Pope Francis criticizes “hypocrisy” in the Church

In front of the public on Wednesday, Pope Francis sharply criticized the hypocrisy in the Church, calling it “ugly”. “Unfortunately there is hypocrisy in the Church and there are many Christians and many hypocritical clergy,” he told the general audience in the Paul VI Hall.

“A hypocrite is afraid of the truth. One would rather pretend to be himself than to be himself. It is like putting make-up on your soul, putting on make-up for your behavior: it is not the truth. And pretending prevents this courage to tell the truth frankly, and so it is easy to evade duty Say it always, to be honest, to say it everywhere and in spite of everything,” the Pope warned.

“especially despicable”

“Imagination leads to half-truths and incorrect behaviour. In an environment where interpersonal relations live under the banner of formalism, the virus of hypocrisy spreads easily,” the Pope warned.

“There are many situations in which hypocrisy can arise,” the Pope said. They often hide in the workplace, where people try to be nice to their colleagues while competition leads them to be malicious.

In politics too, there are no rare hypocrites who live a dichotomy between the public sphere and the private sphere. What is “particularly despicable,” Francis said, is “the hypocrisy of the Church.”