The Pope was speaking in Rio de Janeiro to the co-ordinating committee of the Latin American Bishops' Council (CELAM), an umbrella organisation for the 22 bishops' conferences of Latin American and the Caribbean.

In his down-to-earth address, he criticised pastoral plans that "clearly lack nearness, tenderness, a warm touch" and are incapable of sparking "an encounter with Jesus Christ" and with other people.

"Christ's followers are not individuals caught up in a privatised spirituality, but persons in community, devoting themselves to others," the Pope said.

"Responding to the existential issues of people today, especially the young, listening to the language they speak, can lead to a fruitful change, which must take place with the help of the Gospel, the magisterium, and the Church's social doctrine," the Pope said.

He asked the bishops to examine whether they "manipulate" or "infantilise" the laity.

"In practice, do we make the lay faithful sharers in the mission?" he asked.

Pope Francis called on bishops and pastors to encourage lay participation in "consultation, organisation, and pastoral planning", especially through diocesan and parish-level pastoral and financial councils.

But he warned against reducing the Church to "the structure of an NGO" focused on quantifiable results, statistics, and a business-like organisation.

Seeing the Church in terms of institutions and business management, he said, can have a "paralysing" influence on Catholic life.

He described this mindset as: "More than being interested in the road itself, it is concerned with fixing holes in the road."

The Pope also criticised the psychology-focused tendencies of some spirituality courses and spiritual retreats, saying they reduce the encounter with Jesus Christ to "self-awareness", a "self-centred approach" that "has nothing to do with the missionary spirit". He gave the Enneagram as one example.

Sources:

Catholic News Agency

Vatican News

National Catholic Reporter

Image: Rome Reports (YouTube)

The report of what the Pope told leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Men and Women Religious was originally published on a website in Chile and has not been denied by anyone who was there.

A subsequent statement from the confederation described the leaked account of the meeting as a "summary based on the memories of the participants" and a reliable record of the Pope's "general meaning", though not a verbatim transcript.

A Catholic News Service report said Pope Francis urged his fellow Latin American religious to "put all your commitment into dialogue with the bishops," even though "there are some [bishops] who have another idea of communion" from that held by many religious.

He also counselled his visitors to take a constructive attitude toward criticism and discipline from the Vatican.

"Maybe you will get a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine [of the Faith] saying that you said this or that," the Pope reportedly said. "But don't worry. Explain what you have to explain, but keep going."

While affirming the reality of error and the hierarchy's responsibility to correct it, his emphasis was on forgiveness.

"You are going to make mistakes, you are going to put your foot in it. That happens!" he said. "I prefer a Church that makes mistakes because it is doing something to one that sickens because it stays shut in."

Nevertheless, Pope Francis did not hesitate to classify certain trends in the contemporary Church as manifestations of ancient heresies. As an example of Gnosticism, he cited the case of an unnamed superior general of a congregation of women religious who encouraged members to "take a spiritual bath in the cosmos" in lieu of morning prayer.

Such expressions of "pantheism" worry him, the Pope is quoted as saying, "because they skip the Incarnation!"

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Catholic News Agency

Image: Catholic News Agency