Interfaithism
Has the pope said all religions lead to God? The answer is simultaneously ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Jack Taylor reflects ……
The religions and God – and pope Francis
Has the pope said all religions lead to God? The answer is simultaneously ‘yes’ and ‘no’. His position is one that politicians would recognise from their own craft where words can be ‘interpreted’ rather loosely and from which one can ‘distance’ via later clarification. Is this intentional?
Catholicism’s present focus is on the Committee of Human Fraternity and this is an extract:
“To be “brothers in Christ” or “companions to the Prophet” does not imply that there must be an hostility between brothers and companions; in fact, there could be an even greater loyalty to our respective spiritual Teachers if the richness of the forms they brought could be understood as a way to vie with each other in good deeds. In this way we might come to a deeper understanding of the Absolute, Metaphysical, and Single Truth based on the recognition of a shared metaphysical perspective and the inner tension that is proper to the traditional forms through which this Truth manifests, a tension that does not posit cultural relativism but, rather, a mysterious and fully blessed spiritual participation by every believer in their specific “religious grammar” through which the Will and the Mercy of God transmits Its intelligible signs in a sacred communication”
Yes! I’m not sure what it means either? But words are cheap ……
Relevant news items
Interestingly, this comes from a Catholic news source.
https://www.catholicnews.com/does-god-want-religious-diversity-abu-dhabi-text-raises-questions/
Another Catholic news source.
https://www.thebostonpilot.com/opinion/article.asp?ID=184609
Another Catholic news source.
And another Catholic news source.
https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=187632
Via Al-Jazeera.
Do atheists go to heaven? Pope Francis:
https://evangelicalfocus.com/vatican-files/3461/do-atheists-go-to-heaven-pope-francis-says-yes
Here the pope distances himself from earlier “quotes” as “misquotes”:
(comment – Scalfari has been used as a sounding board for the pope’s true beliefs?)
So where does the pope stand?
We are left with the clear impression that the pope does, in truth, believe in the “higher religions” as valid expressions of faith, but he has not directly said “all religions lead to God”. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that indirectly he has:
In apparent defence of Islam’s right to take violent action the pope said this:
The current pope is also on record as supporting at least two broadly “woke” agendas – the homosex agenda and the climate change agenda.
https://www.hrc.org/resources/seven-quotes-that-make-pope-francis-complicated-for-lgbt-people
Also he does not believe in evangelism, saying you should not try to convert:
Similarly, from a Hindu source:
Is the pope a Catholic?
This article is not to pass any particular view on the current pope. It aims to demonstrate, however, that by any historical understanding of what Catholicism is, there is a huge question on the position of pope Francis. It is notable that some senior Catholics are concerned by his broad approach.
The Bible tells us that eventually a world religion will emerge; that is, an anti-Christ (literally instead-of-Christ) world religion. Interfaith-multifaith is undoubtedly leading in this direction. Pope Francis is deeply supportive of interfaith-multifaith initiatives. The United Nations is similarly putting effort and money into interfaith-multifaith: https://www.uri.org/what-we-do/global-program/uri-and-un
We live in interesting times!
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