Reactions, as from Archbp Dolan of NYC:
“As a priest and bishop, I particularly welcome his reminder that the clergy are primarily to serve as shepherds, to be with our people, to walk with them, to be pastors, not bureaucrats!
Rev. Thomas Reese, SJ:
“Reading this interview gave me greater insight into my Jesuit vocation and into our Jesuit pope,” he said. “What is clear is that he does not think like a classicist who sees the world in unchanging categories. He is a storyteller like Jesus, not a philosopher. He thinks in narrative, not philosophical principles. He thinks like a pastor understanding the history of the church but wanting to move with God’s people confidently into the future. He trusts that the spirit [sic: capitalized by Reese, not by LA Times piece,
unfortunately] is alive and well in the people of God.”
Kathryn Jean Lopez (at Fox News):
“Whatever your politics,” she concluded, “be careful what you read into this. He’s talking to you. He’s talking to me. He’s reminding himself. The news isn’t that he isn’t ‘a right-winger,’ as he tells us. It’s that he’s a pastor. He’s a priest, not a politician.’
Bill Donaghue of Catholic League:
“The pope is right that single-issue Catholics need to rise above their immediate concerns,” he wrote on his organization’s website. “He did not say we should not address abortion or homosexuality; he simply said we cannot be absorbed by these issues. Both the left and the right should heed his message.”
A major LGBT lobby:
The Human Rights Campaign, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, hailed the pope’s remarks, saying they should lead to “transformative change” throughout the Catholic Church.
Me: It’s a splendid bit of advice for pastors, capturing the spirit (small “s”) of Catholic preaching and mass-celebration in 95% of the churches and at the masses I attend. A nice corrective to overemphasis when it arises.
It flashes no red light for activists seeking to protect the church’s independence from hyperactive LGBT and other propagandists (promoters?) and legislators et al. who would impinge on it — such as this about compulsory sex-education at UCLA and the rights of conscientious objectors. I can see a bishop calling attention to such a matter as a function of his pastoral responsibilities. So can the Pope, I’m sure.
Blithe Spirit 
I think that he is correct that the Church should always have at the forefront the love that God has for all of us while we are still imperfect and sinners. Yes, Jesus, consorted with sinners, forgiving them, healing their ills as proof of His ability to forgive their sins. However, at the end of every healing, he told them that their sins were forgiven and to “Go and sin no more.” Jesus was teaching a Jewish people who were steeped in morality (stoning women taken in adultery, for example). When the pope says, “Who am I to judge?’ to an amoral/immoral world, the secularists and Leftists take it as a permission to indulge in biblically condemned behavior.
Catholics would not be focusing on abortion and homosexuality except that they are being shoved down our throats by a hostile culture; neither issue was much discussed — except in private confessions — until abortion was legalized and until homosexual “rights” were introduced into public consciousness. Most decent people would prefer never to have to think about either topic. The Pope is old enough to know this so his response is disingenuous.
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It does sound as if he recommends a private-experience mode, rather than public-forum. Where he came from, you could sign your death warrant by going public on public issues. As I say, he’s for the most part preaching to the choir in the Chicago area.
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