“Many times in my life I have encountered nuns with a vinegar face, and this is not friendly,” the pontiff recently remarked
- Pope Francis made remarks about nuns with a “vinegar face” and called out gossip during a Jan. 4 event
- “Continue to carry it forward with your openness and courage, ready to renew yourselves where necessary, with holiness of life, preparation and friendliness, ” the pontiff told a group of nuns from the Union of St. Catherine of Siena of the Missionaries of the School
- Francis has a history of making headlines for sometimes blunt, or even harsh, speech
Pope Francis has a message for nuns: convey joy while refraining from gossip.
On Saturday, Jan. 4, the pontiff addressed a gathering of nuns from the Union of St. Catherine of Siena of the Missionaries of the School, according to The Holy See and also reported by The Times in the U.K. and the Catholic News Agency.
He referenced men and women who have been indifferent to the Catholic faith.
“Many times in my life I have encountered nuns with a vinegar face, and this is not friendly, this is not something that helps to attract people,” Francis said in his remarks. “Vinegar is ugly, and nuns with a vinegar face, let’s not say! In short: holiness, preparation and friendliness. I ask this of you.”
On the subject of holiness, the pontiff had a plea for the nuns concerning gossip, as well.
“And in order to contemplate to hand down to others, speaking well and friendliness are necessary, and there is a great enemy of this, which is gossip,” he said. ”Please, distance yourself from gossip. Gossip kills, gossip poisons. Please, no gossip among you, none. And to ask this of a woman is heroic, but come on, let’s go forward, and no gossip.”
In the same address, Francis urged the sisters to not speak with the devil, saying: “The Lord has taught us that He conversed with everyone, apart from one person who does not converse with the Lord, never: the devil. And when the devil approaches to ask those questions, the Lord does not dialogue with him. He answers with the Word of God, with the Scripture.”
“Please, converse with everyone, apart from the devil,” he continued. “The devil comes into communities, look, jealousy all these things that are of everyone, not just women, everyone, and the devil goes there. You do not converse with the devil. Do you understand? You do not converse with the devil.”
Lastly, Francis called on the nuns to be messengers of friendliness and joy, and he thanked them especially for working with youth.
“Continue to carry it forward with your openness and courage, ready to renew yourselves where necessary, with holiness of life, preparation and friendliness. I bless you and pray for you. And you too, please do not forget to pray for me – for, not against,” he concluded.
The pontiff has headlines before for his blunt language — and reports of even harsher words.
Last June, according to the Italian news agency ANSA, Francis, 88, said a homophobic slur while speaking with Roman priests in a closed door meeting.
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ANSA, which used unnamed sources, reported that the pontiff allegedly uttered a word that translates from Italian as a derogatory term for gay people — while indicating that gay men should be welcomed into the Catholic Church but not necessarily seminaries.
The alleged incident followed an earlier accusation that Francis said a slur toward gay people in May during a private meeting.
In response to the reports, Director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni told PEOPLE at the time: “Pope Francis is aware of the articles that have recently been published about a conversation held behind closed doors, with members of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. As he has had the opportunity to say on several occasions: ‘There is room for everyone, for everyone in the Church! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is room for everyone. Just in the way that we are, all of us.’ “
“The Pope has never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologises to those who have felt offended by the use of a term, reported by others,” Bruni also said.
An unnamed priest described Francis’ speaking style as “rough spoken” to The Times, adding, “It can be embarrassing and it could be getting more pronounced with age. First time round I think it was the Vatican press office issuing the apology rather than him.”
Source people.com
