Misericordiae Vultus is the best papal bull ever. And that is no bull.
At Commonweal, Fr. Robert P. Imbelli has already called attention to the Christocentric focus of the text, which we discern in its opening sentence,: "Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy." This is who Jesus Christ is. The essence of His relationship from the Father and to ourselves is mercy. Contra the many obnoxious attacks on Cardinal Walter Kasper's book Mercy that have appeared, Pope Francis states that +Kasper nailed it: A Church in which the proclamation of God's mercy is not foundational, operational and obvious is not being true to its founder.
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