VATICAN (CNS): In an interview with the Associated Press [AP] published on January 25, Pope Francis covered topics ranging from his health to the ongoing clerical sexual abuse crisis, as well as homosexuality and potential policies for regulating the retirement of a pope who renounces his office.
Speaking about his health, the pope insisted that at 86-years-old he is “in good health. For my age, I’m normal. I might die tomorrow, but I am under control.” He said that his knee has healed, but he told AP that he again is suffering from diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, a condition for which he underwent surgery in 2021.
Regarding homosexuality, Pope Francis pointed out that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that gay people must be respected and welcomed and not marginalised or discriminated against.
The pope said being homosexual “is not a crime” but that it is a “human condition.” Imagining a hypothetical conversation, he said someone could argue that it is a sin [alluding to the teaching that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin] “but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.” He said laws criminalising homosexuality or homosexual activity were “unjust.”
He added that the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them [unjust laws]. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said, noting that “It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another.”
We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity
Pope Francis
The pope stressed, “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity.”
Addressing the matter of public criticism by cardinals and bishops, the pope told AP that this could be annoying—“like a rash that bothers you a bit,” but that differences need to be aired and criticism can be helpful.
“You prefer that they don’t criticise, for the sake of tranquility,” he said in the interview, “But I prefer that they do it because that means there’s freedom to speak.”
He pointed out that the papacy is not a dictatorship and, besides, “criticism helps you to grow and improve things.”
In the days following the death of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the late pope’s secretary, published a book that included criticisms of Pope Francis, including because of the way he treated the archbishop, but also because of his decision to limit celebrations of the Mass using the pre-Vatican II liturgy.
Then, shortly after George Cardinal Pell of Australia died on January 10, two texts attributed to him and critical of the pope—one calling his papacy a “catastrophe”—came to light.
“Even though they say he criticised me, fine, he has the right,” the pope said when asked about Cardinal Pell. “Criticism is a human right.”
At the same time, he said, the late cardinal “was a great guy. Great,” and he did much to begin the process of reforming Vatican finances.
Even though they say he [Cardinal Pell] criticised me, fine, he has the right. Criticism is a human right. was a great guy
Pope Francis
Pope Francis objected to the idea that criticism had increased since the death of Pope Benedict and that somehow it is related to the late pope no longer being around to quiet the critics.
The pope suggested that it seems to be a natural part of “the wear-and-tear” of his papacy, which is nearing its 10th anniversary. In the early years, he said, everything was new and exciting, but the criticism began “when they started to see my flaws and didn’t like them.”
Addressing the handling of clerical abuse, Pope Francis said he always orders the lifting of the statute of limitations when a case involves someone who was a child at the time of the abuse, but does not when survivors are adults because justice demands respect for the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty and that crimes must be prosecuted within a certain time limit.
The day after the publication of a letter from top Vatican officials criticising the plan of the German Catholic Synodal Path to set up a Synodal Council of bishops and laypeople to deal with national issues facing the Church, AP asked the pope about his view of Germany’s synodal process, which began in 2019.
The process has focused on four areas a major study identified as containing the “systemic causes” of sexual abuse and its cover-up: the exercise of power in the Church; sexual morality; priestly existence; and the role of women in the Church.
Pope Francis told AP that the German process seemed to be “elitist” because it involved mainly bishops, theologians and laity invited to participate by the bishops’ conference and the country’s Central Committee of German Catholics.
The pope cautioned that it could become “ideological,” which is dangerous because “when ideology gets involved in Church processes, the Holy Spirit goes home.”
As he had done shortly before Pope Benedict’s death, Pope Francis also told AP that he had no plans to issue norms for how a retired pope should live and dress and what he should be called.
However, he said, if he were ever to resign, he would insist on being referred to as the emeritus bishop of Rome and he would live in a Rome diocesan residence for retired priests.
