Francis Interview with La Repubblica: “How I will Change the Church”

Bergoglio the Apostate Speaks Again…

“There Is No Catholic God” – “Proselytism is Nonsense”:

“Pope” Francis gives Interview
to Italian La Repubblica

If you thought that the interview the Rev. Antonio Spadaro conducted with “Pope” Francis in August and published in September 2013 was a royal mess, get ready for more of the same, but this time, with a bit more bluntness and less diplomacy. On October 1, the Italian paper La Repubblica published yet another interview with His Phoniness (Francis’third in total, if you’re keeping track) under the title “The Pope: How the Church will Change”, and this one elaborates on Francis’ own aversion to the Catholic Faith and his plans to advance the Modernist apostasy at work in the Vatican since the election of “Pope” John XXIII in 1958.

In our commentary on the Spadaro-Francis interview, we ended by saying that Antipope Francis was rightly deserving of the title “Chaos Frank” and warned that “he’s just getting started.” We were right. In this dialogue with former-Catholic-turned-atheist editor Eugenio Scalfari, Francis states outright that the Church is not in the business of converting people, and he himself is not interested in converting Scalfari back to the Faith: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense”, the Unholy Impostor says.

But read it for yourself. Read the actual text, too, not just the coverage in the media, lest anyone say that you just think Francis is a non-Catholic because the media told you so:

Full Text:
La Repubblica Interview in English
“How I Will Change the Church”

By giving yet another interview so soon after the first two, Francis is once again confirming that he has the pace of a marathon runner. Barely a day passes that the “Pope” doesn’t come out with some heretical sensation or another. In fact, whenever he speaks his mind freely, that’s when chaos erupts. The man previously known as Jorge Bergoglio is keeping everybody so busy, Hans Kung doesn’t even have time to euthanize himself.

Below we will provide the most significant quotes from the interview with La Repubblica for your convenience. We are also providing, below the quotes, numerous links to sundry commentaries and damage control efforts (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Our own commentary on the interview will be published shortly.

Interview Highlights – the Most Important Quotes:

• “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old…. This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing.”
• “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.”
• “Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good.”
• “The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood. All are brothers and all children of God.” [This translation of La Repubblica is being disputed by Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, who renders it: “The Son of God was incarnate in order to instill in souls of men the feeling of brotherhood.”]
• “Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.”
• “It also happens to me that when I meet a clericalist, I suddenly become anti-clerical. Clericalism should not have anything to do with Christianity.”
• St. Augustine “went through many vicissitudes in his life and changed his doctrinal position several times. He also had harsh words for the Jews, which I never shared.”
• “Someone who is not touched by grace may be a person without blemish and without fear, as they say, but he will never be like a person who has touched grace.”
• “I don’t have any such intention” of converting his interviewer, the Italian atheist and former Catholic Eugenio Scalfari
• “I have already said that our goal is not to proselytize but to listen to needs, desires and disappointments, despair, hope. We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace. Vatican II, inspired by Pope Paul VI and John [XXIII], decided to look to the future with a modern spirit and to be open to modern culture. The Council Fathers knew that being open to modern culture meant religious ecumenism and dialogue with non-believers. But afterwards very little was done in that direction. I have the humility and ambition to want to do something.”
• “I have already said that the Church will not deal with politics.”
• “I say that politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion. Political institutions are secular by definition and operate in independent spheres. All my predecessors have said the same thing, for many years at least, albeit with different accents. I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I’m here.”
• “I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being.”
• “From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us. In the letter I wrote to you, you will remember I said that our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone.”

Novus Ordo “What Francis Really Said/Meant” Damage Control Efforts

• Father Z’s Blog – The King of Spin, Mr. Zuhlsdorf always has an answer for why it’s not the way you think it is
  • “Pope Francis Interview in La Repubblica”
  • “What Did the Pope Really Say?” (1)
  • “What Did the Pope Really Say?” (2)
  • “Tornielli Calls Into Question Accuracy of Pope Francis’ Interview”
• Dwight Longenecker: Francis Didn’t Slam Evangelization
• Simcha Fisher: It’s All the Translation’s Fault!
• Jimmy Akin: Francis Does Want to Convert People
• Jeffrey Mirus: Francis will be Misunderstood
• Elizabeth Scalia: Francis is Trying to Convert the Atheist
• Calah Alexander: The Problem is Us, not Francis — the Spirit is “moving in mysterious ways”!
• Jennifer Fitz: [OK, we really can’t figure out just what the heck she’s saying – it’s all over the place]
• Joanne McPortland: Francis Speaking is like Christ Speaking
• The Jewish Daily Forward: Francis the “Most Jewish Pope Ever”
• Gerard Nadal: Francis is the Pope, no matter what
• Thomas L. McDonald: Francis Preaches Christ Powerfully – obviously!
• Terry Nelson: ‘I Am Too Sinful to Understand Pope Francis’
• Mary Eberstadt: “The Pope Is No Radical” (Time Magazine)
• Stacy Trasancos: “The Head-Slapping Criticism of Pope Francis”
• Kathy Schiffer: “Proselytize NO, Evangelize YES, Said Pope Francis”
• Joseph Shaw: Let’s Assume Francis’ Assumptions
• Joseph Susanka: We Need to Slow Down
• Christopher Orlet: “Getting Pope Francis Wrong”
• Edward Mulholland: Francis’ Critics Lack Faith and Hope
• Mark Shea: Stop Worrying – a Pope no one can understand is Christ-like!
• Dwight Longenecker: We don’t know how closely Francis vetted his reported Words
• Federico Lombardi (Vatican Spokesman): Francis uses a “New Genre” of Papal Speech
• Federico Lombardi: “This isn’t Denzinger” – invidivual words aren’t that important
• Carl Olson: The Good, the Baffling, and the Unclear
• John Allen: Scalfari didn’t Record Interview or take Notes, but Francis approved Text
• Gerard Nadal: Youth Unemployment Really Is the Greatest Evil afflicting us Today
• Dwight Longenecker: Wizard of Oz is Key to Understanding Francis

Commentary from Various Sources

• “‘I am the Pope’ – In Fresh Interview, Francis on Church’s New ‘Beginning'” – Whisphers in the Loggia
• “The Pope to Repubblica: How the Church will change under my watch” – Rorate Caeli
• “Usque Quo, Domine?” – Mundabor
• “Preliminary Thoughts on the Scalfari Interview” – Louie Verrecchio at Harvesting the Fruit
• “The Hermeneutic of Incongruity” – Creative Minority Report
• “Oops, He Did It Again” – Connecticut Catholic Corner
• John Vennari slams Francis for 1960s Hippie Theology – but STILL thinks he’s the Pope
• “Francis Fires a Warning Shot at Church’s ‘Top-Down’ Bureaucracy” – David Gibson
• “In New Interview, Francis takes Aim at ‘Vatican-Centric’ View” – John Thavis
• “Lost In Translation…” – Katrina Fernandez
• “Nothing Random about This” (1) – Tom Droleskey
• “Nothing Random about This” (2) – Tom Droleskey
• “Nothing Random about This” (3) – Tom Droleskey
• “Nothing Random about This” (4) – Tom Droleskey
• “Nothing Random about This” (5) – Tom Droleskey
• “The After-Bomb Pigeon Feeding” – Mundabor
• “Some Thoughts on Pope Francis” – Russell D. Moore (Southern Baptist)
• “Millions of Catholics have been waiting for a Pope who Talks like Francis” – Andrew Brown
• “The Francis Transformation” – Sandro Magister
• “Where Is the Danger”? – SuperTradMum
• “Game On” – Louie Verrecchio at Harvesting the Fruit
• “Explaining the Obvious: Proselytism” – Mundabor
• “Communists Cheer Pope Francis” – Paul Kengor
• “The Pope They’ve Been Waiting For” – George Neumayr
• “Fairytale Fever” – Louie Verrecchio at Harvesting the Fruit
• “Explaining the Obvious: Moral Relativism” – Mundabor