The Pope made the shocking remarks during morning mass at his residence in the Vatican.
Don't be hypocrites-Pope Francis to Catholic church
The Pope made the shocking remarks during a morning mass at his residence in the Vatican
“It is a scandal to say one thing and do another. That is a double life. There are those who say, ‘I am very Catholic, I always go to mass, I belong to this and that association…
"My life is not Christian, I don’t pay my employees proper salaries, I exploit people, I do dirty business, I launder money, [I lead] a double life. There are many Catholics who are like this and they cause scandal,” he said.
“How many times have we all heard people say ‘if that person is a Catholic, it is better to be an atheist?” he added.
This is not the first time the head of the 1.2 billion-member church has caused a stare with his comments. He had previously spoken about relaxing the Catholic Church’s rules on divorce and has called on priests to welcome all persons regardless of their sexual orientation.
Pope Francis is the first non-European head of the church in millennia and was elected in 2013 following the rare decision by Benedict XVI to abdicate the position.
He has spoken out against the lavish lifestyle of some priests and called for the church to adopt a new posture that has the poor at heart.
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