Talking with those in error

Following the order of charity – I insist – we will show constant affection to those who, through ignorance, pride or misunderstanding, are verging on error or have fallen into it. If people make mistakes, my children, it is not always because of bad will. At times people err because they lack the means to discover the truth by themselves, or because they find it easier to repeat foolishly what they have just read or heard, echoing falsehoods. We must find excuses for them.

Listening to their arguments

We need to know what their reasons are. It is not pleasing to God when people judge without hearing what the defendant has to say, sometimes judging in secret, and not seldom – given the unfortunate weakness of human nature – with witnesses and accusers who use the cloak of anonymity to calumniate or defame.

It would not be true, my children, if I said that my advice comes only from the experiences of others. I have lived it in my own flesh. But, by the grace of God, I can also say that, ever since then, I have loved the Church even more, precisely because there are ecclesiastics who condemn without listening.