How Pope Francis is changing the image of the Catholic Church

Pope Francis, in a recent interview published by American Magazine, said that he wants to change the image of the Catholic Church from one that is focused on the wrongs of its followers to a church that motivates its followers to do better.

Francis stated that the Catholic Church needs to stop being so insistent on “issues relating to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.”

He also said that the church should not condemn homosexuals and that if this person is of goodwill and is in search of God, then he is no one to judge them.

“He’s wanting to change the church’s relations with the world in general, the people who are not Roman Catholic and not Christian, to demonstrate that they’ve got something good,” Travis Derico, adjunct lecturer of religious studies at IU Southeast, said. “He’s also concerned about the Roman Catholic believer. He wants them to behave in ways that don’t press issues like these in ways that are unhelpful to others and that allow them to be lazy so they can complain about other people while not do anything themselves.”

Pope Francis is taking a pastoral approach to leading the Catholic Church, Derico said; he’s talking to his followers as a fatherly figure, not an authoritative one.

“The Catholic Church wants to bring people in. It wants to help people,” Sam Willis, education senior and Catholic, said. “Being so caught up in telling people they’re wrong is just going to push people away.”

Willis said that he likes that Pope Francis is focusing more on helping people throughout the church.

“And he’s not just saying to help the poor, he’s actually doing it,” Willis said.

Sean Barnes, education sophomore, said although he is not a Catholic himself, he admires Pope Francis’s efforts to refocus the church.

“Jesus condemned adultery many times, but when a woman taken in adultery was brought before him, he showed her kindness,” Barnes said. “I think Francis wants to see that kind of attitude prevail in the church and not hatred.”

Staff

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