ROME — The Church is much more “alive” outside of the Western world, and pastors need to become less “Eurocentric” in their vision of Christianity, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
Reflecting upon his recently completed apostolic visit to Asia and Oceania, the pope expressed his concern that “in thinking of the Church, we are still too Eurocentric, or as they say, ‘Western.’”
In reality, “the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe, much bigger!” he said, addressing the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience.
And the Church is also “much more alive in those countries,” he said, contrasting the state of Christianity in Asia with that of the West.
“I experienced this in an exciting way by meeting those communities, listening to the testimonies of priests, religious sisters, laypeople, and especially catechists – catechists are those who drive evangelization,” he said.
As an example, the pontiff cited that case of Indonesia, where only “about ten percent of people are Christians, and three percent Catholics – a minority.”
What I encountered, he continued, “was a lively, dynamic Church, capable of living and transmitting the Gospel in a country which has a very noble culture, inclined to harmonize diversity, and at the same time has the largest Muslim presence in the world.”
The pope also spoke of Papua New Guinea in similar glowing fashion, as an antidote to what he sees as the stagnation of the West.
In the young people of Papua New Guinea, “I saw a new future, without tribal violence, without dependency, without ideological and economic colonialism; a future of fraternity and care for the wondrous natural environment,” he related.
An Argentinean, the pope has often expressed his disappointment in Europe and the United States, lamenting that they lack vigor and hope for the future.
He has suggested that Europe is repeating the errors of pre-Nazi Germany by allowing new anti-immigration nationalisms to take hold.
“Because ideologies sectarianize, ideologies deconstruct the homeland; they do not build,” Francis said. “Learn that from history” to avoid “repeating the similar path.”
Rather than a mother, Europe seems more like a sterile grandmother who no longer bears children, the pope has proposed.
Europe is often perceived as “elderly and haggard,” like a “grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant,” Francis said in 2014. As a result, the rest of the world looks upon it “with aloofness, mistrust and even, at times, suspicion,” he said.
“Europe has not yet died,” he said. “It is half grandmother, but can go back to being a mother.”
The pope has offered a similar critique of Christians in the United States, especially lamenting the “backwardism” of conservative Catholics in the United States.
“The situation is not easy in the United States where there is a very strong reactionary attitude,” the pontiff said in 2023. “It is organized and shapes the way people belong, even emotionally.”
“I would like to remind those people that ‘backwardism’ is useless and we need to understand that there is an appropriate evolution in the understanding of matters of faith and morals,” he said.
Those American groups “are isolating themselves,” he said. “Instead of living by doctrine, by the true doctrine that always develops and bears fruit, they live by ideologies.”
Francis has had especially harsh words for those who criticize him, in particular the U.S.-based Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).
There is “a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope,” Francis said in 2021.
“I personally deserve attacks and insults because I am a sinner, but the Church does not deserve them. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them,” he added.
America Magazine, the Jesuit flagship journal in the U.S., clarified that the pope was referring to EWTN when speaking of “a large television channel” that criticizes him.
He has also said he considers it “an honor to be attacked by Americans” and seems to carry a typically Latin American distrust of the U.S.
In 2023, Francis singled out the United States as uniquely responsible for the global “climate crisis,” despite findings by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) that the U.S. is one of the countries with the cleanest air in the world.
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“If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact,” he declared in a teaching letter titled Laudate Deum.