(CP) During a three-day visit to Singapore, Pope Francis declared that “all religions are a path to God,” sparking backlash amongst religious leaders within the U.S.
The statement was made at an interreligious meeting with young people at a Catholic junior college shortly before his departure back to Rome.
Departing from his prepared remarks, Francis spoke off the cuff, stating that different religions are like “different languages” to achieve God.
“If you begin to fight, ‘my religion is more necessary than yours, mine is true and yours is not,’ where will that lead us?” he asked,” in response to Crux Now. “There’s just one God, and every of us has a language to reach at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and so they are different paths [to God].”
Reacting to the pontiff’s comments, Bishop Joseph Strickland, who oversaw the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler, Texas, until his dismissal by the Vatican last yr, said in a post on X, “Please pray for Pope Francis to obviously state that Jesus Christ is the one Way. To deny that is to disclaim Him. If we deny Christ, He will deny us, He cannot deny Himself.”
Strickland was ousted for arguing with Francis on the difficulty of banning pro-abortion Catholic politicians from receiving communion and over the degree to which outreach to the LGBT community is appropriate within the Catholic Church. A petition created in defense of Strickland last yr said he was ousted because he “publicly corrected several heterodox statements from Pope Francis.”
Francis, referring to the universal nature of God, claimed, “Since God is God for all, then we’re all children of God.”
In Singapore, Catholics constitute about 3.5% of the population, with Christians at 19%, Buddhists at 31%, Muslims at 15% and significant Hindu and Sikh minorities.
Francis also encouraged young people to have interaction in and sustain interfaith dialogue. “For interreligious dialogue amongst young people, it takes courage, because youth is the time of courage in our lives,” he said.
Fr. Calvin Robinson, who recently moved from England to steer a church in western Michigan, also rebuked the pope’s statement in a post on X: “This is a counter-scriptural statement from Pope Francis. The Scriptures teach us the alternative. The gate to [H]eaven is narrow.
Robinson added, “In Christ’s own words: ‘I’m the way in which and the reality and the life. No one involves the Father except through me.'”
The pope’s remarks come amid reactions from conservative Catholic quarters, harking back to past controversies.
Francis previously faced criticism and accusations of heresy on social media back in May for claiming the human heart is “fundamentally good” during a “60 Minutes” interview.
When asked by interviewer Norah O’Donnell what gives him hope in regards to the world, the pope responded with “the whole lot,” citing acts of goodness by people as proof of humanity’s inherent goodness.
“You see tragedies, but you furthermore may see so many beautiful things,” he said. “You see heroic moms, heroic men, men who’ve hopes and dreams, women who look to the longer term. That gives me a number of hope. People wish to live. People forge ahead. And individuals are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the guts itself is sweet.”
At the time, many commenters on X criticized Francis for his remarks, with some accusing him of failing to know the fundamental teaching of the Gospel. Others quoted portions of Scripture that teach God alone is sweet and that humanity has a sinful nature.
Some X users noted that Francis’ comment gave the impression to be an example of Pelagianism, a fifth century heresy that denied original sin and taught the essential goodness of humanity.
During his 2022 trip to Kazakhstan, he made similar statements. Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, a frequent critic, had then commented on the danger of making a “supermarket of religions.”
© The Christian Post
