Earlier this month Pope Francis was in Singapore concluding an Asian and Pacifica trip. Before the 12 hour trip back to Rome, he spoke to an ‘inter-religious’ gathering of young people. Apparently going off script and departing from prepared notes, his talk sent waves throughout the worldwide Christian community – Protestants and Catholics alike.
Murray Smith
Stating that ‘every religion is a way to arrive at God’ and that there are ‘different paths’ just as there are different languages, he validated all world religions as a way to receive God’s salvation… kind of like all rivers lead to the sea, and we’ll all get there one way or another.
Listening to such statements on a video clip and reading about media ructions, it was no surprise to me that the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics was in for some serious push back.
So why the fallout given what some might see as the pontiff’s attempt to be inclusive? The basic difficulty is that the Pope’s ‘teaching’ is at variance with Jesus Himself and the Gospel as well – also with the Apostle Peter who Catholics accept as the first leader of the Church. Peter took seriously Jesus words when He stated, ‘I am the Way the Truth and the Life… no one comes to the Father but by Me.’ (John 14:6)
Peter spoke about Jesus before the Jerusalem Council proclaiming, ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven among humanity by which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)
When Jesus questioned His disciples if they planned to leave Him, it was Peter who replied,’ Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’(John 6:68)
Catholic news site, ’Crux,’ said of the Pope’s comments, “Such rhetoric has stirred controversy among more conservative Catholics who fear that it calls into question Catholic doctrine on Christ as the lone Saviour of the world and also undercuts missionary efforts to bring people to the faith.’
Pope Francis. Photo: Vatican Media.
In 2022 Pope Francis addressed an interfaith meeting in Kazakhstan, provoking Bishop Athanasius Schneider of that country to warn that the pope’s statements, (similar to those in Singapore) risked creating a “supermarket of religions’ where people can shop for what suits them… there is only one truth. That’s not intolerant bigotry anymore than claiming 2+2 always equals 4. It’s simply the right answer – even we reject it as our truth.”
I for one appreciate how clearly Charles J. Chaput, (first Native American Archbishop) puts it… ‘We are called Christians because we believe Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Trinity. From the beginning of our faith, followers of Christ were unique among world religions because they accepted as true Christ’s extraordinary claim that he is God – in part because of his miracles, in part because of his preaching, but ultimately because of his death and bodily resurrection. Christians have also always believed that this reality makes Christianity categorically distinct from all other religions, and in turn requires a total commitment of our lives.
