As usual, the media just gets it wrong. And, as usual, the reaction to “what the Pope said” is wrong. We’re all reactionary.

I know I write headlines here that are meant to draw a reaction from time to time because I know people will only read the headline and then launch into their issue. (I have a morbid sense of loving that, by the way.)

So, once again, the news is abuzz with things like, “The Pope welcomes gays,” or some such stuff.

No one will read the actual interview, but there are some places where you can find a bit more, like HERE. Or, heaven forbid, the actual interview.

But also know this: even the main article is only an interview. Unless we could somehow get an unedited recording of that interview, we are only reading the interview as the writer chooses to relay it to us.

At any rate, there are some incredible jewels the Pope says that really challenge my own heart and ministry:

So what needs reforming? He wants to see the church as a “field hospital.” He said, “The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all. The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. The rigorist washes his hands so that he leaves it to the commandment. The loose minister washes his hands by simply saying, ‘This is not a sin’ or something like that. In pastoral ministry we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds.”

To me, THAT is gold, and I think we would all do well, especially as ministers, to heed these incredible words.