*from Andrea Tornielli's Vatican Insider article.

“I can clearly see that what the Church needs today is the ability to heal wounds and warm the hearts of faithful, it needs to be by their side. I see the Church as a field hospital after a battle. It’s pointless to ask a seriously injured patient whether his cholesterol or blood sugar levels are high! It’s his wounds that need to be healed. The rest we can talk about later. Now we must think about treating those wounds. And we need to start from the bottom.”

This is the crux of Francis’ 29 page long interview with the director of Italian Jesuit magazine Civiltà Cattolica, Fr. Antonio Spadaro.

The interview was spread across three days (19, 23 and 29 August) and lasted 6 hours. Jorge Mario Bergoglio paints an unprecedented self-portrait of himself, analyses the role of the Church today and points out the priorities in pastoral action.

You can read here the full interview