Dr. Edward Sri explains how the statement of Pope Francis, “Who am I to judge?” has been grossly taken out of context by the media, and how his book gets to the heart of what the statement really means: condemning actions, while never condemning souls.
Transcript:
Host: Elias in El Monte, California, listening on Immaculate Heart Radio, you are on with Dr. Sri, what’s your question?
Caller: Well first I wanted to say, reading your book that you co-wrote with Curtis Martin, “The Real Story,” I just want to say–I’m not done with it yet–but I want to say it’s really really good and I appreciate that. Also I had a question as far as the title of your book that you’re speaking about, “Who Am I to Judge?” Obviously our Holy Father has been referenced about that for a long time, and I think unfairly taken out of context; was the title of your book, in a way, to… kind of maybe in a way bring attention to that or is it completely unrelated?
Dr. Sri: No, I would say I love the title because it gets right to the heart of the matter of morality, right? Can I make a judgement? Just like we were just just discussing here.
Now am I happy that, you know, I can kind of, you know, take it–I don’t know if your experience is–but I find the media often doesn’t get Pope Francis right, and they really took what he said really out of context in a really bad way, and I want to take that statement back, and make that distinction that we just talked about. That, yes we are not supposed to make judgments about people’s souls, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. But we should always be able to make judgments about what is right and wrong, and we need to have confidence in moral truth; confidence that we can talk about moral truth without being a mean, judgmental, intolerant person.
I can make a judgment about moral action, “This is right, this is wrong, one should never do this,” without having to judge a person’s soul. And if I disagree with your lifestyle, I disagree with the choices you’re making, I could still respect you. We might even be able to still be friends, but “I disagree” doesn’t mean “I hate you,” and please don’t force me into this box that is saying, “Oh, just because I have a certain conviction, that I’m a judgmental person.” And we need to push back on that, and I think Pope Francis–er I’m sorry, Pope Benedict especially was really calling us to do is to push back on that relativism that’s trying to make us, like, all cower and never say what is right or wrong anymore.
Host: Thanks, Elias.