Pope Francis has said that the worst of all sins is 'distrusting God's love' and failing to believe that God is always waiting for sinners to convert.
'The worst of sins, I think, is not understanding that he is always there waiting for me, not having faith in this love, distrusting God's love,' the Pope said in a homily during Mass at the Vatican garden's grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes for the Gendarme Corps of Vatican City State, as the Vatican police force is formally known.
The Mass came ahead of the September 29 feast day of the security service's patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel.
'He is always at the door, waiting for me to open it just a tiny bit to let him in, and to not be afraid,' Francis said, according to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR).
Pope Francis told the police officers that the purpose of life is to seek the Lord and to convert, adding that it is God who takes the first step.
'Our God doesn't tire of going out to look for us, of letting us see that he loves us' even though everyone is a sinner, he said.
The Pope said that God goes out into the world, sending his son among sinners, and calls out 'Come!' Even if people respond, 'But it's so late' and there are so many sins, 'for God it is never late. Never, ever! This is his logic of conversion'.
He added: 'He respects every person's freedom, but he is there, waiting for us to open the door just a little.'
Later on Sunday, reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter's Square, the Pope said: 'It's about letting oneself be amazed and won over by the thinking and ways of God,' which, 'fortunately for us' do not correspond to human ways and logic, the NCR reported.
'Human thinking is often marked by selfishness and personal profit, and our narrow and twisting paths are not commensurate to the wide and straight roads of the Lord,' the Pope added.
'He uses mercy, he forgives broadly, he is full of generosity and goodness which he pours over each one of us, he opens to everyone the limitless territories of his love and grace,' he said.
