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People who approach the Church should find the doors open and not have their way blocked by Catholics who invent an eighth commandment of “pastoral customs”, Pope Francis has warned.
The Pope was giving his homily on the May 25 Gospel reading from Mark 10 in which the disciples rebuked people who were bringing children to Jesus.
He gave a more modern example by describing an encounter of a young couple with a parish secretary.
“ ‘Good morning, the two of us — boyfriend and girlfriend — we want to get married,’ the couple says. And instead of saying, ‘That’s great!’ they say, ‘Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot….’
“This, instead of receiving a good welcome — ‘It is a good thing to get married!’. But instead they get this response: ‘Do you have the certificate of baptism, all right….’ And they find a closed door.”
The Pope described the situation as one where “a Christian has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new marriage”, but becomes a “faith inspector” instead of a facilitator of the faith.
“There is always a temptation to try and take possession of the Lord,” he said.
Pope Francis gave another example, of a single mother who wants to have her child baptised.
“Think about a single mother who goes to church in the parish and says to the secretary: ‘I want my child baptised.’
“And then this Christian, this Christian says: ‘No, you cannot because you’re not married!’
“But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the sender, what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors!”
The Pope said this attitude — the attitude of establishing “a sacrament of pastoral customs” — does no good to the People of God and “Jesus is indignant when he sees these things”.
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Image: Fox News
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