By Marco Ceccarelli
Pope Francis, The Name of God is Mercy, translated by Oonagh Stransky, Bluebird Publications, London, UK, 2016; pp 151; hardcover
The warmth and candour that Pope Francis has demonstrated since his election to the papacy in 2013 has had a sweeping effect over so many within, and outside, the Catholic Church.
In his latest book, Pope Francis does not fall short of delivering another powerful message that strikes at the very heart of mercy, a concept so dear to him that he decided to name a jubilee year in its honour.
The Name of God is Mercy is largely a collection of conversations between Pope Francis and Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli, although Misericordiae Vultus – the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy – has also been included as an appendix to the book.
In the book, Pope Francis speaks of humanity as “deeply wounded” and portrays the Church as a mother who does not wait for the wounded to knock on her doors, but looks for them in the streets, gathers them and makes them feel loved.
In light of what he sees as a humanity that has either lost sight of sin, or finds its sins and illnesses to be incurable, the Pope defines our era as a Kairos (Greek for ‘opportune moment’) of mercy, a favourable time during which we are called, more than ever, to both receive and show mercy.
In a very poignant way, Pope Francis highlights that the Church does not exist to condemn people, “but to bring about an encounter with the visceral love of God’s mercy”.
In order for this to happen, however, the Pope is adamant about the necessity for Christians “to go out from the churches and the parishes, to go outside and look for people where they live, where they suffer, and where they hope”.
“I like to use the image of a field hospital to describe this ‘Church that goes forth’. It exists where there is combat. It is not a solid structure with all the equipment where people go to receive treatment for both small and large infirmities. It is a mobile structure that offers first aid and immediate care, so that its soldiers do not die.”
Pope Francis also speaks on confession and forgiveness and, as the first Pope to go to confession publicly during a penitential litany at St Peter’s, he emphasises the importance of confessing one’s sins in front of a priest.
“We are social beings, and forgiveness has a social implication; my sin wounds mankind, my brothers and sisters, and society as a whole. Confessing to a priest is a way of putting my life into the hands and heart of someone else, someone who in that moment acts in the name of Jesus… we face the facts by looking at another person and not in the mirror,” he said.
The Pope also speaks of God needing only “a small opening” in order to enter into the heart of a person and grant grace. “A tiny opening is enough. All we need to do is take our condition seriously. We need to remember and remind ourselves where we come from, what we are, our nothingness.”
When questioned by Tornielli on what may be seen as “too much mercy” from the Church, Pope Francis speaks of a Church that both condemns sin, yet shows mercy to sinner.
“The Church condemns sin because it has to relay the truth: ‘this is a sin’. But, at the same time, it embraces the sinner who recognises himself as such, it welcomes him, it speaks to him of the infinite mercy of God.”
Returning to the small opening needed by God to grant pardon, the Pope warns against the adoption of an attitude akin to the “scholars of the law” who are more attached to the letter of the law and to boundaries than they are to love.
“Jesus moves according to a different kind of logic,” Pope Francis says, taking the examples of Jesus’ contact with lepers despite the laws that forbade interaction with them.
“At His own risk and danger, He goes up to the leper and He restores him, He heals him. In so doing, He shows us a new horizon, the logic of a God who is love, a God who desires the salvation of all men.”
Pope Francis goes on to point out the difference between sin and corruption, speaking of corruption as a sin raised to systemic level and stressing the need for compassion to “conquer the globalisation of indifference” which plagues the world today.
The Pope concludes in much the same way that he started, by encouraging the believer to be open to the mercy of God by going to confession with faith. Accompanying this, he also addresses all Christians with the powerful reminder, “try and be merciful with others”.
The Name of God is Mercy was released on 12 January 2016 in 86 countries and was presented in the Augustinianum Institute by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the actor Roberto Benigni during a conference moderated by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ.
From page 29 from Issue 2: ‘Family: What does it mean in 2016?’ of The Record Magazine