No room for ‘climbers’ or ‘commercial religion’ in Kingdom of God

22 April, 2013 - “The gate, the true and the only gate is Jesus. We must enter through that gate,” Pope Francis urged at a Mass he celebrated Monday morning at his Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen through the gate is not a shepherd, but a thief and brigand, someone who makes profit for himself and seeks only to climb the social ladder the Pope said explaining the day’s Gospel about the Good Shepherd.. “These social climbers,” the Pope explained, “exist even in the Christian communities – those who seek their own advantage… and consciously or unconsciously pretend to enter but are thieves and robbers. Comparing them to the Pharasees whom Jesus condemned because they sought each other’s approval, Pope Francis described this as ‘commercial’ religion, and urged Christians to ignore and not to pay heed to other proposals that are deceptive and untrue. "Sometimes,” the Pope explained, “we are tempted to be too much our own bosses and not humble children and servants of the Lord." “And this is the temptation to look for other gates or other windows to enter the Kingdom of God.” But to know which is the gate of Jesus, Pope Francis said, it is enough to take the Beatitudes and do what they say: be humble, poor, meek, just ... ".