Gail, as a Catholic, I understand that the teaching of the Church for too long has been that life is either black or white. As a physician, I have to acknowledge that much of life is grey. I think Pope Francis is helping us to mature out of black and white thinking and to see people as people struggling to find themselves and be themselves. Legalistic black and white approaches were not the way of Jesus, who saw the person. Pope Francis stresses the importance of using discernment and following one's personal conscience. For too long, Catholics have acted as if following Church rules or a Church Catechism was the most important thing. Jesus cares about the person and often criticized the law and the teachers of the law. The more you read the Gospels instead of the Catechism, the more you will get to know Jesus and not man-made Church rules.
Sincerely,   Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, MD, MSpir