If he did then, as an apologist, I’d be severely annoyed.
But wait! Could this be yet another case of people taking the pope out of context?
Yes. Yes it can.
And it is.
Here are 9 things to know and share . . .
1) What’s being claimed?
It’s being claimed that Pope Francis said the Church doesn’t need apologists or crusaders.
2) Where did he allegedly say this?
In a speech to the Congregation for Bishops.
It isn’t yet online in English, but it’s in Italian here.
3) What did he say?
According to the Washington Post:
He exhorted them to find “authentic” pastors who display “professionalism, service and holiness of life.”
Bishops, he continued, should be “guardians of doctrine, not to measure how far the world lives from the truth it contains, but to fascinate the world, to enchant the world with the beauty of love, to seduce it with the free gift of the Gospel.”
“The church doesn’t need apologists for their own agendas or crusaders for their own battles,” he added, “but humble and faithful sowers of the truth.”
4) Why is that not a diss on apologists?
