Francis envisions a post-pandemic church 'not closed off in institutions'

Pope Francis says he hopes the global Covid-19 pandemic will help the Catholic Church better know how to be both an institution, with certain rules and regulations, and more free-form, able to respond to people's pastoral needs in creative ways.

In a prepared interview with British author Austen Ivereigh, released April 8, the pontiff gives the example of an Italian bishop that called asking for advice about whether it was allowable to offer general absolution to Covid-19 patients in isolation in a hospital.

The prelate, the pope recounts, had been told by a canon lawyer that he could not do so, as absolution is generally given during confession, which requires face-to-face contact.

"I told him: 'Bishop, fulfill your priestly duty,'" Francis states. 

"I found out later that he was giving absolution all around the place," the pope says. "This is the freedom of the Spirit in the midst of a crisis, not a church closed off in institutions." 

"That doesn’t mean that canon law is not important: it is, it helps, and please let’s make good use of it, it is for our good," he continues. "But the final canon says that the whole of canon law is for the salvation of souls, and that’s what opens the door for us to go out in times of difficulty to bring the consolation of God."

Ivereigh, who has written two biographies of Francis, published his interview with Commonweal, the UK's Tablet, Spain's ABC magazine, and Italy's La Civiltà Cattolica. In a brief introduction to the exchange, the author says he provided Francis with a series of written questions, and that the pontiff responded with recorded answers.

Most of the material deals with how Francis is living through the global pandemic. The pontiff says he has praying more than usual, "because I feel I should." He says he is also thinking a lot about the coming post-pandemic period.