Pope Francis greets the crowd as he leaves his general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican August 25. Photo: CNS. Pope Francis said Wednesday that hypocrisy within the Church is “particularly detestable.”
Speaking at the general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on August 25, the Pope underlined that hypocritical behaviour damaged Church unity.
“Hypocrisy in the Church is particularly detestable, and unfortunately there is hypocrisy in the Church, and there are many hypocritical Christians and ministers. We should never forget the Lord’s words: ‘Let what you say be simply Yes or No; anything more than this comes from evil,’” he said, quoting Matthew 5:37.
“Brothers and sisters, today, let us think about the hypocrisy that Paul condemns, and that Jesus condemns: hypocrisy. And let us not be afraid to be truthful, to speak the truth, to hear the truth, to conform ourselves to the truth, so we can love. A hypocrite does not know how to love.”
“To act otherwise means jeopardizing the unity of the Church, that unity for which the Lord Himself prayed.”
The Pope’s live-streamed address, dedicated to the theme “The dangers of the Law,” was the sixth in his cycle of catechesis on St Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.
The Pope reflected on Galatians 2:11-14, in which Paul recalls that he rebuked St Peter for ceasing to eat with gentiles for fear of conflict with strict Jewish Christians, who stressed that Jews were prohibited from eating with non-Jews under Mosaic Law.
CNA