Pope Francis on Hypocrisy

If it has been accurately reported--a big "if"--Pope Francis has said in a recent homily that it would be better to be openly atheist than one who attends mass daily, yet does not demonstrate love for your fellow man.

There is logic to the claim. At least the atheist does not cause scandal and bring the religion into disrepute. Jesus himself railed against religious hypocrisy in the New Testament.

Still, in pastoral terms, supposedly Francis’s talent and chief concern, this seems the wrong message. True enough, scribes and Pharisees would prominently attend synagogues purely for the sake of social status. They were not sincere about their faith. The same might be true of a Catholic who attends mass regularly.

The problem is, in these times, few are likely to attend mass daily or even weekly for the sake of higher social status. Society as a whole is at present far from impressed by such things. Throughout the developed world, attending a Catholic mass risks social stigma, rather than prestige. It is counter-cultural behaviour.

Granted, within their own mind or within a small group, they might be acting hypocritically. Still, this seems a secondary worry, and all but counterbalanced already by the moral courage required, and the value of the moral example.

Instead, given the present social and intellectual climate of hostility to Catholicism and religion, it seems to amount to publicly undermining the faithful. The implicit message—surely at least the message the world will take from it—is that sincere faith and being observant is less than worthless. Best to avoid it altogether; you are only risking hypocrisy. All that matters is doing good.

In practice it seems an argument against religion and in favour of secularism, or perhaps, to use Francis’s own quoted term, atheism. And it must plague the conscience of the scrupulous, who will always fall short of moral perfection, moral perfection not being available to us mortals. So, since they are not morally perfect, and are painfully aware of this, must they avoid the mass and the sacraments, for fear of being worse than an atheist?

Pope Francis may only be being misquoted--as so often in the past. Still, he bears some blame that he seems to so often leave mistaken impressions. That is hardly pastorally sound. If he is unreliable on the theology, and unreliable on pastoral matters, where are we?