Pope’s week includes speeches on topics that raise some eyebrows

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has made some of the most important policy speeches of his pontificate in recent days, following months of attention to bureaucratic reform and the turbulent meeting of bishops on family issues.

Francis has focused on issues close to his heart: the plight of the poor and unemployed, the environment and evolution. He hasn’t changed church doctrine, but he has pushed the envelope on some issues, raised eyebrows with his blunt speaking style on others and made clear where his social priorities lie. Here are some highlights from a week at the Vatican:

• “Hidden death penalty”: In his most explosive speech to a group of penal lawyers, Francis went well beyond the Vatican’s previous opposition to capital punishment by denouncing life prison terms as a “hidden death penalty.” Francis’ outreach to prisoners is well-known: He famously washed the feet of juvenile delinquents — Muslims and women among them — at a Rome detention center in his first Holy Thursday as pope. In a recent speech, Francis denounced prison systems as “out of control” for depriving people of their dignity, citing recourse to the death penalty, detaining people without charge or conviction and holding inmates in isolation, which he called “physical and psychological torture.” Putting him squarely at odds with the U.S., Francis also denounced extraordinary renditions, which the CIA used after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

• Big Bang theory: Francis raised eyebrows with his remarks on creation and evolution, saying the Big Bang theory doesn’t contradict the belief in creation. While his words were very Franciscan in their bluntness, Francis was merely restating what the Church has long taught: that there is no contradiction between creation and evolution. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI spent his pontificate elaborating on the compatibility of faith and scientific reason. St. John Paul II and Pope Pius XII voiced similar conclusions.

• Unemployment: Francis also grabbed headlines when he acknowledged that his concern for the poor, the unemployed and the environment would lead some to label him a communist: “They don’t understand that love for the poor is at the center of the Gospel.” The remarks were delivered to a meeting of representatives of popular movements at the Vatican. In an off-the-cuff speech, Francis denounced the injustices of the poor that the world wants to forget, the “scandal” of hunger and the lost generation of young people who are unemployed.

• The devil: Francis has demonstrated an unusually vivid concern about the devil, more than his predecessors, in a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality and his Latin American roots. This week, he sent a message to the International Association of Exorcists, praising the work of exorcists for “showing the church’s love … toward those who suffer from the devil’s work.” Earlier this year, the Vatican granted the group legal recognition in a sign of Francis’ belief that the world needs more exorcists for the increasing number of people seeking to be liberated from their demons.

• Theologians: Francis has frequently spoken with near-disdain about theologians, seemingly complaining that they often hold the church back from being the merciful place of welcome and union that he wants it to be. And so it was when he greeted a group of Pentecostal Anglicans in private who were visiting him. He urged Catholics and Pentecostals to “walk together,” doing works of charity together and praying for each other.