Papa Francis is here, and the Catholic Church will never be the same

Papa Francis is here,

and the Catholic Church will never be the same

Is it really only six months? Today Pope Francis marks half a year in Peter's See with an interview. Or rather, with a bombshell: the Church should stop banging on about sex. An obsession with abortion, birth control and gays risks making it seem small-minded — and turning off the millions it should continue to attract. .

Amen to that. The Pope has disarmed the media completely: it is the media, of course, that focuses on Catholic sexual teaching. With his words, Papa Francis brushes off their prurient enquiries like so many flies: this is not the point of our faith. For that, you need to listen to his sermon in Lampedusa, the island where Italy's illegal immigrants arrive by boat. Challenging Italy's rising xenophobia and anti-immigration sentiment, the Pope reminds Catholics to welcome the strangers in their midst. Compassionate humanity should be our goal, not judging others. You need to listen, too, to the Pope's marvellous one-liner, "who am I to judge?" when he was confronted with questions about gays.

To see the point of Catholicism, you need to see the humble hostel quarters that the Pope has chosen as home, and the little Renault he drives around Vatican City; you need to see the Pontiff ditch his bodyguards in order to shake hands with tourists and pilgrims. You need to hear about his phone calls to the father mourning the loss of his child and to the unmarried mother, ashamed of her condition. The Pope is not turning his back on traditional splendour — just introducing a note of humility and modesty.

In the same way, he's not turning his back on traditional doctrine — just giving us a steer towards a more compassionate interpretation.

Yesterday I did a podcast with Tim Stanley and Damian Thompson, in which both worried about the Pope delivering a confusing message to his troops — and foes. Well, there is nothing confusing about the words revealed today. The Church must focus on the big picture, not the small strictures. It's a huge challenge, as rules and regulations are so comforting. But if we don't meet it, the church risks "falling like a house of cards". If we do, the world will convert to our vision.

Already, the world is falling in love with Francis. He has been a political player in Syria — even Vladimir Putin, unlikely peace broker, quotes Pope Francis. For the first time in a long time, the word "Catholic" in a headline is not automatically followed by the word "scandal".