Posted by ROME – Celebrating the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis on Tuesday said the Church can only be credible if it is “free” from “dubious associations with power.” Saying that the two saints had experienced through Christ a love that healed them and set them free, Francis said that the same needs to happen in the Church. “We too have been touched by the Lord; we too have been set free,” the pope said during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday. “Yet we need to be set free time and time again, for only a free Church is a credible Church.” Peter, once a fisherman, became one of the 12 Apostles and is considered the first Roman pontiff. Paul, who once persecuted Christians, was responsible for penning most of the New Testament after his conversion. Both men died in Rome, and are the co-patrons of the city.
Pope warns against ‘intransigent defense of tradition’ that hardens the heart
ORtv: again the Pope conflates Tradition with negative connotations, as if Tradition is constraining or restrictive rather than what it actually is, the living medium by which salvation is assured for every generation…