Last Sunday – the fifth Sunday of Lent – Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel account of Jesus’s merciful response to the woman caught in adultery:

“Jesus’s interlocutors were closed in by the narrowness of legalism,” the Pope said, “and they wanted to enclose the Son of God in their own perspective and condemnation.” Jesus who came into the world to save it then challenged the accusers to throw a stone if they had not sinned, reminding them that they, too, were sinful.

“This scene invites each one of us, too, to realise that we are sinners,” the Pope said, and calls us “to let fall from our hands the stones of denigration and condemnation, of gossiping that at times we would hurl against others.” When we cast these stones at others, he said, we become like the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel.

“In this time of Lent, we are called to recognise that we are sinners, and to ask for forgiveness from God.”        

Criticism of gender theory

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the United Nations, said: “When the natural, complementary duality of man and woman is called into question, the very notion of being – what it means to be human – is undermined. The body no longer is a defining element of humanity. The person is reduced to spirit and will, and the human being almost becomes an abstraction until one discerns what nature one is, or chooses what gender one wants to be.

“Pope Francis is particularly concerned about gender ideology being taught to children, so that boys and girls are encouraged to question, at the earliest ages of existence, whether they are a boy or girl and are told that gender is something one can choose.”

Mission of journalists

Speaking to journalists on April 5, Pope Francis said: “For some time now we have been witnessing a worrying evolution in the world: the challenge of the right to life, the advance of euthanasia, the denial of social equality, the lack of integration, the violation of human dignity and freedom of conscience.”

Pope Francis added that the public media has a responsibility to take a firm stand for the good of human freedom. He emphasised that journalists will be supported by the Church in this endeavour “since they are entrusted with the mission of Christ…”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)