Christians must see others with compassion, not condemnation, pope says October 31, 2022By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God always sees people’s potential, looking past their mistakes and understanding what they can become, Pope Francis said. If people feel they are “not up to the challenges of life and, even less, of the Gospel, mired in problems and sins, Jesus always looks at us with love,” the pope told people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 30 for the recitation of the Angelus prayer. Jesus “comes toward us, he calls us by name and, if we welcome him, he comes to our home,” he said. Commenting on the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, who collected taxes on behalf of the Roman rulers, the pope said Zacchaeus was rich, hated and branded a traitor and a sinner. But, despite his lowliness, Zacchaeus “feels the need to seek another way of looking” and “awaits someone who will free him from his condition,” the pope said. “Zacchaeus teaches us that, in life, all is never lost,” he said. “We can always find space for the desire to begin again, to start over, to convert.” The pope said, “let us remember this: the gaze of God never stops at our past full of errors but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become.” “God has never looked down on us,” he does not humiliate or judge people, Pope Francis said. “On the contrary, he lowered himself to the point of washing our feet, looking at us from below and restoring our dignity to us.” “How do we look at ourselves?” the pope asked. “Do we feel inadequate and resign ourselves, or precisely there, when we feel down, do we seek an encounter with Jesus?” And then, he added, “what gaze do we have toward those who have erred, and who struggle to get up again from the dust of their mistakes? Is it a gaze from above, that judges, disdains, excludes?” “We Christians must have the gaze of Christ, who embraces from below, who seeks those who are lost, with compassion. This is, and must be, the gaze of the church, always, the gaze of Christ, not the condemning gaze,” he said. Read More Vatican News Trump renews attacks on Pope Leo over Iran war, accuses him of endangering Catholics Lord of the Dance meets Shepherd of the Flock: Michael Flatley greets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican Pope Leo XIV meets with Catholic Charities USA leadership, urges mission of compassion Augustinian charisms of truth, unity, love revealed in Pope Leo’s pastoral style, say panelists Pope Leo condemns violence after bomb attack in Colombia Pope Leo on the dignity of work: 9 quotes for St. Joseph the Worker Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Print
