Pope says Christianity cannot be a ‘series of prohibitions’

Pope Francis said on Saturday 18 that Christianity cannot become a “set of prohibitions”.

At an audience meeting with young leaders of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India, the Pope said that people would not be afraid to “revolt against the widespread tendency to reduce love to something banal”.

“Christianity consists not in a series of prohibitions that suppress the desire for happiness, but in a life project capable of filling the heart,” he added.

This Saturday in another audience, this time with Comboni missionaries, the Pope warned that some religious communities are full of rules but forget about love.

Francis said, “Many times, and I say this with sadness, we see that some religious communities are a real hell, a hell of envy, of power struggles. So where is the love?” she asked.