Cardinal spells out the priorities of the Pope

Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes has published a short book identifying what he regards as the central aims of the Pope, writes James Roberts.

In Major Goals of Pope Francis (Grandes metas do Papa Francisco in Portuguese) the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy and Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo says that Francis’ overriding priority is reform of the Catholic Church.

Recalling the traditional saying Ecclesia semper reformanda (“The Church must always be reformed”), Hummes asserts that the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium is the document that expresses the true programme of the Pope.

The core of Francis’ ecclesiastical reform, Hummes says, is to build “a totally missionary Church” moving preferentially towards the peripheries.

On Amoris Laetitia, Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, Hummes writes: “The matrimonial state continues to be the symbol of the love that God has towards his people or that Jesus Christ has for his Church.” Then he adds: “The great pastoral orientation that Pope Francis traces in this document is mercy, and not so much the law. No law helps to save if it does not help us to practise love and mercy.”