Pope: Conscience must lead faithful

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis said Friday that Catholics should look to their own consciences rather than rely exclusively on church rules to negotiate the complexities of sex, marriage and family life, demanding the church shift emphasis from doctrine to mercy in confronting some of the thorniest issues facing the faithful.

In a major church document titled “The Joy of Love,” Francis made no explicit change in church doctrine and upheld church teaching on the lifelong bond of marriage between a man and a woman.

But in selectively citing his predecessors and emphasizing his own teachings in strategically placed footnotes, Francis made innovative openings in pastoral practice for Catholics who civilly remarry and signaled that he wants nothing short of a revolution in the way priests guide ordinary Catholics in their spiritual life. He said the church must no longer sit in judgment and “throw stones” at those who fail to live up to the Gospel’s ideals of perfection in marriage and family life.

“I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion,” he wrote. “But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness.”

On thorny issues such as contraception, Francis stressed that a couple’s individual conscience, educated in church teaching – and not just dogmatic rules imposed on them across the board from above – must guide their decisions and the church’s pastoral practice.