Francis’ Missionary Church

Whether you’re Catholic or not, if you’ve been watching the unexpected progress of his Papacy, you’ll want read this. Francis has released his first ‘apostolic exhortation’, which is entirely his own work, Evangelii Gaudium, (The Joy of the Gospel). It brings together the various statements and goals Francis has enunciated over the last eight months and actually takes them further, focusing on a missionary church focused on the poor and not over-bound by intricacies of the Church’s doctrines on sexual politics. “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a church concerned with being at the center and then ends up by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.” Read about it here.