The metaphors of Pope Francis

Radical change has become the new norm in Rome under the first six months of the pontificate of Pope Francis. The first Pope from the Americas has brought with him – “from the ends of the earth”, as he put it – a fundamentally new perspective […] But there has been much more to him than a Pope who rejects the papal palace, eats at the refectory table in his hostel, carries his own bags and makes impromptu calls on his mobile to a variety of ordinary people in response to letters whose envelopes were address only to “Pope Francis, The Vatican, Rome.” He has also been radical in his pronouncements on Church teaching. In 80 minutes of Q&As the new Pope signalled change in many areas. That was a message reinforced this month when he gave a 12,000-word interview to a Jesuit publication. It sent shock waves through the Catholic Church. He criticised it for putting dogma before love, and doctrine before serving the poor. It had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage, and contraception and become a church of “small-minded rules.” […] “We have to find a new balance,” Pope Francis concluded, “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. Paul VALLELY