Interfaith Group

"One who gets to the root".

"He does not represent a liberal position, but a radical position, understood in the original sense of the word as going back to the roots, the radix." By reaching back through time, he is, in fact, "constructing a bridge to the future."

At the center of Pope Francis' vision stands the concept of mercy, Kasper said -- "God's mercy."

"Mercy has become the theme of his pontificate," he said. "... With this theme, Pope Francis has addressed countless individuals, both within and without the church." He has "moved them intensely, and pierced their hearts."

And "who among us does not depend on mercy?" Kasper asked. "On the mercy of God, and of merciful fellow man?
Nevertheless, for some, the pope's talk of mercy has become uncomfortable. They sense danger lurking behind it."

But "when correctly understood, mercy is not a yielding pastoral weakness"; it is "revealed truth. It does not abolish justice, but outdoes it."

"In the center of Pope Francis' understanding of the church stands the image of the church as the People of God," Kasper said. It is an "ancient" understanding, one renewed by the Second Vatican Council, but one that has come to be viewed with suspicion in the West.

Pope Francis' style is not one of "benevolent popularism," Kasper said. "His pastoral style is based on a whole theology. On the basis of this theology, he's averse to all clericalism. He wants the participation of the People of God in the life of the church. Women as well as men. Laity and clergy, young and old. He stresses the importance of the sensus fidei and says the church must open its ears to the people." (Sensus fidei means "sense of the faithful, and has been largely ignored by recent popes.)