Unfortunately Pope Francis has become the victim of ‘fake news’ regarding comments he made recently to a group of high school students in Rome. I’m not going to name names, but I do want to point out that articles saying things like Pope Francis told Christians not to try and convert nonbelievers are simply wrong.
Instead of unpacking all the misinterpretations of what is being said about the Pope’s remarks, let’s just start with what the Pope actually said, via Bing translation:
QUESTION – Damian:
Good morning, Your Holiness, I wanted to ask you a question. If an atheist came to you and asked her for a fundamental reason to start believing what would she say to him?
POPE FRANCIS:
The first is everything. In front of a non-believer, the last thing I have to do is try to convince him. Never. The last thing I need to do is talk. I have to live consistent with my faith. And it will be my testimony that awakens the curiosity of the other who says, “But why do you do this?” And there I can speak. But listen, never, ever bring the gospel proselytizing. If someone says that he is a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, he is not a disciple of Jesus. Proselytism is not done, the Church does not grow out of proselytism. Pope Benedict said it grows by attraction, by witness. Proselytism is done by football teams, this can be done, political parties, you can do it there but with faith no proselytizing. And if someone says to me, “But why?” Read, read, read the gospel, this is my faith. But no pressure.
The first thing Pope Francis says here is that we should LIVE the love of Christ Jesus in our lives through action and deed, that we shouldn’t depend on convincing non-believers with words. He argues that it’s our actions and deeds that will arouse the curiosity of non-believers. Then, when someone asks why we do what we do, we have a strong basis on which to begin a dialogue.
Now I admittedly don’t know exactly what he means by ‘proselytising’, per se. But it sounds to me that in the context of his remarks, the Pope believes that ‘proselytising’ is trying to pressure someone into believing in Jesus with words. Or as we say around here, to argue someone into the Kingdom.
The Pope isn’t saying we shouldn’t dialogue with people about our faith. Rather, he’s simply saying that we should bring the Gospel of Christ to people through action and deed and not through argument and pressure. This is what the Bible calls us to do in passage after passage. We are called to let our light shine before men, to care for the widow and the poor. Not trying to beat people over the head with a Bible.
That’s all the Pope is saying here as you can plainly see in his words.
And remember, the Pope is talking to high school students who more than likely put a premium on their own words, as many of us did at that age. As the leader of the Church, he’s simply trying to show them that loving people through action and deed is far more effective than words.