I was honored to be asked to write the occasional article for the National Catholic Register. My first article is live and it is on hypocrisy.

I knew Pope Francis spoke quite a bit about Christian hypocrisy but I was surprised to learn just how much. I could write several articles summarizing the points he has made on this subject. It is important to him, and as a former atheist who was really turned off by hypocrisy in the Church, I am glad it is.

From the article:

Pope Francis has spoken a lot about the danger of hypocrisy during his pontificate saying “The sign that we are far from the Lord is hypocrisy.”

Here are five pieces of advice from Pope Francis to avoid hypocrisy and grow in holiness.

1. Acknowledge Our Own Faults: Hypocrites often have their fingers pointed at everyone else but him or herself. But the first weapon against hypocrisy is to admit it openly and acknowledge that we are not perfect. Not all of us feel comfortable doing this; it seems that more of us put on a show to some degree to appear more put-together than we actually are.

Pope Francis said once in a homily: “Men and women who can’t learn how to acknowledge their own faults become hypocrites. All of them? All of them: starting from the Pope downwards: all of them.”

Read the rest of the article HERE.