A new 100-page book entitled The Name of God is Mercy, which contains a series of interviews with Pope Francis on the subject of mercy, is being released in 86 countries tomorrow.

Vatican Radio is reporting on the publication’s release as well as several excerpts which were released by the publisher, Piemme, ahead of time.

While speaking to Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli, Francis said that the even the pope, like Peter, is in need of mercy.

“Every time I go through the gates into a prison to celebrate Mass or for a visit, I always think: why them and not me? I should be here. I deserve to be here. Their fall could have been mine,” Francis said. “I do not feel superior to the people who stand before me. And so I repeat and pray: why him and not me? It might seem shocking, but I derive consolation from Peter: he betrayed Jesus, and even so he was chosen.”

In essence, Jesus showed Peter mercy by choosing him, which is why Pope Francis adopted Miserando atque eligendo – as his episcopal motto while serving in Buenos Aires. It means “mercying by choosing”.

The motto derived from a personal experience of God’s mercy that occurred during his teenage years when a priest, who was dying of leukemia at the time, who imparted a powerful sense of God’s mercy during confession.

“I think of Father Carlos Duarte Ibarra, the confessor I met in my parish church on September 21, 1953, the day the Church celebrated Saint Matthew, the apostle and evangelist. I was seventeen years old. On confessing myself to him, I felt welcomed by the mercy of God. Ibarra was originally from Corrientes but was in Buenos Aires to receive treatment for leukemia. He died the following year. I still remember how when I got home, after his funeral and burial, I felt as though I had been abandoned. And I cried a lot that night, really a lot, and hid in my room. Why? Because I had lost a person who helped me feel the mercy of God . . . “

In his new book, he also explains how the Church condemns sin but shows mercy to the sinner.

“The Church condemns sin because it has to relay the truth: ‘this is a sin’. But at the same time, it embraces the sinner who recognizes himself as such, it welcomes him, it speaks to him of the infinite mercy of God. Jesus forgave even those who crucified and scorned him.”

In order to follow the way of the Lord, the Church must dispense mercy over all who recognize themselves as sinners and who assume responsibility for the evil they have committed, and who feel in need of forgiveness.

“The Church does not exist to condemn people, but to bring about an encounter with the visceral love of God’s mercy," he said.

“I often say that in order for this to happen, it is necessary to go out: to go out from the churches and the parishes, to go outside and look for people where they live, where they suffer, and where they hope. I like to use the image of a field hospital to describe this “Church that goes forth”. It exists where there is combat. It is not a solid structure with all the equipment where people go to receive treatment for both small and large infirmities. It is a mobile structure that offers first aid and immediate care, so that its soldiers do not die.”

Instead, the Church is a place for urgent care, not a place to see a specialist.

“I hope that the Jubilee [The Holy Year of Mercy] will serve to reveal the Church’s deeply maternal and merciful side, a Church that goes forth toward those who are ‘wounded,’ who are in need of an attentive ear, understanding, forgiveness, and love.”

However, there’s a difference between sin and corruption, Francis points out, saying that the corrupt man lacks the humility to recognize his sins.

“Corruption is the sin which, rather than being recognized as such and rendering us humble, is elevated to a system; it becomes a mental habit, a way of living. We no longer feel the need for forgiveness and mercy, but we justify ourselves and our behaviors.”

He goes on to explain that as Jesus tells his disciples to forgive their brother seventy times seven time, “the repentant sinner, who sins again and again because of his weakness, will find forgiveness if he acknowledges his need for mercy.”

On the other hand, “The corrupt man is the one who sins but does not repent, who sins and pretends to be Christian, and it is this double life that is scandalous. The corrupt man does not know humility, he does not consider himself in need of help, he leads a double life. We must not accept the state of corruption as if it were just another sin. Even though corruption is often identified with sin, in fact they are two distinct realities, albeit interconnected.”

The corrupt man tires of asking for forgiveness and ends up believing that he doesn’t need to ask for it anymore,” the pope explained. “We don’t become corrupt people overnight. It is a long, slippery slope that cannot be identified simply as a series of sins. One may be a great sinner and never fall into corruption if hearts feel their own weakness. That small opening allows the strength of God to enter. When a sinner recognizes himself as such, he admits in some way that what he was attached to, or clings to, is false. The corrupt man hides what he considers his true treasure, but which really makes him a slave and masks his vice with good manners, always managing to keep up appearances.”

The book is available now at Amazon and at most religious bookstores.

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