Pope Francis, flanked by Rabbi Abraham Skorka, talks with a child during the presentation of a special edition of the Torah at the Vatican on Feb. 23. (Osservatore Romano via AFP)
The subject of Francis’s homily at the daily Mass, Feb. 23, was hypocrisy. He criticized the “scandal” of “saying one thing and doing another.”
Many of these hypocrites, Francis implied, according to the Vatican’s text of his homily, are Catholics who act rigorously in their ritual observance but don’t apply the religion’s values to their lives. “A totally double life: ‘I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this association and that one; but my life is not Christian, I don’t pay my workers a just wage, I exploit people, I am dirty in my business, I launder money …’ A double life. And so many Christians are like this, and these people scandalize others.”