Pope Francis
delivered another criticism of some members of his own Church on Thursday,
suggesting it is better to be an atheist than one of "many" Catholics
who he said lead a hypocritical double life.
In
improvised comments in the sermon of his private morning Mass in his residence,
he said: "It is a scandal to say one thing and do another. That is a
double life."
"There
are those who say 'I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this
and that association'," the head of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic
Church said, according to a Vatican Radio transcript.
He said that
some of these people should also say "'my life is not Christian, I don't
pay my employees proper salaries, I exploit people, I do dirty business, I
launder money, (I lead) a double life'."
"There
are many Catholics who are like this and they cause scandal," he said.
"How many times have we all heard people say 'if that person is a
Catholic, it is better to be an atheist'."
Since his
election in 2013, Francis has often told Catholics, both priests and lay
people, to practice what their religion preaches.
In his often
impromptu sermons, he has condemned sexual abuse of children by priests as
being tantamount to a "Satanic Mass", said Catholics in the mafia
excommunicate themselves, and told his own cardinals to not act as if they were
"princes".
Less than
two months after his election, he said Christians should see atheists as good
people if they do good.
(Reuters)
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