Pope Preaches a sermon on "Embracing the Outcasts"

Reading the internet is one of my own pastimes. This is not the territory of a lazy man with too much time on his hands but an attempt to connect with culture and social interests on a local and worldwide scale. I read online newspapers and online news sites, scanning for information and articles of interest that speak of the margins in our world. It's just one of my things. I read blogs on culture and social anthropology. I'm interested in debates and politics and how they might inform my own Jesus politics. 

In my normal run of the mill daily surfing i have come across a number of news sites that have picked up on the following story and I felt that I needed to make a few brief comments as well as bring the thing to appear on my own blog.  So here goes...........

In line with his pastoral commitment to the poor, Pope Francis on Sunday urged 20 new cardinals to turn their attention to the "marginalised" people of society.

Pope Francis was speaking to the new cardinals during the celebration of Mass on Sunday to wrap up the consistory that created the 20 new cardinals on February 14 - part of the Church's current non stop, pope led efforts to reform the Roman Curia.

"We will not find the Lord unless we truly accept the marginalised!" the Pope told the cardinals celebrating the Holy Mass with him. 

In his homily, Pope Francis stated that true service is when Christians are not afraid to reach out to those that are considered untouchable including those who are living with disease or in extreme poverty. He told the cardinals in an impassioned speech that the true path of the Church is not to "condemn anyone for eternity, but on the contrary to leave her four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, those on the 'outskirts' of life."

Pope Francis used the example of Jesus Christ's healing of a leper in the Gospel of Mark to illustrate his point. Although lepers were ostracised in Jesus's time, He reached out to the man because of a sense of compassion and He identified with the man's shame and suffering, instead of turning his eye away from the lepers.

Similarly, Pope Francis stated that it is important for all church leaders and all Christians to embrace the outcasts of society. People must not turn society into a "a closed caste with nothing authentically ecclesial," he said.

"Total openness to serving others is our hallmark, it alone is our title of honour...Truly the Gospel of the marginalised is where our credibility is found and revealed!" the Pope said.

Pope Francis is certainly turning on the pressure of reform. For many the Pope is a Jesus centric Pope and welcome in the church of today as his presence calls to light all the hidden actions and responses of the church. 

In a world where the poorer are getting poorer and the rich are obscenely rich Francis points to the saviour of the church as a prime example of what it means to reach out with compassion and not count the cost.

I only hope that the cardinals were listening. Time will tell. Well it's back to more of the surfing and extracting information from the trillions of articles that are on the net. Happy Hunting for me... you never know what I'll be writing about next.