Recently, the Pope criticised “fundamentalists” within the Church. When I was received, I was required to state that “I believe and profess all that the Holy Catholic Church believes, teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God.” Am I not bound to be a fundamentalist? To believe and profess all of the Church’s teaching is an obligation for all Catholics and can never be a bad thing. When the Holy Father used the term “fundamentalism”, he was criticising something that he considered to be bad. So he surely cannot have meant simply the profession of the fullness of the Catholic faith. He condemned those who sully others through slander and defamation. He also spoke of Catholics who “believe they possess the absolute truth”. This is more difficult to interpret because Our Lord promised to lead the Apostles into the fullness of truth, and he established a visible body, the Church, to teach the truth with divine assistance. Perhaps the Holy Father was thinking of those who consider their own views on non-defined teaching to be beyond discussion. Pope Francis was responding to a question about the attacks in Paris and took the opportunity to look critically within the Church rather than simply condemn “fundamentalists” of other faiths. He was speaking without preparation, and for the sake of spiritual tranquility, we may try to give the best interpretation to his words. But we do not need to be fundamentalist regarding every utterance of the Pope in a press conference.