‘Pope’s admonition aligned with CBCP thrust’

MANILA, Philippines - The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is focused on pursuing Pope Francis’ thrust in addressing issues confronting the Church.

This is according to Fr. Francis Lucas, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media.

Lucas maintained yesterday that there was nothing controversial or radical in the statement made by Pope Francis that Catholic pastors’ obsession with condemnation of abortion, contraception and homosexuality was driving the faithful away.

“The CBCP is on track with what the Pope was saying,” Lucas told The STAR in a telephone interview.

In a 36-page transcript of the pontiff’s interview with an Italian Jesuit journal, Francis said the church had “locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules” and should not be so prone to condemn.

But Lucas said the Pope wanted the church to run after the sinners to bring them back them into the fold.

The church should not condemn people for their weaknesses, he said.

“We have to save the lost people by not giving them license to continuously commit sins,” the priest added.

Lucas stressed that the Pope did not go against church doctrine when he urged the priests to focus on being merciful and welcoming rather than insisting on issues such as abortion, gay marriage and contraception.

“In my opinion, the Pope wanted to stress that it’s not a matter of cleansing the sinners, but how you heal them,” he said.