Julia Christine Botin

Who am I to judge? Pope Francis in key quotes

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1745225553173New Project (9).jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Pope Francis brings a white rose to the Virgin Mary during his weekly general audience at St Peter&#x27;s Square at the Vatican on December 9, 2015. <em>Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/file </em></span></span></span></div><p>Key quotes from Pope Francis&#x27;s papacy:</p><div><br/></div><p>- Humility -</p><p>&quot;Pray for me&quot; - pronounced at the end of every speech, because, he once explained, &quot;I am a sinner too.&quot; His first tweet and first post on Instagram were versions of the mantra.</p><div><br/></div><p>- The poor -</p><p>&quot;How I would like a poor church for the poor&quot; - setting the tone for his pontificate, three days after his election in March 2013.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Tolerance -</p><p>&quot;If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?&quot; - groundbreaking signal of a more tolerant church, July 2013.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Inequality -</p><p>&quot;The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose&quot; - opposition to economic inequality spelled out in 2013 Apostolic Exhortation.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Environment -</p><p>&quot;The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth&quot; - from his June 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Clerical sex abuse -</p><p>Speaking in February 2019 of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors, he said: &quot;I am reminded of the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings -- frequently children -- in pagan rites.&quot;</p><p>And on his own failings, after initially defending a bishop accused of covering up abuse in a row that rocked the Church in Chile, he said in April 2018: &quot;I have incurred grave mistakes of judgement and perception of the situation, especially due to the lack of truthful and balanced information.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><p>- Developing world -</p><p>&quot;The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse,&quot; - advocating the cause of the southern hemisphere in Laudato Si.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Migrants -</p><p>&quot;In this world of globalisation we have fallen into a globalisation of indifference. We are accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn&#x27;t concern us, it&#x27;s none of our business&quot; - railing against the world closing its eyes to the plight of migrants, on the Italian island of Lampedusa in July 2013.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Old Europe -</p><p>&quot;We encounter a general impression of weariness and ageing, of a Europe which is now a &#x27;grandmother&#x27;, no longer fertile and vibrant&quot; - addressing the European Parliament in November 2014.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Shooting from the hip -</p><p>&quot;Some people think, and excuse the term, that to be good Catholics, they must be like rabbits&quot; - typically pithy, improvised comment to reporters on the papal plane, January 2015.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Church reform -</p><p>&quot;A Curia that is not self-critical, that does not stay up-to-date, that does not seek to better itself, is an ailing body... It is the sickness of the rich fool who thinks he will live for all eternity&quot; - from his December 2014 attack on the Vatican establishment, which he accused in the same speech of suffering from &quot;spiritual Alzheimer&#x27;s.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><p>- Donald Trump -</p><p>&quot;Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian,&quot; the pontiff said in February 2016, on the return from Mexico, when asked about the then-US presidential hopeful&#x27;s anti-immigration stance.</p><p>When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Francis condemned the president&#x27;s migrant deportation plans as a &quot;calamity&quot; and a &quot;major crisis&quot;.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Mercy -</p><p>&quot;There is no sin that God&#x27;s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father,&quot; - extending permanently his decree allowing priests to grant absolution to women who have had abortions, at the end of his Jubilee Year of Mercy in November 2016.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Common touch -</p><p>&quot;When I pray, sometimes I fall asleep,&quot; he said in an episode of a Catholic TV2000 television programme in October 2017.</p><p>And every Sunday after leading the Angelus prayer, he wished the crowd: &quot;Buon pranzo&quot; -- have a good lunch.</p><div><br/></div><p>- Vaccines -</p><p>Pope Francis urged people to get the coronavirus vaccine in the middle of the global pandemic in early 2021, saying those who opposed it were in &quot;suicidal denial&quot;.</p>