Pope Francis highlighted the difference between sinners and the “corrupt.” He warned that for the sinner “there is always hope of redemption,” while for the corrupt and hypocritical, “it is more difficult, ” during the Angelus on 1 October.
From the window of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Holy Father reflected on the day’s Gospel, which speaks of two sons whom the father asks to go work in the vineyard (cf. Mt 21:28-32 ).
“The first one immediately answers ‘yes’, but then he doesn’t go. The second, on the other hand, at first opposes it, but then he thinks about it and goes,” the Pontiff recalled.
The Holy Father highlighted that both behaviors show the sincerity they have “in front of themselves” and pointed out that the first of them “hides behind a false assent that hides its laziness.”
“He slips away without conflict, but he deceives and disappoints his father, disrespecting him in a worse way than an outright ‘no’ would have done,” he warned.
For Pope Francis, “the problem with a man who behaves like this is that he is not only a sinner but also corrupt, because he lies without problems to cover and camouflage his disobedience, without accepting any dialogue or honest confrontation.”
On the contrary, he pointed out that the second son “is not perfect, but he is sincere.” “We can say that he is a sinner, but not corrupt. And for the sinner there is always hope of redemption; For the corrupt, on the other hand, it is much more difficult .”
“In fact,” the Pontiff continued, “their apparently elegant but hypocritical false ‘yeses’ and their fictions that have become habit are like a thick ‘rubber wall’, behind which the voice of conscience is protected. These hypocrites, how much evil they do. Sinners, yes, corrupt, no,” Pope Francis insisted.
In this sense, he asked the faithful to ask themselves the following questions: Faced with the fatigue of living an honest and generous life, of committing myself according to the will of the Father, am I willing to say ‘yes’ every day, even if it costs? And when I don’t succeed, am I sincere in facing God about my difficulties, my falls, my frailties?
“When I make a mistake, am I willing to repent and retrace my steps? Or do I pretend nothing and live wearing a mask, worrying only about appearing good and right? In short, I am a sinner, like everyone else, or is there something corrupt in me?” asked the Holy Father.