Pope Francis has called us to understand the Church’s structures and institutions through “a missionary key.”
He has stated (and tweeted!) that the Church exists for no other reason than to facilitate the encounter between the person and Jesus Christ. All of the Church’s activities — charitable, educational, social — must have the advancement of the Gospel and the kingdom of God as their primary end, because the saving truths of Jesus Christ are life-giving.
This is exactly what Francis was getting at in the America interview. Our social teaching and politics has to be subordinate to the encounter with the person of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it just a bunch of theory and abstract moral teachings, which any pagan can give you.