VATICAN CITY (RNS) — During informal conversations with Jesuit clergy in Africa, Pope Francis opened up about his spirituality after being made pope — and criticized clericalism in the Catholic Church for its fixation on sex rather than equity and integrity.
“One dimension of clericalism is the exclusive moral fixation on the sixth commandment (which in the Catholic Bible is the prohibition on adultery),” Francis told 24 Jesuit priests sitting in a circle around him in Mozambique on Sept. 5.
“We focus on sex and then we do not give weight to social injustice, slander, gossip and lies. The church today needs a profound conversion in this area.”
The closed-door meeting took place during Francis’ Sept. 4-10 papal visit to the African countries of Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. The official transcript was published Thursday (Sept. 26) by the Jesuit-run magazine La Civiltà Cattolica.
“Great shepherds give people a lot of freedom,” the pope continued. “The good shepherd knows how to lead his flock without enslaving it to rules that deaden people. Clericalism, on the other hand, leads to hypocrisy, even in religious life.”
A master communicator, Pope Francis holds his own amid the large crowds that usually follow such an influential faith figure, but private and off-the-cuff conversations such as the one with the Jesuits in Africa are…
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