Pope Francis told the
faithful at his weekly general audience that they should
distinguish sin from the sinner.
Drawing inspiration from the Gospel episode of Jesus'
dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee, Vatican Radio
reported, the pope said, "All of us are sinners, so many times
we fall into the temptation of hypocrisy, believing that we are
better than the other ", but he continued, look at your sin, all
of us need to look at our sins, our mistakes and look to the
Lord," because, he added, "this is the lifeline, the
relationship between the sinner and the Lord."
The pope was referring to the story from St Luke in which a
woman known as a sinner comes up to Jesus, and bathes his feet
in her tears and anoints them with precious perfume, but the
Pharisee judges the woman by appearances. However, Jesus,
underlined the Holy Father, distinguishes between the "sin and
the sinner."
The Lord, continued Pope Francis, teaches Simon that "the
woman's act, as an expression of faith and trust in God's mercy
has merited the forgiveness of her sins."
The pope told the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square,
it is a lesson for us all that "God's mercy reaches out to
everyone; it overcomes prejudice and surmounts all barriers."
He added, that "through faith in Christ, we too have received
the forgiveness of our sins and the new life of grace."
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