Family Values” (and we could not agree with him more): The new “values” that have replaced Christian ethics with secular ones – self-interest, pleasure, money, sex, personal power and individual rights – are the basis of a global society whose leaders see that their own selfish interests are paramount. People who want to influence the future of humanity have no other option than to preach not self-interest and selfishness, but love, mercy, a sense of justice and a concern for the common good. (source) That is why Francis’ new (and ancient) emphasis on humility, charity, mercy, joy, and hope is so crucial. Humility means that the pope, far from looking down on others and thinking he is better than they, thinks that “from this house, all men are brothers” (Jn. 10: 16), and that he “is not a man” (1 Tim. 2: 12). Humility means that Francis does not exalt himself over others, as do many political, cultural, and economic elites, but acknowledges himself and his own actions as sinful and broken (Mk. 8: 34). Humility means that he teaches, preaches, and lives a Gospel that centers on people instead of power and wealth. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states it thus: 1788 One of the principal teachings of the New Testament concerns God’s unconditional election. It “proceeds from the eternal purpose of God, in which the elect will be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8: 29), and “does not at all exclude with respect to God a certain freedom on the part of the creature.” At the heart of this teaching is the doctrine of God’s absolute gratuitousness, by virtue of which he freely and unconditionally chooses the salvation of each human being. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (1 Jn. 4: 16). In his plan of salvation he has given us that gift of self-surrender of love, which, through the Holy Spirit working in us, is perfected in charity. God’s gift of self consists in his giving to every man the power to respond to his love with freely given cooperation. (source) This is where the “preach the Gospel of social justice” language of Pope Francis really begins to click for me. When he talks about the “miseries and joys of this life,” he is emphasizing a point of humility, love, compassion, and mercy that is too often absent from our Church, secular culture, and global society. He states that “to love is to suffer and to allow ourselves to be loved” (Benedict XVI, General Audience, November 10, 2010). “Poverty,” Francis goes on to say, “does not refer to some lack, but to a vocation, a mission to be a leaven of the Gospel, to be poor and to work so that we can bring the good news of the kingdom to others.” This is what Francis will do, as he leads this Church and the people of the world into a renewed and evangelized age of love. We believe that the Pope is fully and definitively “a prophet” who has received revelation, a new call to holiness and to the Church, and who is leading the Church into a renewed and evangelized age of love. While we believe that Pope Francis has no authority on his own to canonize saints (as I have stated on multiple occasions), we also believe that his words and actions, far from leading the Church astray, are leading it toward anew level of holiness and love which this world desperately needs. We believe that the Pope is fully and definitively “a prophet” who has received revelation, a new call to holiness and to the Church, and who is leading the Church into a renewed and evangelized age of love. That is why the Church has remained silent about the latest scandal, so as not to interrupt the pope’s revelation and “new call to holiness.” The Church will speak when the pope calls her to repentance and renewal, and the world will listen. In Christ, John Michael McDonough CEO/President, The Salvation Army Executive Director, The Center for Theology and Social Ministry, and The Salvation Army Like ( 5 ) Dislike ( 0 )