On Thursday, Pope Francis was interviewed about the directives of the Catholic Church and was most controversially noted for stating that the Vatican was “obsessed” with the issues of gay marriages and abortions, rather than issues more pressing to the head of the Catholic church. Of course, this was met with an explosive feedback from the social media world.

 The pope was very adamant on the focus of the church to be of more spiritual matters rather than as an authoritative police of morality. He was quoted in saying: “We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

Of course, such criticism of the current agenda of the vatican would be met in kind by both political beacons and the general public as well, voicing their wide variety of opinion of  both support for such refocusing on the true purpose of the church, and disdain for a diminishing of matters that are of higher importance to certain focus groups.

 

Certain media outlets were quick to provide their own interpretations of the 12,000 word interview, such that gives interesting perspective to the revised platform. “He’s very open honest and candid like we have not seen in a pope before. He critiques people who focus too much on tradition, who want to go to time in the past that does not exist anymore,” said Fr. James Martin of America Magazine, which published an English translation of the interview. “He reminds people that thinking with the church, in obedience, does not just mean thinking with the hierarchy, that church is a lot bigger than its hierarchy.”

While many people do not view the Vatican to be an encompassing influential figure in international political positioning, it is certain undeniable that the administrative head of one of the largest religions holds significant clout in the ideology of its followers. Especially with his groundbreaking quote regarding the status of gays: “who am I to judge”, one can do similarly by applying it to other social aspects.