( CNN ) -- Not in my lifetime have I witnessed a pope who has so quickly succeeded in making more Catholics , and non-Catholics , hyperventilate than Pope Francis . Indeed , some are ready to jump off the bleachers . They all need to calm down . Pope Francis is delightfully frank , and that is what makes him positively engaging . He is also provocative in the best sense of that word . He seeks to challenge us and shake us out of our comfort zone . But he is not about to turn the Catholic Church upside down and inside out . Such talk is pure lunacy . In a three-part meeting in Rome with Catholic journalists last month , Pope Francis offered his thoughts on a wide range of subjects ; they were published Thursday by America magazine , the Jesuit weekly . Everyone should read it for themselves . There is nothing new about ripping what a famous person said out of context , and that is exactly what is going on now with Pope Francis . The breaking news alert by The New York Times is titled , `` Pope Bluntly Faults Church 's Focus on Gays and Abortion . '' In the Times alert , it says the pope discusses how `` the Roman Catholic Church has grown 'obsessed ' with preaching about abortion , gay marriage and contraception , '' and that he has been criticized for doing so . It also quotes him saying the Catholic Church should be `` home for all '' and not a `` small chapel '' that is `` focused on doctrine , orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings . '' Regarding the pope 's statements on abortion and gay marriage , here is what he said : `` We can not insist only on issues related to abortion , gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods . This is not possible . '' He also said , `` when we speak about these issues , we have to talk about them in a context . '' What the pope said makes eminently good sense . For example , when I became president of the Catholic League 20 years ago , I visited the chapters around the nation and found that many were single-issue entities . Some focused exclusively on abortion ; others were obsessed with homosexuality ; still others demanded we just concentrate on medical ethics . I shared many of their concerns , but I also told them we are an anti-defamation organization and should not become preoccupied with other matters , no matter how noble . The pope is right that single-issue Catholics need to rise above their immediate concerns . He did not say we should avoid addressing abortion or homosexuality ; he simply said we can not be absorbed by these issues . Or any others . Laurie Goodstein 's article in The New York Times on the pope 's comments says U.S. bishops will feel the pinch of these remarks as they often appear `` to make combating abortion , gay marriage and contraception their top public policy priorities . '' This is inaccurate . It is not the bishops who have made these issues front and center -- it is the Obama administration . It would be more accurate to say the pope would find fault with the bishops if they did not resist these state encroachments on the religious liberty rights of Catholics . The Times alert was wrong to characterize the pope 's `` small chapel '' remark as a criticism of focusing on `` doctrine , orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings . '' In the previous paragraph , he speaks about `` the sanctity of the militant church . '' In the following sentence , the pope says , `` [ W ] e must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity . '' Excellent . Then , in the same paragraph , he cites the `` negative behavior '' of priests and nuns , saying their conduct is that of an `` unfruitful bachelor '' and a `` spinster . '' He most emphatically did not say what the Times attributed to him . Pope Francis unequivocally rejects abortion and gay marriage . Elsewhere , he has said , `` [ T ] he moral problem with abortion is of a prereligious nature because the genetic code of the person is present at the moment of conception . There is already a human being . '' Similarly , he says , his opposition to gay marriage `` is not based on religion , but rather on anthropology . '' Pope Francis wants us to oppose abortion . He also wants us to reach out to women who are contemplating one , and to help women who have had one to find peace with God ( that 's why the Catholic Church has Project Rachel ) . He wants us to oppose same-sex marriage . He also does n't want us to reject lesbians and gays because they are homosexual . This is sound Catholic teaching . Kudos to Pope Francis . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of William Donohue .
William Donohue : Pope Francis seeks to provoke and shake us out of our comfort zone . Donohue : But he is not about to turn the Catholic Church upside down , inside out . He wants a church that will be more open and welcoming than ever before. Donohue : Pope is right that single-issue Catholics need to rise above their concerns .