Francis Suddenly Calls His Favorite Insult “Pharisee” A “Negative Stereotype”

Pope Francis says one thing today, and the opposite tomorrow. After having insulted Catholics and others countless times as "Pharisees," he suddenly experienced a conversion.

During a May 9 audience for the Pontifical Biblical Institute and participants of a Conference about Pharisees, including Jews, Francis complained that the "history of interpretation" has fostered a "negative image of the Pharisees," often "without a concrete basis in the Gospel accounts.”

He even called the negative use of the word "Pharisee" an “ancient and most damaging stereotype," implicitly pronouncing judgement over himself and his uncharitable insults.

In the Gospels, Jesus Christ frequently engages in heavy polemics against the Pharisees who are among his most dangerous enemies, among them Saulus who later converted and became Saint Paul (Acts 26,5).

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