Archbishop Chaput: “The Pope and Other Religions”

I posted this yesterday, Pope Francis – all religions lead to God?  and the usual suspects complained. I'm just sooo dumb.

Here is just about my favorite prelate, Capuchin Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Pope's comments. It's in the journal First Things. 11 paragraphs, if you hit the link it takes five minutes to read. Gives a different perspective on what the Pope said from the other posting perspective, but both are valid.

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.

At the end of his recent trip to Singapore, the pope left his prepared remarks for an interreligious group of young people and offered some general reflections about religion. Since his comments were extemporaneous, they naturally lacked the precision that a prepared text would normally possess, and so hopefully what he said is not quite what he meant.

According to news reports, Pope Francis suggested that, “[Religions] are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all.

**********************

The bishop of Rome is the spiritual and institutional head of the Catholic Church worldwide. This means, among other things, that he has the duty to teach the faith clearly and preach it evangelically. Loose comments can only confuse. Yet, too often, confusion infects and undermines the good will of this pontificate.

Christians hold that Jesus alone is the path to God. To suggest, imply, or allow others to infer otherwise is a failure to love because genuine love always wills the good of the other, and the good of all people is to know and love Jesus Christ, and through him the Father who created us.

Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., is the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia.