(photo: Capilla Sixtina, Jorge Valenzuela, 2011)
“Not long before his death, Pope Francis gave a startling speech to the Curia — the Church’s central administrative body. Before a room full of high-ranking officials, he spoke honestly about the hypocrisy, gossip, and careerism that had crept into the Church’s leadership. His words cut deep. The assembled cardinals and bishops were stunned. Yet when he finished, he did something remarkable: he stepped down from the podium, walked across the room, and shook hands with every one of them. His message was not punishment but renewal. He embodied both truth and mercy, correction and gentleness. He was a living parable of Christ’s forgiveness — calling others to reform without rejecting them. That’s the paradox of forgiveness: it can name the wrong and still love the wrongdoer…“
Thus begins a very enlightening article recently penned by author Fr. Hugh Duffy, Ph.D., for his personal blog of November 8, 2025: Forgiveness when there’s no Apology. Fr. Duffy is the author of a new book entitled You Duped Me, O Lord. Please consider checking both of these publications out, they are very good and Fr. Duffy is a warm and congenial thinker on the topic of forgiveness.
This text is an original work of its author Tom Delaney and was entirely composed without the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of forgiveness, healing, mercy, and spiritual renewal, Live and Forgive is here to help. To begin the conversation, email Live and Forgive presenter and facilitator Tom Delaney at tom@liveandforgive.com — he will be glad to connect with you for a conversation. Please type in your email and click “Subscribe” below to stay connected and get Live and Forgive articles delivered to you.
Take your learning deeper! Enter the term or word for any idea or thing you saw in this article that you want to know more about, and you will get a list of other articles that also talk about that idea or thing!
Live and Forgive 