New Pope says Church not an NGO, shows early recognition of importance of communication, meeting with media on Saturday-BBC

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3/14/13, "Pope Francis warns Church could become 'compassionate NGO'," BBC

"Pope Francis has warned the Catholic Church would become "a compassionate NGO" without spiritual renewal.

In a Sistine Chapel Mass with cardinals on his first day as Church leader, the pontiff said: "If we do not confess to Christ, what would we be? "We would end up a compassionate NGO. What would happen would be like when children make sand castles and then it all falls down."

Francis is the first Latin American - and the first Jesuit - Pope."...

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BBC Analysis by David Willey, Rome

"Pope Francis will deal with the problems of his Church first of all prayerfully rather than as a CEO coming in with a new broom.

But the fact that the new Pope will meet the media before anyone else at a special audience on Saturday morning shows a vivid awareness that prayer may not be enough to deal with the situation facing the Catholic Church at this critical moment in its long history. 

Francis is a Jesuit, a member of perhaps the most powerful and experienced religious order of the Catholic Church. The Jesuits are expert communicators and it is significant that one of the first people summoned to meet the new Pope this morning was Father Federico Lombardi, head of Vatican Radio (run for many years by the Jesuits) and the Vatican Press Office. 

Under Pope Benedict, Father Lombardi was a mere functionary who had no direct access to the Pope. He could not pick up the phone and talk things through quickly - he just received orders from the Vatican Secretariat of State. That has now changed overnight."

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Ed. note: This isn't to suggest he'll change his beliefs to accommodate the media, just that he seems to believe communication is important.


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