ROME, Italy — Pope Francis came to the defense of pro-LGBT Jesuit Father James Martin on Saturday, praising him as a “man of values.”
“We cannot descend to a communication devoid of values. We must communicate with our values,” the pontiff told members of the Vatican’s communication department.
While seeming to acknowledge the criticisms leveled against Father Martin for his apparent support of the gay lifestyle, Francis said that Martin is also a man of prayer.
Speaking of Christian values and the human values that help people to move forward, the pope said, “For example, I see James Martin here. ‘Ah, yes, he works…’ Yes, but this one wrote a book called Learning to Pray. Read it, because it teaches you how to pray.”
“A man who has values, a communicator who also knows how to teach you how to communicate with God,” he continued. “That’s what being a communicator is. Going, walking, taking risks, with values, convinced that I am giving my life with my values, Christian values and human values.”
“I am wary of sterile communicators, these who are pure technique,” Francis said, because “technique alone is useless, technique helps you if behind it there is a heart, there is a mind, if there is a man, a woman who puts something in.”
“Be careful not to ride along only on technique, because this leads you to a sterile communication, devoid of values, and which can then fall into the hands of merchants or ideologies of the moment,” he said.