Pope Francis is courageously facing real issues head on

Pope Francis has been in the news following a three-part interview in which he commented on moral issues that have always generated much heat — homosexual relationships, abortion and contraception.

In the interviews, published worldwide in Jesuit magazines, the Pope reiterated a call for pastoral prudence in dealing with these moral issues.

Pope Francis made similar calls for pastoral prudence in July on his flight home from World Youth Day in Brazil. During that flight the Pope granted an interview which generated much furore after he stated, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”