On last day in US, Pope criticises narrow, unbalanced faith

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

Preaching before more than one million people in Philadelphia, Pope Francis argued strongly against a narrow approach to faith.

At a Mass at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on September 27, the Pope expanded on readings of the day in which Jesus and Moses chided their followers for narrowness.

“To raise doubts about the working of the Spirit, to give the impression that it cannot take place in those who are not ‘part of our group’, who are not ‘like us’, is a dangerous temptation,” Pope Francis said.

“Not only does it block conversion to the faith; it is a perversion of faith!”

Francis warned against being “scandalised by the freedom of God, who sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, bypassing bureaucracy, officialdom and inner circles”.

Rather, “faith opens a ‘window’ to the presence and working of the Spirit”, the Pope said.

Francis urged families to show love by attention to small daily signs “which make us feel at home”.

Earlier in the day, Francis warned about 300 bishops against an unbalanced Christianity.

“A Christianity which ‘does’ little in practice, while incessantly ‘explaining’ its teachings, is dangerously unbalanced. I would even say that it is stuck in a vicious circle,” he said.

“A pastor must show that the ‘Gospel of the family’ is truly ‘good news’ in a world where self-concern seems to reign supreme!”

The bishops were in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.

The Pope called on bishops to move away from stale denunciations about the state of the world, and instead engage with young people.

“We need to invest our energies not so much in rehearsing the problems of the world around us and the merits of Christianity, but in extending a sincere invitation to young people to be brave and to opt for marriage and the family,” Francis said.

On leaving the US, the Pope singled out the canonisation of St Junipero Serra and prayers for peace at Ground Zero in New York as occasions which had particularly moved him.

Sources