Pope Francis: 'We Are All Sinners'

In the Church, “we often experience our fragileness and our limitations,” said Pope Francis. “We all have them. We are all sinners.”

The Pope pronounced these words in Saint Peter’s Square during his weekly General Audience Wednesday morning, before a crowd of tens of thousands.

“None of us can say, ‘I am not a sinner,'” the Pope continued. “But if anyone feels that he is not a sinner, raise your hand.”

According to Francis, “it is right that this fragileness and these limitations bring about in us a deep displeasure, especially when we have given bad example and we realize that we have been a stumbling block for others,” he said.

“How many times have we heard it said, ‘Hey, that person always goes to church but speaks badly of everybody.’ This is not Christian. It’s a bad example. It’s a sin,” the Pope said.

“Let us ask for the gift of faith,” Francis went on, “to be able to understand that despite our littleness and our poverty the Lord has truly made us an instrument of his grace and a visible sign of his love for all of humanity.”

“Christ is the model of the Church, because the Church is his body. He is the model for all Christians, for each of us. Whoever keeps his eyes on Christ, doesn’t make mistakes,” he said.

“Yes, we can be a stumbling block for others,” the Pope concluded, “but we can also become a source of witness, saying with our lives what Jesus wants from us.”