Another look at the (widely publicized) Pope Francis interview

This is posted on the HLI (Human Life International) Truth and Charity forum. The interview, of course, came out a number of weeks ago and was published in Jesuit journals throughout the world.

The full text of the Pope's interview can be found here A Big Heart Open to God and is very well worth reading in it's entirety.

This look at it is very fine, by a Franciscan University prof.

So what did the pope actually say? Here is the warhead as it was launched midway through the interview: “We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods,” Pope Francis told Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal. “This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the Church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the Church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”

There are, as I see it, two points that need to be made here. One, the Church is not about to (or able to) repeal the moral law on the matter of abortion, contraception, or efforts to redefine marriage, never mind the impression His Holiness may have left in urging us, in his words, “to talk about them in a context.” In other words, contextualize them all you please, the point survives that both he and the Church remain perfectly plainspoken in their continuing and resolute disapproval and rejection of them. So, again, there is simply no room for maneuver as regards the iniquity of these practices. They are abhorrent to both the Pope and the Church for whom he speaks.

However, and this is the second point, what the Pope did most emphatically say, and it is no surprise that the secular media missed the bus on this, is that while these are immoral and thus unacceptable practices in every way, and the Church must never cease to condemn them, they are nevertheless not the center of the faith we profess.  Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ and the salvation he brings to the world are the root and crown of the faith we profess. “A beautiful homily,” the pope explained, “a genuine sermon must begin with the first proclamation, the proclamation of salvation. There is nothing more solid, deep and sure than this proclamation. Then you have to do catechesis. Then you can draw even a moral consequence. But the proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.”

The moral law, from whose strictures none of us is exempt, is always the fruit, never the root, of the decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ. ...

There's more if you hit the link.