Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in his second widely shared media interview in two weeks that each person "must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them" and calling efforts to convert people to Christianity "solemn nonsense."
The pontiff seemed intent on distancing himself from the Vatican's power, saying church leaders "have often been narcissists" and that "clericalism should not have anything to do with Christianity."
The interview with atheist Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari set off another round of debate about what Francis meant: Was he saying that people can make up their own minds, even if they disagree with church teachings? Or was this self-described "son of the church" just using casual language to describe classic church teaching about how people need to come to Catholic doctrine of their free will?
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