Pope Francis: It is better to be an atheist than hypocritical Catholic

Pope Francis has said it is better to be an atheist than a catholic who leads a hypocritical double life. It is a scandal to say one thing and do another, he said.

天主教教宗方濟各表示，當一名無神論者，好過當一名過著虛偽雙面人生活的教徒。他認為，說一套、做一套是很丟臉的事。

"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 said, according to a Vatican Radio transcript.

根據梵蒂岡廣播電台的錄音稿，身為12億羅馬天主教徒領袖的方濟各指出：「有些人會說『我是虔誠天主教徒，我經常去彌撒，我屬於這個和那個團體』。」

But he said some of these people should 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."

但他認為，某部分人應該要說：「我的生活與基督信仰相悖，我沒有付員工合理薪水，我剝削人們，我做骯髒生意，我洗黑錢，我過著雙面人生活。」

Francis has surprised Catholics before with his warmth toward atheists. He remarked soon after becoming pope that even atheists can go to heaven thanks to the redemption of Jesus.

方濟各曾因向無神論者釋出善意，令天主教徒震驚不已。方濟各當選教宗後不久即表明，在耶穌的救贖下，即使是無神論者也能上天堂。

He granted an interview to an atheist journalist, and told the reporter that efforts to convert people to Christianity are “solemn nonsense” and each person “must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.”

他曾接受一名無神論記者訪問，並向該記者表示，企圖讓人們改信天主教是「神聖的愚蠢之舉」，每個人「都必須遵循善良之道，並與邪惡對抗。」