Her Example

38.  
Her Faith

39.  
Her Intercession

Essential Chronology of Pope Francis’s Life

List of Sources

Who?
That was the question many found themselves asking on March 13, 2013, following the announcement that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been elected Pope. The election of the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires surprised a great number of us. However, once Pope Francis appeared on the balcony with that lovely smile, his simplicity and humility evident, the initial surprise soon gave way to certainty that this man was God’s choice. Our new Holy Father’s first act (after cracking a joke about the cardinals having to go to the ends of the earth to find a new Bishop of Rome) was to ask us to pray for him before he bestowed his blessing upon us. The silence was so powerful! Pope Francis is now well-known and much-loved throughout the world, not just by Catholics, but by very many others besides—including those who profess no religious allegiance. Such is the remarkably positive impression he has made after less than a year in office.

At the Mass of Thanksgiving for the election of Pope Francis in Westminster Cathedral the day after, I quoted some words he had written while he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires: “Only someone who has encountered mercy, who has been caressed by the tenderness of mercy, is happy and comfortable with the Lord.” The mission of Pope Francis is, I said, to enable us to experience “the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ on my sin.” From our encounter with mercy, from our experience of the tender caress of Jesus, a profound joy and hope is born in our hearts. It is a joy and hope that grants us the courage to go out from ourselves to share with others the delight of meeting Jesus. We are not afraid to go even to the furthest edges of human existence because the Lord walks with us and, indeed, before us. The motto of Pope Francis, taken from the Venerable Bede’s commentary on the call of St. Matthew,
miserando atque eligendo
, means lowly but chosen—literally in Latin “by having mercy, by choosing him.” This is our motto too. Having been touched by Jesus’ mercy and chosen by him, we are sent out, sinners that we are, to be heralds, missionary disciples, of divine mercy. Our desire is the same as that of Pope Francis: that everyone experiences the Church as merciful.

The Church of Mercy
will, I am sure, help our common desire to be realized. It is a most welcome publication. This collection of texts, taken from the Holy Father’s homilies, addresses, and official teaching documents, shows just how admirably Pope Francis can find a turn of phrase that catches our attention, engages our imaginations, and moves us to action—and even makes us laugh out loud! But, as this collection also shows, these are no shallow sound bites. No, there is real substance behind them. Pope Francis’s words reflect his profound immersion in the sacred Scriptures, the Fathers, and the witness of his predecessors, not least that of Benedict XVI. They are words whose meaning we find most effectively conveyed in the gestures of Pope Francis, gestures flowing from a life of prayer.

Prayer must enjoy primacy. The first duty of a bishop, the Pope reminds me, is to pray, then to proclaim the Gospel by my life and deeds. Evangelization
is
the mission of a Church that welcomes all and is willing to journey “to the edges” as the servant of those dwelling in poverty, both material and spiritual. Such a universal mission demands that we are a Church ceaselessly praying to the Holy Spirit. Our need to be guided by the Holy Spirit is pivotal to understanding everything Pope Francis proclaims in word and action. We are called and sent out to be Spirit-filled evangelizers. It is the Holy Spirit who fixes our gaze on Jesus, who assures us that Jesus’ gaze is always upon us, who each day makes wonderfully new our relationship with Jesus.

This is the true radicalism of the Pope’s message: Jesus must always be at the center. Intimacy with him is the heart of all we do and are, and it is the heart into which we wish to welcome others. Our inspiration—the treasure we long to share—is the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not look to sociology, philosophy, or any political ideology to explain why we must be a poor Church for the poor. We look to Christ, who reveals to us the face of God, the Father of mercies. To look to Christ is to look to the poor. To reach out to the poor is to reach out and touch the flesh of Christ. We do so with humility. For from those “on the edges” we have so much to learn.

Bishops, priests, deacons, all pastoral workers, every Christian, and especially young people—for whom Pope Francis has such obvious love—will find this book a source of great encouragement and consolation. So, too, will they find it extremely challenging! The Pope asks penetrating questions that catapult us out of any self-centered complacency into which we may have fallen. I frequently found myself using the text as an examination of conscience. Yet never was it a cause for despair. For we are reassured that God’s patient mercy is infinitely greater than our sinfulness. God will never abandon us. This is a beautiful truth for everyone to hear. Therefore I hope this book will reach as wide a readership as possible.

Finally, Pope Francis invites us to take Mary as our example. Mary, woman of faith, hope, and love; Mary who listens prayerfully; Mary ever guided by the Holy Spirit; Mary always obedient to the Father’s will; Mary who teaches us how to give flesh to Christ in our world, how to be the “Church of Mercy.” In so doing, Mary the Mother of Mercy is also Mother of our Joy.

Vincent Cardinal Nichols

Vincent Cardinal Nichols is the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. On February 22, 2014, Pope Francis appointed Nichols to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

It is only a year since Pope Francis began his pontificate, but his pastoral plans for the Church seem already very well-defined. From the start his words, gestures, and decisions have clearly shown the style and direction he intends his teaching magisterium to have. As time has gone by, his vision has extended and consolidated, opening up new horizons for the Church’s life. In the apostolic exhortation
Evangelii gaudium
(24 November 2013), the pope set out the main goals of his plan, thus writing the Church’s “Magna Carta” for the coming years. In its broad vision and rich contents, the exhortation resembles an encyclical letter. His words are all about the missionary face of the Church and, most of all, the new way of “being Church” that the pope would like the Church to adopt through a more authentic proclamation and witness to the Gospel by Christians.

Obviously, Pope Francis is well aware that the Church’s poor fishermen have fragile boats and much-mended nets, and that, despite their efforts, they are often not able to catch anything. This is what he reminded the Brazilian bishops of in the Document of Aparecida (27 July 2013). Since God’s will underlies everything, Pope Francis also knows well that the strength of the Church doesn’t depend on its members and their capabilities, because they are both weak and inadequate. Rather its strength “is hidden in the deep water of God, where it is summoned to cast its nets.”

How these nets should be cast is the focus of Pope Francis’s apostolic preaching and mission. This collection of papers is basically the framework that defines the pastoral and ecclesial program. The keyword of his program, which signposts the way, is sealed in the title:
mercy
. Indeed, Francis’s Church wants to be recognized first of all as the house of mercy that, between human weakness and God’s patience, welcomes and helps find the “good news” of the great Christian hope. Whoever reaches this house and surrenders to God’s mercy will not only cease to feel lonely and abandoned but will also discover a fuller existence, lit up by faith and the love of the living God—Christ who died, rose again, and now is alive in his Church. Whoever meets him and stays with him learns the grammar of a Christian life and, first of all, the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, for brotherly and sisterly love, which Christians must spread in the world as joyful witnesses to God’s mercy. Not only do they need to show understanding and sympathy, and remain close to those who endure moral or physical sufferings, but they also need to become people who truly and deeply bear others’ pains and difficulties with the greatest tenderness, magnanimity, and solidarity, and to be people who offer solace, hope, and encouragement to keep on walking on the path of the Lord of life.

The good news of Christianity is Christ himself. His words give salvation and life because he is shelter and life. In the Church, people believe in this truth of faith, and all who adopt it as the fullness of the sacramental life find their direction and support to live as Christians, whose goal is holiness. The steps toward this finishing line are listening, proclaiming, and witnessing to the Gospel. According to Pope Francis’s theology, full-time Christians don’t sit down to admire their faith in the reflection of a mirror, nor talk about it over dinner, but they come out of themselves, embrace their cross with courage and walk the streets to share with everybody the joy of the Gospel. Pope Francis never gets tired of telling everyone that evangelizing is conversion, going out, and walking. The first to be summoned are the priests, “anointed to anoint,” whose duties are to welcome and to serve. They are asked not to be afraid to go to the furthest boundaries and outskirts of human existence to meet the poor, the marginalized, and the least.

Those who are materially, spiritually, and humanly poor are not the focus of special attention because they are an economic, social, or pastoral problem, but because the loving God, poor among the poor, reserved for them a privileged place in Christ’s life and ministry. The “poor Church for the poor” of Pope Francis is a principle that defines in an evangelistic sense the choice of poverty and service to the poor, thus continuing the wonderful story of a loving Church that throughout the centuries has been a way to liberation, inclusion, and promotion for the poor, following Christ’s idea of liberty and love. Christ indeed offers not only generous, practical, and constant solidarity, but he also actively affirms human dignity, pursues justice, and builds a civilization that is effectively “human.”

In this context of pastoral vision for the Church, Pope Francis’s idea of human beings in relation to society is embedded. His distinctive emphasis runs parallel to and interacts with the rest. His strong and direct speech shakes consciences to strike the “hardened” heart of a society whose culture is not open to the idea of coming together for the common good. These are the premises for a neighborly and peaceful existence. It is not possible to move forward toward a better world until such idols as power, money, corruption, careerism, selfishness, indifference, or, to sum up, “the spirit of the world,” are demolished.

These concepts are clearly explained also in
Evangelii gaudium
, which reveals to us both the bad habits that need to be abandoned and the pastoral priorities in the public life of the Church. In this effort the pope leads the way by word and sets the pace, which quickens day by day. His aim is to let people understand that an authentic Christianity, faithful to the spirit of the Gospel, is not achievable if the people in Christian communities have a weary and half-asleep faith, without any thrill of excitement, a faith shut up within the walls of their hearts or church buildings. This is the danger that might materialize if the Church grows old and accustomed to caring only about itself rather than flinging open its doors and facing the challenges of the world. It doesn’t matter if the Church sometimes fails on the way. This is why Pope Francis keeps sending out warnings that heavy-handedness, intransigence, hypocrisy, and other shortcomings need to be abolished because they undermine Christian credibility. He is determined to reform and renew the Church so that it becomes better equipped to pursue its goals, with all that that involves.

In short, the life of the Church needs to be cleansed, renewed, and revitalized. This requires an ecclesial and pastoral discernment that enables the Church to rediscover the essence of its missionary mandate, in the light of the Holy Spirit and with the intercession of Mary, mother of the task of proclaiming the Gospel.

Giuliano Vigini

Giuliano Vigini is a Professor at The Catholic University of Milan and has edited books by Pope Paul VI; Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini; Pope Benedict 16th; and Pope Francis.