Pope Francis confesses: I once committed a robbery

During a recent meeting with Jesuits on his trip to Belgium, Pope Francis “confessed” that he committed a “robbery” on one occasion.

During his visit at the end of September, the Holy Father met for an hour with 150 priests of his same Order at the Saint-Michel Collegea Catholic educational institution administered by the Society of Jesus in Brussels.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pope Francis recalled that he had already been to that place on two other occasions. “I must tell you the truth: once here I committed a robbery,” he said under the watchful eye of the Jesuits, according to the Catholic Civilization.

Without mentioning the date or year, he explained that when he was on his way to celebrate Mass he saw a package of papers that caught his attention: “They were class notes on the book of Job,” he said.

That year in Argentina, as he said, he had to give some classes precisely on Job. “I flipped through the pages and was impressed. In the end, I took those notes with me,” confessed the Holy Father.

“The Jesuit should not be afraid of anything”

Aside from the anecdote, Pope Francis commented that “the Jesuit should not be afraid of anything” and that his mission is to “immerse himself in the problems of the world and fight with God in prayer.”

He added that culture and evangelization “always go together” and that “the prayer of the Jesuit develops in extreme, difficult situations. “That is the beauty of our spirituality: taking risks.”

He also regretted “the strong clericalism in the Church that prevents this fruitful dialogue.” “Where there is clericalism there is no service. And please, never confuse evangelization with proselytism!” he exclaimed.

“The Church is a woman”

Pope Francis pointed out something that he often repeats: “that the Church is woman.” “I see women on the path of charisms, and I do not want to limit the discussion about the role of women in the Church to the topic of ministry,” he pointed out.

He defined machismo and feminism as “market logic” and recalled that he is “increasingly trying to incorporate women in the Vatican in roles of greater responsibility” and assured that he will continue along this path, since “things are working better.” than before.”

“There are three women on the team for the selection of bishops, and since they select the candidates, things are going much better: they are sharp in their judgments,” he said.

“Synodality in the Church is a grace”

One of the priests at the meeting asked him about the process of the Synod of Synodality, the second phase of which takes place this October in the Vatican.

The Pontiff considered that synodality “is very important” and that “it is necessary that construction not be from the top down, but from the bottom up.”

“Synodality is not easy, no, and sometimes because there are authority figures who do not allow dialogue to arise. A parish priest can make decisions alone, but he can also make them with his council. And the same is a bishop, and even the Pope.”

He also assured that synodality in the Church “is a grace” and that “authority is exercised in synodality.”

“Reconciliation goes through synodality and its method. And, on the other hand, we cannot really be a synodal Church without reconciliation,” he stated.

“The migrant must be received, accompanied, promoted and integrated”

He also defended that “the problem of migration must be adequately addressed and studied” and, as on past occasions, that the migrant “must be received, accompanied, promoted and integrated.”

“None of these four actions should be missing, otherwise it is a serious problem,” he stated.