Francis: ‘If You Want to Be Happy: Don’t Proselytize’

My friend Jan was disconcerted to hear that Pope Bergoglio was telling Catholics not to proselytize, which is, of course, the ecumenical and secular word replacing evangelizing or converting people to the only true Faith.

“Isn’t converting people the mission of the Church? Isn’t it the responsibility of all Catholics?” she asked. “It is really hard to believe the Pope actually said not to proselytize. I know there have been times when he was reported to say things like this, for example, that he was not interested in converting the Evangelicals to Catholicism. But can you show me a written record of him actually saying not to proselytize, using those exact words?”

Yes, Jan, I can. To mark the first 500 days of the pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio the Argentinean weekly Viva (July 27, 2014) published excerpts of an interview with him conducted in that month. In it he not only told Catholics not to engage in proselytizing, but called it “the worst thing you can do.”

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