Pope Francis and Mercy

Aquinas writes that mercy is the greatest of the virtues insofar as it is proper to God and the way in which God's omnipotence is primarily made manifest (ST, II-II.30.iv). Apart from the hurly-burly of reaction to Pope Francis's interview for Jesuit publications, I think this--the primacy of mercy--is the deepest and most powerful aspect of what Francis is saying and calls all of us (as teachers, parents, colleagues, and friends) to ponder where and how we can bring about mercy in a world desperately in need of it. Over at First Things, Nathaniel Peters writes:

Like any good triage specialist, the pope knows that you give the most critical medicine first. That is why, first and foremost, he preaches the mercy of Christ. Mercy, he clarifies, is neither rigor nor laxity. It neither ends in condemnation, nor in a false sense of comfort that one is not diseased. It says what Francis says of himself: “You are a sinner, and the Lord has looked upon you with mercy.”

Since this is the heart of the gospel, all other aspects of Catholic truth presuppose and proceed from it. All the controversial parts of the faith can only be understood in light of this fundamental truth. During and before his papacy, Benedict repeated this again and again. The heart of the gospel must be understood so that the moral teachings can be understood.