The media lies, in case you missed that obvious fact. Here’s Tom Trinko from American Thinker:
Reading Pope Francis’s interview, the most striking thing is that it bears no resemblance to what it is reported to be (see, for example, “The Pope is a Liberal” in Slate Magazine).
What the Pope said can be condensed to the message that to end sin we must bring people to a love of Jesus. The Church must heal the wounds of sinners and by doing so the Church will bring people to holiness; if one truly loves God one does not sin.
Instead of wagging fingers at sinners the Church should be teaching them that the God who created them and the entire universe died on a Cross out of love for them. Once people love God then they can be taught how to live a moral life.
That’s what the Church has taught for 2000 years so it’s not really something revolutionary.
The Pope was addressing how we get people to stop sinning not what is sinful; he was discussing tactics not objectives.
But what the media has done out of ignorance and wishful thinking is to mistranslate the Pope’s statements into his saying that sin is ok or at least unimportant.
It’s clear that the Pope isn’t attempting to usher in a new age of the Church where active homosexuality, abortion, and contraception are ok when we read in the interview:
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.
Further the Pope says:
We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible.
Clearly the Pope is not saying we can’t speak of or condemn those sins but that they should not be all the Church ever speaks about.
To see the Popes real thoughts on what is sinful it’s only necessary to read what the Pope has said in the recent past.
On abortion:
The right to life is the first of human rights.
To abort is to kill someone who cannot defend himself.
On so called gay marriage:
Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is not just a bill (a mere instrument) but a ‘move’ of the father of lies who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.
It’s also clear that the Pope is not wiping the slate clean because he specifically condemns that sort of thinking. In the interview the Pope says:
The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. … The loose minister washes his hands by simply saying, ‘This is not a sin’ or something like that.
While the Pope condemns confessors who are too harsh, because they don’t reflect the mercy of God, he also condemns confessors who would do what the media are saying the Pope is proclaiming; denying that sins such as abortion are sins. Clearly if the Pope were really saying that abortion, homosexual acts, and contraception are not a big deal he wouldn’t, in the same interview, say that priests who deny the sinfulness of those things are wrong.
