The first son asks his father for his share of the inheritance and leaves. And the father says nothing. But when the son returns, penitent, the second son accuses the father of being unjust for welcoming him back.
According to the Gospel, the older son was "angry," Francis said. "And often, being outraged, often it is the only way for those people [pharisees] to feel worthy."
He explained that the problem, however, is that the older son did not realize what it meant to live at home: "He did his duties, he did his job, but he didn't understand what it is to have a loving relationship with the father."
Pope Francis recalled a story he once heard from a "wise old priest," about a young priest who was very sure of himself.
The older priest said he prayed the Lord would let the young man slip on a banana peel, the pope said. "As if to say – it seems like blasphemy – [that it] will do him good to sin because he will need to ask for forgiveness and will find the Father."
With the parable of the prodigal son, the Lord has many things to say about those who criticized him for being with sinners, Francis said.
"But even today many people criticize, Church people [criticize] those who approach people in need, humble people, people who work, even those who work for us," he said.
"May the Lord give us the grace to understand what the problem is. The problem is living at home but not feeling at home, because there is no relationship of fatherhood, of brotherhood, there is only the relationship of work colleagues."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.