Pope: Clericalism is present in the Church today and distances the faithful

The humble and lowly faithful are victims of the "intellectuals of religion," "seduced by clericalism", which is "a very bad thing" and which is still present today in the Church.  

However, in the kingdom of heaven they will be preceded by the repentant sinners and prostitutes, said Pope Francis today at Mass in Santa Marta House - also attended by the Council of the nine cardinals - inspired by the Gospel passage in which Jesus addressed the chief priests and elders of the people, to dwell on their role.

 

On the day of the 47th anniversary of his priestly ordination, Francis warned pastors from becoming intellectuals of religion with a moral that is distant from the Revelation of God.
The priests and elders, said the Pope, "had legal, moral, religious authority," they "decided everything." Annas and Caiaphas, for example, " judged Jesus", it was the priests and leaders who "decided to kill Lazarus," and indeed went to Judas to "negotiate" and thus " Jesus was sold." A state of "arrogance and tyranny against the people" arrived at by exploiting the law. 

"But a law that they revised many times, so many times that they arrived at nearly 500 commandments. Everything was set, everything! A scientifically constructed law, because these people were wise, they knew well. They had all these nuances, no? But it was a law without memory: they had forgotten the first commandment that God gave to our father Abraham: 'Walk in my presence and be blameless'. They did not walk: they stood firm in their convictions. And they were not blameless! "

Therefore, continued Francis, "they had forgotten the Ten Commandments of Moses." "With their man made law”, "intellectual, sophisticated, case studies", "they erased the law made by the Lord," they did not have they “memory that glues the here and now together with Revelation." And their victim, as Jesus was, is the "humble and poor people who trust in the Lord", "those that are discarded", who know repentance even if they do not make the law, and suffer these injustices. They feel "condemned", "abused" by those who are "vain, arrogant, proud." 

The "difference of these people," the Pope said, was Judas. "Judas was a traitor, he sinned badly, eh! His was a grave sin. But then the Gospel says: "Repentant, he went to them to restore the coins." And what did they do? "But, you are our partner. Do not worry ... We have the power to forgive you everything! ". No! "Arrange it as you can! It's your problem! ". And they abandoned him: ​​they discarded him! The poor repented traitor Judas was not accepted by the shepherds. Because they had forgotten how to be a pastor. They were the intellectuals of religion, those who had the power, who teach people catechesis according to an intellectual moral and not according to the Revelation of God. "
"A humble people, discarded and beaten by these people." Even today in the Church these things happen. "There's that spirit of clericalism", "the clerics who feel superior, they move away from people," do not have time to listen to the poor, the suffering, the imprisoned, the sick ". 

"The evil of clericalism is a very bad thing! It’s a new edition of these people. And the victim is always the same: the poor and humble people, waiting on the Lord. The Father always tried to approach us: He sent His Son. We are waiting, waiting in anticipation, exultant. But the Son has not joined in these people’s game: the Son went with the sick, the poor, the rejected, the tax collectors, sinners - and outrageously ... - prostitutes. Even today Jesus says to all of us and also to those who are seduced by clericalism: The sinners and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the Kingdom of Heaven. "