Pope Francis I has continued to prove that he is not going to be like his predecessor. The first Latin American pope gave a remarkably blunt interview with a Jesuit journalist and covered a wide range of subjects. He suggested that among the problems the Catholic Church faces is an obsession with the topics of homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

The New York Times reports that the interview was given to Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit and editor in chief of Italy’s La Civiltà Cattolica. The interview transcript was approved by the pope in Italian and then published simultaneously by 13 Jesuit journals. In the U.S., it was published by America Magazine.

Francis said that the church should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” for those who follow the church’s doctrine and teachings.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” Francis said. “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.”

He continued, “We have to find a new balance...otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

Francis discussed homosexuality with an unexpected frankness. He referenced his comments over the summer, when he asked, “If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

In the interview, Francis explained, “By saying this, I said what the catechism says. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.”

He then recalled a time when someone asked him if he approved of homosexuality. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.

“Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.”

The wide-ranging interview also helps characterize the pope as a human being. For example, he discusses his love of Mozart, reading Alessandro Manzoni’s The Bethroned three times and his favorite movies. He loves the Fellini classic La Strada and Rossellini's Rome Open City.

You can read the full interview here.

image: Wikimedia Commons