A separate report by Andrea Tornielli, a veteran Vatican reporter at the Italian newspaper La Stampa, who is working on a book with the pope to be released next year, said Francis was ready to take on the management of Vatican real estate, including apartments that have allegedly been undervalued by the agency that manages the properties. “How many fights there are!”
Advertisement
A new study done by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities has found that Pope Francis is influencing the conversation about global warming in the United States – especially among Catholics.
“The attitude of the scribes, the Pharisees is the same, they exclude: “We are the ideal ones, we follow the law”. Forty-five percent – presumably those who don’t go to church – say the question doesn’t apply to them. The Pope admitted that at times it’s hard to include others, because “there is that selective attitude” of resistance.
Pope Francis then focused on two parables Jesus tells in the Gospels: the parable of the lost sheep and that of the woman who lost her coin. God has included us all in salvation, all! Both the shepherd and the woman will do anything to find what they have lost, and when they find it, they are full of joy. “These are the sinners, they are publicans, ‘” he said. He described this as “the “including” of God”.
“In the Church, too, there are these kinds of people, who instead of serving, of thinking of others, of laying the foundations, are served by the Church: ‘climbers, ‘ those who are attached to money”.
When this happens “a little of circle of friends is created, which is their environment”, the Pope observed. “It is a dialectic between exclusion and inclusion”.
“I think with great sadness of the escalating discrimination and persecution against Christians in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and elsewhere throughout the world”, Francis said. “On the contrary, he who does not live to serve does not serve to live”.
“With that “good evening” I saw that this pope was completely different from all the others”. He encouraged the congregation to make their best effort not to exclude anyone from their heart, prayer or greeting.
Advertisement
Jesus, the Pope said, acts like His Father, Who sent Him to save us; “He seeks to include us”, “to be a family”.
