On his October 15 posting from Rome, Archbishop Dew noted that there had been vigorous arguments in the small group discussions taking place this week.

"The arguments are very strong as to whether this should be about doctrine and truth, or about mercy and compassion for those who struggle or for whom life is difficult," he said.

But the Archbishop of Wellington stated that doctrine is not being done away with.

"We are saying that the Church needs to be warm and welcoming - showing the mercy and kindness of Jesus."

Archbishop Dew also noted another bishop referring to the parable of the wheat and the weeds and saying that we need to admit we are all in this together.

"Sometimes we are the wheat and sometimes we are the weeds, but whatever happens, life will be full of both," Archbishop Dew said.

He also observed that some synod members only want to use scripture passages that support their own arguments.

In his October 16 posting, Archbishop Dew mentioned media portrayals of the competing factions at the synod, and admitted there is some truth in these.

"[But] it seems to me the majority [at the synod] are very aware of the need for the Church to reach out in new ways to many who do struggle," he wrote.

"I am sure that the mission of Pope Francis - even though some don't like it - is to make the Church a place of love and welcome, a community where people know they are accepted and cared for."

Archbishop Dew was sure this would come through when the small group discussions were to be reported back.

The blog is being updated daily with Archbishop Dew's postings on the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference website.

Sources

• Archbishop Dew synod blog
• Archbishop Dew synod blog
• Image: NZ Catholic

Pope Francis' main purpose in visiting Mongolia was to visit its tiny Catholic community. He completed his trip with a stop to tour and inaugurate the House of Mercy.

The House of Mercy provides health care to the most needy in the Mongolian capital and the homeless, victims of domestic abuse and migrants.

During his visit to the House, Francis blessed the sign of the charitable institution, which was established to assist women and girls in escaping domestic violence.

The House also has temporary lodging for migrants and others in need and a basic medical clinic for the homeless.

In visiting the House, Francis said he wanted to dispel "the myth" that the aim of Catholic institutions was to convert people to the religion "as if caring for others were a way of enticing people to 'join up'."

Inaugurating the church-run facility, Francis stressed that such initiatives aren't aimed at winning converts.

They are simply exercises in Christian charity, he said.

He went on to urge Mongolians rich and poor to volunteer to help their fellow citizens.

"The true progress of a nation is not gauged by economic wealth, much less by investment in the illusory power of armaments, but by its ability to provide for the health, education and integral development of its people," Francis said at the House.

The local church opened the House as an expression of the three-decade-deep roots the Catholic Church put down during its official presence in Mongolia.

However, his visit took on international connotations because of his overtures to neighbouring China about freedom of religion.

At the end of a Mass on Sunday, Francis sent greetings to China. He called its citizens a "noble" people and asked Catholics in China to be "good Christians and good citizens."

Several foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes.

In these, they care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty.

Source

• Reuters
• AP News

However, if we do not keep in mind that we share this planet with many faiths, then we might just become a little sect rather than be witnesses to the Good News.

Here is where the study of theology can help us clarify who we are - and how we relate to others. Theology is a door to a greater level of human understanding.

An ever more complex world

Just a generation ago, many Christians lived in societies where everyone they met was either a Christian or someone who rejected Christianity.

Today most Christians live side-by-side with people from a variety of religions.

Indeed, I can keep track of the variety of religions! Where I live, I can watch the way that the local supermarkets try to cash-in on festivals.

There is Christmas and Easter for Christians; Passover and Hanukkah for Jews; Eid for Moslems, Diwali for Hindus; and - in the last few years - Halloween (originally an Irish Christian festival) for anyone else!

We live in a multi-faith world, and there is little chance that anyone believes there is only one way of thinking about the Big Questions of life, death, love, meaning, and purpose.

But there lies the heart of it; we all are concerned with these questions - and humans have been concerned about them and consequently engaged in ritual and religion since our very earliest evidence for humans on this earth.

What does this fact - that all human societies and cultures ask great religious questions - mean for us as Christians?

A marketplace logic and its pitfalls

It is very easy to take the logic of the marketplace and transfer it to questions of religions (the proof of this is how endemic is the notion among Christians that we can buy our way into heaven), but it can confuse us at a very deep level.

If I need to change a punctured tire, I need either to have a jack or buy one.

If I get a jack and use it, then the wheel gets changed.

The opposite is also true: no jack, the wheel cannot be changed!

This is a good piece of clear, logical thinking.

Alas, I might try to use this same thinking in matters of religion.

The starting point seems clear enough: if I follow Christ, the way, truth and life, I can look forward to new life with him in the presence of God the Father.

This is a true and simple statement of Christian hope.

But what if I tried to expand on it?

I might try to reverse it, and then I would say, "If I do not follow Christ, then I cannot look forward to new life."

This, too, can be true because following Christ as a disciple is a costly business, and I could reject God's love.

But what if I tried to make it more abstract: "Disciples of Jesus can look forward to new life."

Again this is a very blunt, but still true statement.

But can it be reversed?

Then it would become "no new life unless you follow Jesus" or "only followers of Jesus can get to new life".

Both these statements have often been made - and many have tried to present Christianity in terms of "faith" on one side and hell and annihilation on the other.

Mercy limited!

But these statements are false.

In fact, we cannot try to limit God's love and mercy; we cannot be true to a God who is love and then preach this sort of either/or vision of rewards and punishments.

The fundamental problem is that we have transferred what is the efficient thinking of the finite world into the realm of mystery and the Infinite.

That is not only sloppy, but it also leads to falsehoods.

Those various celebrations advertised in the supermarket are all a response to the mystery of God who created the entire universe and who loves each of us.

We may have insights into the nature of the divine that we want to share with all, we may want to build the great family of the People of God in peace, but we do not "bring God" to people.

God is already present in every human heart.

Every word of prayer in every religion is a praise of God, and we must respect each searching after the divine as part of the precious treasure of humanity and as something sacred.

Religion is viewed by many today as the great distraction and the great sower of discord.

Part of the Christian message is that God is present to each and so, by respecting God's presence in every religion, we can build discourse.

We all think about the questions of religion.

But we usually do so in a very confused manner.

Theology can help us do it better.

And the more ably we think about religion, the more we can replace discord with discourse.

Religions can, indeed, learn how to respect one another, speak to one another, and learn from one another - all to the glory of God.

• Thomas O'Loughlin is a presbyter of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and professor-emeritus of historical theology at the University of Nottingham (UK). His latest book is Discipleship and Society in the Early Churches.

In an interview with Argentine news agency Télam published on July 1, the pope said that objectives such as the reform of the Roman Curia were "neither my invention nor a dream I had after a night of indigestion.

"I gathered everything that we, the cardinals, had said at the pre-conclave meetings, the things we believed the new pope should do. Then, we spoke of the things that needed to be changed, the issues that needed to be tackled," he said.

"I carried out the things that were asked back then. I do not think there was anything original of mine. I set in motion what we all had requested," he added.

During the general congregations in 2013, he recalled that one of the cardinals quoted the Book of Revelations, in which Jesus says "Behold, I stand at the door and knock".

"The cardinal said, ‘Jesus is knocking, but this time he wants us to let him out because we are imprisoning him,'" the pope said. "This is what was asked for at those meetings with the cardinals."

When asked if he felt he had changed during his papacy, the pope said he was told by several people "that things that were dormant in my personality came to the surface, that I became more merciful.

"In my life I had rigid periods when I demanded too much," he explained.

"Then I realised that this is not the way to go, that you have to know how to lead. It means having that paternity that God has" with his children.

Reflecting on his past, the pope said that he would criticise his past self for not always acting as a father. Continue reading

For him, the smell of burned homes and lives is tied to the metaphoric "smell of sheep".

Francis says priests need to learn what suffering smells like. It will be coming from human lives and they need to look after them, in the same way as shepherds care for their flocks.

"Every city has its own smell of suffering. It can't be described. The church here must become saturated with this smell and stay close by with different ways of helping," says Father Oleksandr Khalayim.

"The real church is a flexible church" that can be wherever it is needed.

Khalayim, a military chaplain and missionary of mercy, lives near the borders of Moldova and Romania.

Bringing mercy and forgiveness as a chaplain to a war zone requires "dialogue before forgiveness," he says.

"Forgiveness must be accepted and it is a long journey" that may take "three or four generations."

"For me, right now it is hard to talk about forgiveness if bombs keep coming, if children are still being killed, if our cities are still being bombed.

"To forgive what women and children have suffered is truly difficult."

He acknowledges that as Christians we must talk about forgiveness. At the same time, exploiting the word "forgiveness" is not acceptable, as forgiveness comes with responsibility.

"God forgave not just with words but with his heart. It will be necessary to have a long period of care for the heart," he says.

When he's speaking to soldiers in his role as a missionary of mercy, Khalayim says he explains that mercy means asking them not to kill if it is possible.

That's not easy for those on the frontlines defending their country.

"Even this is mercy — to defend your home and family," Khalayim says.

When the war broke out, he says he chose to help like a shepherd by being close to people — soldiers, volunteers and especially the elderly, "so no one feels alone."

The church in Ukraine smells of burning, war and death, he says.

In Bucha and Gostomel, there is "the stench of things scorched" and, in Chernihiv, it smells like "abandonment with everything destroyed" and people left on their own and helpless.

"One person couldn't move for five days, no one could help. The only thing she could do was get water from the home heating radiator to drink. That's how she survived."

Solidarity and assistance to Ukraine are important, Khalayim says.

People who will seek out the truth are necessary as well, he adds.

"The enemy hides behind many lies and propaganda. The truth cries out, there is no need to be afraid to tell the truth."

At the same time, Khalayim admits exposing the truth may come at a cost and result in losing material security or one's own life.

Source

• NCR
• CBS News

Francis told a crowd at the Vatican on Sunday that the Lord would prefer us "to seek him, to call on him or even, like Thomas, to protest, bringing him our needs and our unbelief."

Thomas "represents all of us," Francis says.

"We too struggle at times like that disciple: How can we believe that Jesus is risen, that he accompanies us and is the Lord of our life without having seen him, without having touched him?

"How can one believe in this? Why does the Lord not give us some clearer sign of his presence and love? Some sign that I can see better.

"Here, we too are like Thomas, with the same doubts, the same reasoning.

"But we do not need to be ashamed of this. By telling us the story of Thomas, in fact, the Gospel tells us that the Lord is not looking for perfect Christians. The Lord is not looking for perfect Christians."

Attitudes of righteousness and self-assurance aren't the way to go either, Francis warns.

"I tell you: I am afraid when I see a Christian, some associations of Christians who believe themselves to be perfect.

"The Lord is not looking for perfect Christians; the Lord is not looking for Christians who never doubt and always flaunt a steadfast faith. When a Christian is like that, something isn't right," he says.

"No, the adventure of faith, as for Thomas, consists of lights and shadows. Otherwise, what kind of faith would that be? It knows times of comfort, zeal and enthusiasm, but also of weariness, confusion, doubt and darkness.

Crises are not sins, they are part of the journey, we should not fear them, Francis explains.

He says in many cases they make us humble because they strip us of the idea that we are better than others.

"Crises help us to recognise that we are needy: they rekindle the need for God and thus enable us to return to the Lord, to touch his wounds, to experience his love anew as if it were the first time."

Source

• CNA

Warning the positive content of faith has become emptied, Father Tomáš Halík quotes the former Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini; "I am not so much afraid of people who do not have faith; what disturbs me are people who do not think".

"For a large number of today's Christians, the positive content of faith has become empty.

"Therefore, they need to found their ‘Christian identity' on ‘culture wars' against condoms, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc", Halík writes in an article on "The Revolution of Mercy and a New Ecumenism."

Halík is professor of philosophy and sociology of religion at Charles University in Prague, President of the Czech Christian Academy and a recipient of the highly prestigious Templeton Prize.

He encourages the Church to not submit to the yoke of slavery, of legalistic religion.

I really cannot march under the same banner as Christians who align themselves with populist and nationalist political movements, hold to literalist interpretations of the Bible, deploy facile arguments against the ordination of women and engage in fanatical fights against abortion and LGBT+ rights writes Halík.

He struggles with "major doubt" in respect to those Christians who fall prey to what Pope Francis labels as the "neurotic obsession" of faith.

A champion of the current Pope, Halík is encouraging a "culture of spiritual discernment and fostering of those values that lead both to the heart of the gospel and a courageous and creative response to the ‘signs of the times.'"

Francis shows the way to a "Christianity of tomorrow", and understanding mercy is key to his reform.

"Pope Francis is not a revolutionary bent on changing church doctrine… rather, he is merciful", Halík explained.

"This pope does not change written standards, nor does he tear down external structures; however, he transforms praxis and life".

Halík observes that Francis is not changing the church from the outside, but he is transforming it "far more thoroughly", spiritually from the inside and through the spirit of the Gospel.

Halík calls it "a revolution of mercy".

"In his case, these words [on same-gender civil unions] are not mere empty pious phrases. Therefore, his reform has the potential to change the Church and bring it back to the heart of Jesus's message more profoundly than many reforms of the past", Halík insisted.

It is "through his personal example of Christian bravery… (Francis) calls us to act like free children of God, responsibly exercising the freedom to which Christ has liberated us and not submitting again to the ‘yoke of slavery' of legalistic religion".

Attacking those "high priests of the church of dead religion" who downplay Francis' reforms on LGBT and other matters, Halík calls on Catholics to continue the "spiritual renewal of the Church".

He asks Catholics to redouble their efforts to communicate the idea of God "as a kind, generous, understanding, forgiving, and healing power capable of transforming the human heart, the Church, and society".

Halík says Francis enfleshes John Paul II's call, "Do not be afraid".

Sources

• Novena News
• Association of Catholic Priests

So it is not surprising when he explains that he comes from the "wrong side of the tracks" in his native Seattle.

For that is largely where he has stayed for the bulk of the past 49 years since he settled in Bangkok after being sent by the Redemptorists to Asia on mission business.

Maier has built a large network of schools that tend to the poor in the heaving capital whose population, including surrounding towns, is now approaching 15 million.

He also has set up shelters for abused girls and a hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS, all under the umbrella of the Mercy Centre, which he set up in 1973 with Sister Maria Chantavarodom of The Daughters of the Queenship of Mary Immaculate.

Maier said he joined the Redemptorists as a young man, disaffected with life after a tough upbringing.

The Redemptorists have long had a major presence across Southeast Asia, focusing on Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. When he got to Thailand in 1967, Maier continued to question his superiors.

"I didn't really fit, whatever it was, maybe they said, 'Joe, you drink too much,' so they sent me to northeast Thailand and then to Laos, and when I came back to Bangkok [in 1972], they sent me out to the slums."

It was in the slums of Bangkok that Maier found his calling, and it is where he remains today, working with the poorest of the poor.

"In those days, there was no refrigeration in the markets in Bangkok, so they set up slaughterhouses right in town near the markets so they could kill the pigs at night and take them straight to the market in the early morning."

The slaughterhouse where Maier set up his first school was in Klong Toey, home to the city's most famous sprawling wet market where one can buy pork, chicken and an abundance of seafood along with acres of fruit vegetables.

Many of the Mercy Centre's schools are makeshift and outdoors, on building sites that cater to the children of the vast army of migrant workers who hail largely from Thailand's poorer border neighbours: Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Estimates of total workers and their families run as high as four million people.

They come to Bangkok and other Thai cities and seaside islands to work for 12 or more hours each day, seven days a week, so they can send money home to their families.

"We contact the companies who run the sites, many of them we have known for a long time, and simply set up with an umbrella and some chairs in a corner of the site," Maier said.

Over the decades, the Mercy Centre's work has extended beyond schools to refuges for women, facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS and a hospice.

The tireless work and positive energy that the octogenarian exudes has captured the attention of some substantial donors, and in 2000 a single donation enabled modern and permanent facilities to be built in the heart of the Klong Toey slums.

Despite his disagreements with authorities, inside and outside the Church, Maier has always found a way.

"I have had to have a great working relationship over the years with the police, especially, and local authorities," he said. "We are at our best when we work with the poorest of the poor; when we lose sight of that, we fail."

Source

• UCANews.com

"If you go down the street and see a homeless man lying there and you pass by without looking at him, or you think: ‘Eh, the effect of wine. He's a drunk,' do not ask yourself if that man is drunk, ask yourself if your heart has hardened, if your heart has become ice," the pope said.

The true "face of love," he continued, is "mercy towards a human life in need. This is how one becomes a true disciple of Jesus."

In his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis reflected on the parable of the Good Samaritan, which he called "one of the most beautiful parables of the Gospel."

"This parable has become paradigmatic of the Christian life.

"It has become the model of how a Christian must act," he said.

According to Pope Francis, the parable shows that having compassion is key.

"If you do not feel pity before a needy person, if your heart is not moved, then something is wrong," he warned. "Be careful."

Quoting the Gospel of Luke, Francis said: "‘Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.' God, our Father, is merciful, because he has compassion; he is capable of having this compassion, of approaching our pain, our sin, our vices, our miseries."

The pope noted a detail of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is that the Samaritan was considered an unbeliever.

Jesus uses a man of no faith as a model, he said, because this man, in "loving his brother as himself, shows that he loves God with all his heart and with all his strength - the God he did not know!"

"May the Virgin Mary," Francis prayed, "help us to understand and above all to live more and more the unbreakable bond that exists between love for God our Father and concrete and generous love for our brothers, and give us the grace to have compassion and grow in compassion."

After the Angelus, the pope reiterated his desire to be close to the Venezuelan people, who he said are facing trials in the continued crisis in the country.

"We pray the Lord will inspire and enlighten the parties involved, so that they can, as soon as possible, reach an agreement that puts an end to the suffering of the people for the good of the country and the entire region," he said.

• Source: CNS

He also identified an aggressive defence of doctrine as unhelpful as it seeks to impose its beliefs on others.

Fidelity to the Gospel "implies a style of life and of proclamation without a spirit of conquest, without a desire to proselytise and without an aggressive intent to refute," the pope said.

Francis warned opposing sides of theological discussion of the "Bable syndrome".

"The confusion that comes from not understanding what the other says," the "Babel syndrome means not listening to what the other says and believing that I know what the other person is thinking and what the other will say," the pope said.

"This is a plague."

Welcoming theology is fostered through dialogue, Francis told participants at a conference on "Theology after Veritatis Gaudium in the context of the Mediterranean".

Francis said a more "welcoming theology" is fostered through dialogue, particularly with Judaism and Islam, in order "to understand the common roots and the differences of our religious identity and thus contribute efficaciously to the building of a society that appreciates diversity and promotes respect, brotherhood and peaceful coexistence."

Departing from his prepared notes, Francis said that during his seminary days he and his colleagues played a game which went like... "First, things seem this way. Second, Catholicism is always right. Third, therefore ...."

"I studied in the time of crumbling theology, of crumbling scholasticism, a time of manuals. And among ourselves we would joke around and would prove theological theses with this pattern, a syllogism," he said.

"It was the kind of theology that was defensive apologetics closed in a manual. We joked around but it was how things were presented to us in the time of scholasticism in decline."

Rather than recite formulas by rote, he said, theologians must be "men and women of compassion" who are touched by the social ills of war, violence, slavery and forced migration and who are nourished by prayer.

The pope added that when theologians lack communion, compassion and prayer, "theology not only loses its soul, but loses its intelligence and its ability to interpret reality in a Christian way."

"Without compassion drawn from the heart of Christ, theologians risk being swallowed up in the condition of privilege of those who prudently place themselves outside the world and share nothing of risk with the majority of humanity," he said.

Mercy, the pope said, is not solely a pastoral attitude but the backbone of the Gospel.

"Without mercy, our theology, our law, our pastoral work run the risk of collapsing into bureaucratic pettiness or ideology, which by its very nature wants to tame the mystery," Francis said.

"Theology, through the path of mercy, defends itself from taming the mystery."

The pope traveled to Naples to deliver the closing address at the two day conference.

Sources

• NCR
• Where Peter is

Taking the name Francis, he won the admiration and respect of Catholics and non-Catholics alike with his simplicity and concern for the poor and marginalized.

With each passing year, however, criticism of the pope has become more vocal, especially from the Catholic right, who think he is breaking with traditional church teaching, and the political right, who don't like his views on global warming, immigration and social justice.

Francis has also been unable to satisfy those who say the Catholic hierarchy's response to the clergy sex abuse crisis has been inadequate.

I am a big fan of Pope Francis, in part because I think that any evaluation of his first six years as pope shows that his accomplishments outweigh his failings.

First, his accomplishments

Pope Francis has successfully rebranded the Catholic Church, which had come to be regarded as a clerical institution that stressed rules and uniformity.

If you wanted to be a good Catholic, you were given the catechism to memorize and told to follow the rules.

Francis hates clericalism.

He is constantly telling bishops and priests not to act like princes but rather like servants to the people of God.

While he is kind and compassionate to the wider world, he can be very critical when speaking to bishops and priests.

He warns against the temptation to manipulate or infantilize the laity.

He urges clerics to empower the laity "to continue discerning, in a way befitting their growth as disciples, the mission which the Lord has entrusted to them."

For Francis, the church is not a country club for the good and beautiful. Rather, it is a "poor church for the poor," a "field hospital" for the wounded. That is why he stresses compassion and mercy.

In contrast to the last two popes, who taught using complex theological concepts, Francis appeals to the heart.

He complains that "we have reduced our way of speaking about mystery to rational explanations, but for ordinary people the mystery enters through the heart."

He believes that "we lose people because they don't understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity and impart an intellectualism foreign to our people."

This is not a pope who will worry, as we did in the previous papacy, about whether the translation of the Nicene Creed should say that Jesus is "one in being" or "consubstantial" with the Father.

Francis' focus on the simple message of the gospel is quite threatening to those Catholics who confuse theology with the faith.

Theology is how we explain the faith to ourselves and others. Augustine used Neoplatonism to explain the faith to a generation whose intellectuals were all Neoplatonists.

Thomas Aquinas used Aristotelianism, the avant-garde thinking of the 13th century, to explain the faith in his day.

The mistake today's conservatives make is to simply quote these great thinkers, rather than imitate them in developing new ways to explain Christianity to people of the 21st century.

With few Neoplatonists or Aristotelians around today, theolog

ians must have the freedom to discover new ways of explaining Christianity, even if this leads to new ways of understanding of human rights, justice, sexuality, marriage and the role of women.

Unlike his predecessors, Francis is not afraid of encouraging discussion in the church. Continue reading

• Thomas Reese SJ is is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.
• Image: GCN

His failings were made public in 2013 when a British weekly newspaper revealed he had made sexual advances to seminarians more than 20 years earlier.

O'Brien admitted and apologised for his actions. In 2015 he renounced the "rights and duties" of a cardinal.

He was the first cardinal to "give up" his red hat since 1927.

He spent his final years living in Northumberland in the north of England.

Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols told mourners at O'Brien's funeral it was worth remembering O'Brien's many acts of goodness, courage and simple kindness.

These characteristics should be considered along with his failings, Nichols said in his homily.

"No matter how great or slight our achievements might be, we cannot depend on them. No, we come before God empty-handed so that we can receive the one thing necessary: a full measure of God's mercy."

Because the press had made O'Brien's life public, Nichols said "We all know its light and its darkness; we need not spend time talking about them even more for he has given us the key words.

"In his last will and testament, he wrote: ‘I ask forgiveness of all I have offended in this life. I thank God for the many graces and blessings he has given me, especially the Sacrament of Holy Orders'."

Nichols continued: "Today, as we pray for the repose of his soul, we also pray for all those he offended and ask God to strengthen them at this time."

Source

• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Crux Now
• Image: sundiata post

That humble empathy and the ease with which he walks in others' shoes have won Francis admirers around the globe and confirmed his place as a consummate champion of the poor and disenfranchised.

But as he marks the fifth anniversary of his election Tuesday and looks ahead to an already troubled 2018, Francis faces criticism for both the merciful causes he has embraced and the ones he has neglected.

With women and sex abuse topping the latter list, a consensus view is forming that history's first Latin American pope is perhaps a victim of unrealistic expectations and his own culture.

Nevertheless, Francis' first five years have been a dizzying introduction to a new kind of pope, one who prizes straight talk over theology and mercy over morals — all for the sake of making the Church a more welcoming place for those who have felt excluded.

"I think he's fantastic, very human, very simple," Marina Borges Martinez, a 77-year-old retiree, said as she headed into evening Mass at a church in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "I think he's managed to bring more people into the church with the way he is."

Many point to his now famous "Who am I to judge?" comment about a gay priest as the turning point that disaffected Catholics had longed for and were unsure they would ever see.

Others hold out Francis' cautious opening to allowing Catholics who remarry outside the church to receive Communion as his single most revolutionary step. It was contained in a footnote to his 2016 document "The Joy of Love."

"I have met people who told me they returned to the Catholic faith because of this pope," Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama, who heads the local conference of Catholic bishops, said.

"Simple as he may be, he has passed a very powerful message about our God who loves everybody and who wants the salvation of everyone."

Another area in which Francis has sought change extends into global politics, with his demand for governments and individuals to treat migrants as brothers and sisters in need, not as threats to society's well-being and security.

After a visit to a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, Francis brought a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees home with him on the papal plane.

The Vatican has turned over three apartments to refugee families. Two African migrants recently joined the Vatican athletics team.

His call has gone largely unanswered in much of Europe and the United States, though, where opposing immigration has become a tool in political campaigns.

Italians in the pope's backyard voted overwhelmingly this month for parties that have promised to crack down on migration, including with forced expulsions. Continue reading

• Image: Xavier School

Sylva is an English-language official of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

He went on to explain the World day of Poor is also based on "our understanding that each of us is poor in some way ... " Read more

Any priest can now forgive women who have had abortions.

This is a significant change in direction.

The new direction was signaled during the Holy Year of Mercy which finished last Sunday.

Francis gave all priests temporary ability to absolve women who had abortions during the Holy Year.

Until then, women were excommunicated. Only a bishop or a designated special confessor could absolve a woman of an abortion and lift excommunication.

The same applied to all Catholics involved in an abortion, including the medical staff.

There are three aspects to Francis's ruling.

The first is about the sinfulness of abortion. It is still a serious sin.

In this respect Francis says, "I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life,".

The second part involves a statement about God's universal mercy.

He says "there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father".

The third part is about his concern for priests.

"May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation," he said.

Some bishops in developed countries like the US and the UK had already delegated this authority to parish priests.

However in most of the world this was not the case.

"Not only is this a change in Church policy, it changes Church law," said Father James Bretzke, a professor of moral theology at Boston College.

"I think it's very significant in the context of Pope Francis' theme of his pontificate, which is going to go down as the pontificate of mercy; he sees mercy as absolutely the key."

Source

• CNN
• Vox
• Reuters
• Image: Reuters

Authentic religions help people understand that they are, in fact, loved and can be forgiven and are called to love and forgive others, he said.

He also told them religions are called to bear "the merciful love of God to a wounded and needy humanity". Read more

Take last Sunday's 9am Mass for Wellington's St Mary of the Angels' parish for example.

The celebrant, Father Joe Savesi, is well known for including jokes in his sermons. They catch people's attention and underline his main points.

To recap -the sermon focused on the Parable in Luke 18:9-14.

In this the upright man praying in the temple says what a good man he judges himself to be. He then compares himself to the tax collector who was also at the temple, and in his opinion is a far inferior person.

The tax collector, on the other hand, was too ashamed to ask God for anything except mercy.

Joe's way of explaining the Parable's message was to sing a verse of the Mac Davis song "O Lord it's hard to be humble" - much to the congregation's delight. Listen to the orginal

Benedict did this at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican at a ceremony held to celebrate the anniversary of his ordination as priest 65 years ago.

Francis was at the event, as were some 30 cardinals and invited guests.

The retired pope gave an off-the-cuff, mini-theology lesson sprinkled with Greek and Latin.

Benedict thanked Francis for letting him live out his final years in a Vatican monastery, where he said he felt "protected".

"Thank you, Holy Father, for your goodness, which from the first moment of your election has struck every day of my life," Benedict XVI said, speaking without notes.

"We hope that you can go forward with all of us on this path of divine mercy, showing us the path of Jesus toward God."

At Tuesday's ceremony, Pope Francis entered the Clementine Hall and went straight to embrace Benedict.

The latter stood up and removed his white skullcap in a sign of deference.

They embraced several more times during the ceremony.

Benedict listened intently as Francis addressed him - as "Your Holiness" - lauding his 65 years of service to the Church.

Pope Francis said that Benedict continues to serve the Church, "not ceasing to truly contribute to her growth with strength and wisdom".

"And you do this," Francis said, "from that little Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, that is shown in that way to be anything but that forgotten little corner to which today's culture of waste tends to relegate people when, with age, their strength diminishes."

Divine Providence, he said, "has willed that you, dear Brother, should reach a place one could truly call ‘Franciscan'."

"[From this place] emanates a tranquillity, a peace, a strength, a confidence, a maturity, a faith, a dedication, and a fidelity that does so much good for me, and gives strength to me and to the whole Church".

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic News Service

"I believe," he added, that "empathy is the most essential quality of civilization."

Empathy is, indeed, foundational not only to civilization, but to any sort of community or society, to any knowledge of others, and even — according to Saint Edith Stein, whose doctoral dissertation was on empathy — to true knowledge of oneself.

Empathy is not identical to mercy, but the two are fundamentally linked (a reality noted more than once by Pope Francis during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, now about half over.)

Empathy alone will not make us merciful, but we cannot be merciful without empathy. Without that habit of stepping outside our own personal box of time and space and putting ourselves imaginatively in the place of others, including those whose lives and experiences are very different from our own, we will not respond with mercy to their needs or weakness.

If movies can invite us to empathy, they can also invite us to mercy. Of course some movies do the opposite, just as some movies, far from promoting empathy, reinforce tribalisms and prejudices of all kinds. Among the most enduring Hollywood genres, after all, is the revenge story, which is the antithesis of mercy.

Which brings me to the newly released Arts & Faith Top 25 Films on Mercy.

Each year the diverse community of film lovers and film writers at Arts & Faith — of which I am a longtime participant and voting member — releases a new Top 25 list with a unique theme. Past topics include memory, marriage, comedy, horror, and road films. Continue reading

• Steven D. Greydanus has been writing about film since 2000. He is the creator of DecentFilms.com, and his work appears in the National Catholic Register, Catholic Digest, and the New Catholic Encyclopedia.

In a series of reflections for priests who had come to Rome as part of the Year of Mercy celebrations, the Pope said: "Mercy gets its hands dirty."

Francis said he had heard many clergy say "very clerical" things in describing people's situations to others.

Examples of such comments are "I have found this case", as if to indicate: "I won't touch it, I won't dirty my hands. I'll make a 'clean' pastoral work."

"Mercy touches, it gets involved, it gets caught up with others, it gets personal," Francis told the priests.

"It does not approach 'cases' but persons and their pain."

"Mercy exceeds justice; it brings knowledge and compassion; it leads to involvement," the Pontiff continued.

"By the dignity it brings, mercy raises up the one over whom another has stooped to bring help. The one who shows mercy and the one to whom mercy is shown become equals."

The Pontiff was speaking on Thursday in three separate reflections to priests gathered in retreat at three different Rome basilicas - St John Lateran, St Mary Major, and St Paul's Outside the Walls.

During his reflections, Francs reminded priests it is "important to forgive completely, so that others can look to the future without wasting time on self-recrimination and self-pity over their past mistakes".

"Mercy is always tinged with hope. Mercy is the mother of hope."

Francis also said that "we can find the definitive icon of the vessel of mercy in the wounds of the risen Lord".

Explaining that Jesus kept the wounds of his crucifixion after his Resurrection, and that he may even have them in Heaven now, Francis said: "Those wounds remind us that the traces of our sins, forgiven by God, never completely heal or disappear; they remain as scars."

"God's mercy is in those scars," said Francis.

"In the scars of the risen Christ, the marks of the wounds in his hands and feet but also in his pierced heart, we find the true meaning of sin and grace."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Crux