Pope Francis concluded his address by reflecting how the Holy Family understands the significance of doors that are opened and closed, especially for “those expecting a child, those who have no safe haven, those who must from danger”. Mass attendance has collapsed and the hierarchy has been criticized for compromising on Church teaching in the face of strong secularism.
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“We always inaugurate new facilities, from which, in the end, the faithful are missing”, he said.
A week before Pope Francis lands in Uganda on the second leg of his Africa tour, the country’s Catholics and souvenir-sellers alike are getting excited. “It is a sort of new Pelagianism, which leads us to place our trust in administrative structures, in flawless organisations”. If there is no priest, there is no Eucharist. “This means that you can not be a priest believing that you were created in a laboratory”.
“I would like the Pope to at least make people know that being LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) is not a curse”, said Jackson Mukasa, 20, a Ugandan in Kampala who was imprisoned previous year on suspicion of committing homosexual acts, before charges were dropped for lack of evidence. “And God weeps. Jesus weeps”, the pope said. “The Church must never tire of being an advocate for life and must not take steps back in her announcement that human life is to be protected unconditionally from the moment of conception until natural death”.
Any compromise on this issue, he added, “makes one guilty of being part of a ‘throwaway culture, ‘” in a society where the suffering of the weakest and most defenseless – the unborn, the elderly, and the sick – have left their wounds. “The church will always – always – suffer the temptation of worldliness and the temptation of a power that is not the power that Jesus Christ wants for her”.
The director of the television station recalled how the pope has spoken many times about a “third world war being fought in pieces”.
“Jesus does not drive out the priests, the scribes; he drives out the ones doing business, the merchants in the Temple”, he said. “Very bad indeed”, he said. However, the bishops said they consider opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights paramount in this presidential election season and beyond.
“We are earning money from this!” said Ssenyondo, whose company began printing thousands of key rings, mugs, T-shirts and other souvenirs earlier this month, after being chosen as official trinket supplier by the local Catholic Church.
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While the seeds planted in the church by the two decrees have grown, the pope said there is “still work to be done” and that proper formation of those who wish to enter the priesthood “must be promoted and cared for” in the seminary.
