said some of these scandals "made us pay a lot of money. Good! One has to do this." "The embarrassment of the church! But are we ashamed of these scandals, of these defeats of priests, of bishops, of laypeople?" Rarely did any of the men and women who caused the church scandal have the Word of God rooted deeply in their lives, he said. "They had a position within the church, a position of power, even luxuries. But not the Word of God," the pope said. Maybe they liked to show off their cross or insignia, but they carried it around like the people of Israel carried the ark, he said, "without a living relationship with God and the Word of God."



Scandals hurt the holy and faithful peopleand the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States ofAmerica. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Focus on the Peripheries

One of my favorite Pope Francis stories is when he celebrated his 77th birthday in 2013 by inviting three homeless men (and their dog) to share breakfast with him. This took place the week after Time magazine named Pope Francis as their person of the year. I imagine that there were plenty of well-connected, powerful, and famous people who would have been happy to join Pope Francis for a meal on his birthday. But Francis