At an interreligious youth meeting in Singapore late last week, Pope Francis made some troubling statements about how people around the world can find God’s salvation.
Departing from his prepared remarks, Francis declared to the gathering that “every religion is a way to arrive at God.” He continued, “Sort of a comparison, an example, would be they’re sort of like different languages in order to arrive at God.”
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics continued along this universalist tack: “But God is God for all. And if God is God for all, we are all sons and daughters of God.”
He lamented that some argue, “But my God is more important than your God!” and asked, “Is that true?”
Answering his own question to the young people, the pontiff finished,
There is only one God and each of us has a language, so to speak, in order to arrive at God. Sihk, Muslim, Hindu, Christian. There are different paths. Understand?
And the leaders on stage, representing various religions, happily shook their heads in agreement.
You can hear Pope Francis make these comments here:
Crux, a Catholic news site, said of these statements from the Pope, “Such rhetoric has stirred controversy … among more conservative Catholics who fear that it calls into question Catholic doctrine on Christ as the lone savior of the world and also undercuts missionary efforts to bring people to the faith.”
They are not wrong.
When Pope Francis made similar statements at an interfaith meeting in Kazakhstan in 2022, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from that country warned such statements risk creating a “supermarket of religions” where people can shop for what suits them.
Of course, such teaching is in direct conflict with Jesus and the Gospel itself.
Jesus was unequivocal when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)
As C.S. Lewis famously pointed out, either this claim is true, or Jesus is a lunatic or a liar.
The Christian Church has always held, from earliest days, to the exclusivity of salvation in Christ alone.
When Jesus asked the twelve Apostles, “Do you want to go away as well?,” Peter himself, who Catholics believe was the first leader of the Church, responded,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69, ESV)
And it was this same Peter, speaking of Jesus before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 4, who proclaimed, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)
In First Things, archbishop emeritus Charles J. Chaput, a good friend of Focus on the Family, correctly said of the pontiff’s comments last week.
Pope Francis has the habit, by now well established, of saying things that leave listeners confused and hoping he meant something other than what he actually said.
Chaput adds, “That all religions have equal weight is an extraordinarily flawed idea for the Successor of Peter to appear to support.”
He continues,
As St. Paul preached two thousand years ago, the search for God can take many imperfect forms, but they are each an imperfect search for the one, true, triune God of Sacred Scripture. Paul condemns false religions and preaches Jesus Christ as the reality and fulfillment of the unknown God whom the Greeks worship (Acts 17:22–31).
All Christians must appreciate the clarity with which Archbishop Chaput explains,
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.
This captures the universal truth of Christianity, the foundation of the Gospel itself. Our Lord alone has the words of eternal life, to whom else shall we go?
Every leader of Christ’s Church must be crystal clear about this fact.
Any who are not, undercut their own calling, contradict the claims of Jesus Himself, and diminish the martyrdom of untold waves of saints through the ages who have given their lives for the sake of our Lord’s matchless Gospel.
Related articles and resources:
How Big is Your View of the Gospel?
In Our Troubled World, Take Heart and Remember That Christ is King
Reality Check — Media Skews Christians’ Grasp of Truth
Reality Check — Media Confuses Our Grasp of Truth, But Confusion Originates from Sin
Appreciating the Full Scope of the Lordship of Christ – and the Gospel Itself
The Church’s Lane is the Whole Cosmos
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