Contrary to what Cardinal Prospero Grech told his fellow cardinals before the election of Pope Francis, the real reason why “many people do not believe in Christ” is not because of the lack of “transparency” in the Catholic Church but simply because the Church does not follow some of the most memorable teachings of Jesus.

Pope Francis himself said in a homily: “Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do is undermining the Church’s credibility.”

The Pope’s claim that he wants to revert to the spirit of poverty of St Francis cannot be taken seriously as long as the Church holds on to its vast wealth in real estate, investments and art! These worldly riches of the Church are incompatible with the teachings of Jesus and the way He lived.

Jesus told His disciples that He did not have a place where to lay his head, whereas His present-day disciples – the Church’s cardinals, nuncios, and bishops – lead comfortable lives in their well-appointed homes and mansions.

In his religious writings, Tolstoy highlighted the inconsistency of Christians who believe that Jesus was divine and infallible while ignoring to put into practice what He preached. Jesus disapproved of the repetition of prayers. Yet, Catholics seem oblivious of His disapproval whenever they repeat 50 “Hail Mary’s” in the rosary!

Jesus forbade his followers to take revenge for evil done against them. He told His disciples to forgive their enemies and to bless those who persecute them. This is an unquestionable part of the Gospel teachings. As A.N. Wilson writes in his biography of Tolstoy, “Equally unquestionable is the fact that the Church does not hesitate to disavow the plain tone of Jesus’s pacifist teaching...Tolstoy conceded the force of arguments against pacifism – usually based on patriotism or the desire to protect the defenceless – but what the anti-pacifist arguments can never be based upon is the teaching of the Gospels.”

In his novel Resurrection, Tolstoy writes about a priest who administers oaths during court trials (as was the custom in 19th century Russia). “It had never occurred to the priest that his work in the court room, which consisted in having people take an oath over the Gospel, in which the swearing of oaths is directly prohibited, was not good...”

In a chapter entitled Thoughts About the Mass, Tolstoy writes: “It did not occur to anyone present that Jesus had forbidden prayers in temples, and had commanded each to pray in solitude; that He had forbidden the temples themselves, saying that He came to destroy them, and that one should pray not in temples, but in spirit and in truth...It never occurred to anyone that the gilt cross, which the priest brought out and gave the people to kiss, was nothing else but the representation of the gibbet on which Christ had been executed for prohibiting those very things which were done here in His name.”