(Vatican Radio) In the journey of the Christian, truth is not negotiable;
rather, a Christian must be just in mercy, as Jesus teaches us. That was the
message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy
Father warned against hypocrisy and the deception of a faith reduced to a
"casuistic logic."

"Is it lawful for a husband to put away his wife?" That is the question the
doctors of the law put to Jesus in the day's Gospel.

Jesus does not give in to a casuistic logic, but always explains the truth

They asked the question to once more put Jesus to the test, the Pope observed.
Looking to Jesus' answer, the Pope explained what matters most in the faith:

"Jesus does not answer whether it is lawful or not lawful; He doesn't enter
into their casuistic logic. Because they thought of the faith only in terms of
`Yes, you can," or "No, you can't" - to the limits of what you can do, the
limits of what you can't do. That logic of casuistry. And He asks a question:
"But what did Moses command you? What is in your Law?" And they explained the
permission Moses had given to put away the wife, and they themselves fall into
the trap. Because Jesus qualifies them as `hard of heart': `Because of the
hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment,' and He speaks the
truth. Without casuistry. Without permissions. The truth."

The logic of casuistry is hypocritical, deceptive

But if this is the truth, and adultery is serious, how then, the Pope asks,
does one explain that Jesus spoke "many times with an adulteress, a pagan?"
That He "drank from the glass of her who was not purified?" And at the end He
said to her: "I do not condemn you. Sin no more"? How does one explain that?

"And the path of Jesus - it's quite clear - is the path from casuistry to truth
and mercy. Jesus lays aside casuistry. Not here, but in other passages from the
Gospel, He qualifies those who want to put Him to the test, those who think
with this logic of `Yes, you can' as hypocrites. Even with the fourth
commandment these people refused to assist their parents with the excuse that
they had given a good offering to the Church. Hypocrites. Casuistry is
hypocritical. It is a hypocritical thought. `Yes, you can; no, you can't'.
which then becomes more subtle, more diabolical: But what is the limit for
those who can? But from here to here I can't. It is the deception of casuistry.

From casuistry to truth to mercy: this is the Christian path

The path of the Christian, then, does not give into the logic of casuistry, but
responds with the truth, which is accompanied, following the example of Jesus,
by mercy - "because He is the Incarnation of the Mercy of the Father, and He
cannot deny Himself. He cannot deny Himself because He is the truth of the
Father, and He cannot deny Himself because He is the Mercy of the Father."

Justice and mercy: This is the path that makes us happy

"And this street that Jesus teaches us," the Pope noted, is difficult to apply
in the face of the temptations of life:

"When the temptation touches your heart, this path of going out from casuistry
to truth and mercy is not easy: It takes the grace of God to help us to go
forward in this way. And we should always ask for it. `Lord, grant that I might
be just, but just with mercy.' Not just, covered by casuistry. Just in mercy.
As You are. Just in mercy. Then, someone with a casuistic mentality might ask,
"But what is more important in God? Justice or mercy?' This, too, is a sick
thought, that seeks to go out. What is more important? They are not two things:
it is only one, only one thing. In God, justice is mercy and mercy is justice.
May the Lord help us to understand this street, which is not easy, but which
will bring us happiness, and will make so many people happy."
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