Pope: Hypocrisy in the Church is a particularly detestable evil
In the catechesis held in the Paul VI Hall, Francis focused on “half-truths”, a pretence that is proper to those who do “not know how to love.” The pontiff also mentioned the athletes who started competing in the Tokyo Paralympics for “they offer everyone a witness of hope and courage.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Hypocrisy is a symptom of the inability to truly love. It is a “particularly detestable” evil when it shows up inside the Church, Pope Francis said this morning in his address to the faithful in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican during his weekly Wednesday general audience.
As he continued his catechesis dedicated to the Letter to the Galatians, the pontiff reflected on the theme of hypocrisy, which is one of the “dangers of the Law”.
Commenting on the passage of Gal 2:11-14 in which Paul remembers an incident that took place years earlier, when he reproached Peter because – after doing it in Jaffa, in Cornelius' house, in Antioch he avoided being at table with those who had come to Christianity from paganism so as not to be criticised by those who had come from Jerusalem. “[F]undamentalistic preachers,” the pontiff noted, created “confusion, and had even robbed that community of their peace."
Francis asked: “What is hypocrisy? It can be called the fear of the truth. A hypocrite is afraid of the truth. It is better to pretend rather than be yourself. It is like putting makeup on the soul, like putting makeup on your behaviour, putting makeup on how to proceed: this is not the truth.”
To avoid the duty of telling the truth “at all times, everywhere and in spite of anything” half-truths are invented. They are pretence because, said the pope, “the truth is the truth or it is not the truth. Half-truths are a way of acting that is not true. [. . .] And in an environment where interpersonal relations are lived under the banner of formalism, the virus of hypocrisy easily spreads. That smile that looks like this, that does not come from the heart. To seem to be on good terms with everyone, but with no one.”
The Bible, Francis noted, offers many shining examples of the fight against hypocrisy; for example, the elderly Eleazar, in the second book of the Maccabees. He was asked to pretend to eat the meat sacrificed to the gods to save his life, but he replied that “’Such pretence is not worthy of our time of life, lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretence [because of my hypocrisy], for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age’ (2 Mac 6:24-25). [. . .] What a beautiful episode to reflect on to distance ourselves from hypocrisy!” said the pontiff.
“Hypocrites are people who pretend, flatter and deceive because they live with a mask over their faces and do not have the courage to face the truth. For this reason, they are not capable of truly loving: a hypocrite does not know how to love. They limit themselves to living out of egoism and do not have the strength to show their hearts transparently.”
Francis urges people to be on guard against situations in which hypocrisy can hide. “It is often hidden in the work place where someone appears to be friends with their colleagues while, at the same time, stabbing them in the back due to competition. In politics, it is not unusual to find hypocrites who live one way in public and another way in private. Hypocrisy in the Church is particularly detestable; and unfortunately, hypocrisy exists in the Church and there are many hypocritical Christians and ministers.”
“[L]et us not be afraid to be truthful, to speak the truth, to hear the truth, to conform ourselves to the truth, so we can love. A hypocrite does not know how to love. To act other than truthfully means jeopardising the unity of the Church, that unity for which the Lord Himself prayed.
At the end of this catechesis the pontiff spoke briefly about the athletes now competing in the Tokyo Paralympics. “I send my greetings to the athletes and I thank them because they offer everyone a witness of hope and courage. They, in fact, manifest how being committed to sports helps overcome apparently insurmountable difficulties.”
Greeting a group of pilgrims, he mentioned the earthquake that shook central Italy five years ago. “With the concrete assistance of the authorities, it is necessary to give proof of 'rebirth' without letting oneself be disheartened by mistrust. I urge everyone to go forward with hope.”
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