Pope Francis: When no one is to blame, everyone is to blame
Pope Francis: We have spent these last years disciplining anyone who disagrees with our line on divorce, on birth control, on being gay. While our planet was being destroyed, while inequality grew like a cancer. We worried whether it was alright to speak the Mass in Latin, whether girls should be allowed to be altar servers. We built walls around us, and all the time, all the
time, the real danger was inside. Inside with us.
Pope Benedict: You talk about walls as if they are bad things. A house is built of walls. Strong walls.
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio: Ah... Did Jesus build walls? His face is a face of mercy. The bigger the sinner, the warmer the welcome. Mercy is the dynamite that blows down walls.
Pope Benedict: When you were leader of the Jesuits in Argentina, you had all the books on Marxism removed from the library.
Pope Francis: And I made seminarians wear cassocks all day, even when they were working in the vegetable garden. And I called civil marriage for homosexuals the Devil's plan.
Pope Benedict: You were not unlike
me.
Pope Francis: I changed.
Pope Benedict: No, you compromised!
Pope Francis: No, I changed! It's a different thing.
Pope Francis: [addressing a crowd in Villa 21 Buenos Aires] Once, a young man was walking in the woods. His name was Francesco Bernardone. Suddenly, he found a chapel - ruined, with the walls destroyed. He stepped inside. A crucifix was still there, where the altar had been. Francesco felt captivated. The crucifix spoke to him and said, 'Francesco, repair my Church.' Francesco was
a practical man. He went up to the quarry on Mount Subasio, cut stones, carted them down the mountain, and repaired the broken walls. Any journey, no matter how long, has to start somewhere. Any journey, no matter how glorious, can start with a mistake. So, when you feel lost, don't worry. God will not give up.
Pope Francis: Where was Christ in all this? Was he taking tea in the presidential palace? Or was he being tortured in prisons, with Yorio and Jalics?
Pope Francis: And remind you that truth may be vital, but without love, it is unbearable. Caritas in veritate.
Pope Francis: Um, I am trying to get the Wi-Fi in here. You know how it works?
Swiss Guard: The Wi-Fi?
Pope Francis: S, si. I'm trying to make a booking, and apparently, the only way it can be done is online. Can you help me at all?
Swiss Guard: Of course, Holy Father...
Pope Francis: We are seeing a globalization of indifference. There is a culture of conflict, which makes us think only of ourselves. Makes us live in soap bubbles which, however lovely, are also insubstantial. We've become used to the suffering of others. It doesn't affect me. No one in our world feels responsible. Who is responsible for the blood of our brothers and sisters? The
refugees washed up on the shores of the Mediterranean? I don't have anything to do with it.Must be someone else. Certainly, not me. When no one is to blame everyone is to blame.