I would like to take this opportunity to thank Pope
Francis for clearing up the last 4000 years of recorded history. The human race
has been in a death struggle with this whole business of sin and redemption,
good and evil, since the Garden of Eden. Perhaps the most existential battle in
all of human history has been between the world’s great religions, each with
conflicting truth claims, each proscribing different ways and means of personal
salvation. But now this new Pope comes along to assure us all that it was all a
big misunderstanding. See, it doesn’t matter any longer whether someone
actually believes in God are not, since we’re all going to heaven anyway. Not
only that, but we also learned from the Pontiff that there’s apparently only
one sin, the sin of failing to obey your conscience. I, for one, am very relieved
to hear this, since I have always had trouble with several of those Ten
Commandments.
Pope Francis shared this new world-changing truth in
a letter to Eugenio Scalfari, the founder of the newspaper, La Repubblica,
which had published a list of questions for the Pope to answer. It is here
where the world learned this new ground breaking truth:
“Francis wrote: “You ask me if the God of
the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I
start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no
limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those
who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.”
Ok! Seems a bit convoluted and a bit contradictory,
but hey, he’s infallible. For example, if someone doesn’t believe and doesn’t “seek
the faith”, why would they ever go to him with a sincere and contrite heart? And what happens if a person obeys their “conscience”
when it’s telling them to strap on fifty pounds of explosives so they can detonate
themselves in a crowded subway killing 100 innocent people?
Listen people, I’m no theologian, and I’m certainly
no Catholic basher, in fact I’ve always had much admiration for certain aspects
of Catholic tradition. But trying to fathom what Pope Francis could possibly
been thinking here is a struggle. Perhaps a clue to his thinking can be
discovered in the first sentence of the newspaper article that reported the
story in the first place;
“In comments likely to enhance his
progressive reputation…”
I’ll say! You can’t get much more progressive than, “don’t worry folks,
God has unlimited mercy so we’re all good!” Later on in the article, we
discover that the Pope’s comments were further evidence of his attempts to
shake off the Catholicism’s fusty
image, and overcome barriers to an open dialogue with all.
Well, personally, I’ve always been quite fond of
Catholicism’s fustiness, and the
uncomfortable words of scripture are indeed quite a barrier to overcome. But I always thought that this was the point
of Evangelism. Proves how little I know.
Something MUST have been lost in the translation???
ReplyDeleteThe only way in which I could decifer this that would lend some credibility to the Pontif is by referencing C.S. Lewis who wrote in "The Last Battle" (this is one of my favorite scenes from the book):
ReplyDelete"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, though knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless they desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what the truly seek."
Now, I may be wrong in interpreting the Potntif's proclomations in the same way that I interpret this scene, but perhaps what the Pope meant is that you don't have to necessarily seek the Christian faith to earn a place in heaven. Jonathan Sacks the former Chief Rabbi of the UK wrote how "God has spoken to mankind in many languages: through Judaism to Jews, Christianity to Christians, Islam to Muslims.... No one creed has a monopoly on spiritual truth; no one civilization encompasses all the spiritual, ethical and artistic expressions of mankind." He goes on to write "In heaven there is truth; on earth there are truths, God is greater than religion; He is only partially comprehended by any faith."
So essentially what the Pope MIGHT have meant to express is that it is not that a lack of faith also assures salvation because of the mercies of God, but rather that no one faith can monopolize on the path to redemption. God cannot be limited by a single religion, so therefore proclaiming the superiority of one religion over the rest in understanding and serving God cannot and should not be done.
This MIGHT be what the Pope meant, but then again, like you, I am an optimist.
My apologies for the really long comment...