"The Catholic church should be hungry and dirty"

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November 11, 2015 10:53 AM

Pope Francis says the church should stop being obsessed with money and power

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, on Tuesday, during a conference with the Italian bishops in Florence, Italy, called on the Catholic church to stop clinging to conservatism and fundamentalism.

He said that the church ought to be “bruised, hurting and dirty.” He made this statement in response the the problem the catholic church is facing, of losing relevance around the world. He urged the bishops that the solution to the church's problems is not for it to be obsessed with money and power;

“Before the problems of the church it is not useful to search for solutions in conservatism or fundamentalism, in the restoration of obsolete conduct and forms that no longer have the capacity of being significant culturally,” the pope said.

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The pope, known for portraying the church as less rigid, added;

“Christian doctrine is not a closed system incapable of generating questions, doubts, interrogatives. But it is alive, knows being unsettled ... it does not have a rigid face, it has a body that moves and grows, it has a soft flesh: it is called Jesus Christ.”

He urged the bishops that the church should be protected “from every pretence of power, image and money” and said Christians ought not to be obsessed with power even when it was power that was “useful to the social image of the church”.

“I desire a happy church with face of a mother who understands, accompanies, caresses,” he expressed.

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