Pope Francis has delivered yet another hard-hitting speech and this time has clearly said that it is better to be an atheist than one of "many" Catholics who he said lead a hypocritical double life. Delivering criticism of some members of his own Church, he said, "There are those who say 'I am very Catholic, I always go to Mass, I belong to this and that association'." The head of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church continued, "There are many Catholics who are like this and they cause scandal."
He said some of these people should also say "'my life is not Christian, I don't pay my employees proper salaries, I exploit people, I do dirty business, I launder money, (I lead) a double life'." "How many times have we all heard people say 'if that person is a Catholic, it is better to be an atheist'," he added. According to Vatican radio transcripts, the Pope delivered a rather strong speech putting a lot of his opinion out there for people to ponder upon.
Since his election in 2013, the pope has often told Catholics, both priests and lay people, to practice what their religion preaches. In his often impromptu sermons, he has condemned sexual abuse of children by priests as being tantamount to a "Satanic Mass". Less than two months after his election, he said Christians should see atheists as good people if they do good.
