Pope Francis says church too obsessed with gays, abortion

Pope Francis is warning that the Catholic Church's moral edifice might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn't balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as Pope in a remarkably candid and lengthy interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in other Jesuit journals, including America magazine in the U.S.

In the 12,000-word article, Francis expands on his ground-breaking comments over the summer about gays and acknowledges some of his own faults. He sheds light on his favourite composers, artists, authors and films (Mozart, Caravaggio, Dostoevsky and Fellini's La Strada) and says he prays even while at the dentist's office.

The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules.- Pope Francis

But his vision of what the church should be stands out, primarily because it contrasts so sharply with many of the priorities of his immediate predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They were both intellectuals for whom doctrine was paramount, an orientation that guided the selection of generations of bishops and cardinals around the globe.

Francis said the dogmatic and the moral teachings of the church were not all equivalent.

"The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently," Francis said. "We have to find a new balance; 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."

Rather, he said, the Catholic Church must be like a "field hospital after battle," healing the wounds of its faithful and going out to find those who have been hurt, excluded or have fallen away.

"It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars!" Francis said. "You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else."

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"The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules," he lamented. "The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all."

Comments likely to reverberate in U.S.

The comments are a "shot across the bow of the church," according to Vatican analyst David Perlich.

"The Pope is saying, 'This is how it's going to be and here is what the priorities are,'" Perlichtold CBC News. "These are really provocative and amazing statements that will have reverberations around the world."

The remarks are probablynot a complete surprise to the Vatican's upper ranks, he added.

Catholic progressives are wondering if we're dreaming and going to wake up soon.- JohnGehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life

"This is the Pope they wanted," Perlichsaid. "You could feel it on the streets of Rome during the election, before the election, and after the announcement, there was this sense that something needed to change."

New Ways Ministry, a U.S.-based Catholic outreach to gays and lesbians that has been rebuked in the past by church leaders, called the Pope's comments "a new dawn." Equally Blessed, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian Catholics, likened the remarks to "rain on a parched land."

"Catholic progressives are wondering if we're dreaming and going to wake up soon," said John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group in Washington. "It's a new day."

But the Pope's remarksare likely to have sharp reverberations elsewhere in the United States, where some bishops have already publicly voiced dismay that he hasn't hammered home church teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality areas of the culture wars where U.S. bishops often put themselves on the front lines. U.S. bishops were also behind Benedict's crackdown on American nuns, who were accused of letting doctrine take a backseat to their social justice work caring for the poor precisely the priority that Francis is endorsing.

Just last week, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote in his diocesan newspaper that he was "a little bit disappointed" that Francis hadn't addressed abortion since being elected.

Francis acknowledged that he had been "reprimanded" for not speaking out on such issues. But he said he didn't need to.

"We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible," he said. "The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time."

Two months ago, Francis caused a sensation during an in-flight news conference when he was asked about gay priests. "Who am I to judge?" about the sexual orientation of priests, as long as they are searching for God and have good will, he responded.Francis, the first Jesuit to become Pope, was interviewed by Civilta Cattolica's editor, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, over three days in August at the Vatican hotel where Francis chose to live rather than the papal apartments. The Vatican vets all content of the journal, and the Pope approved the Italian version of the article.

The key, he said in the latest interview, is for the church to welcome, not exclude and show mercy, not condemnation.

"This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity," he said.