When the current Pope first made some worrying remarks about how all religions are basically taking us to the same God, I thought I would let others deal with it. And many have of course, both Catholics and non-Catholics. But given that he seems to want to keep pushing this, I suppose I should finally weigh in on it.
Pope Francis, once again, has landed himself in hot water by stating that there are many roads to God – not just Christianity. And it was not enough for him to state this once, but he doubled down on it again a few days after his first remarks.
He said this a week ago at an inter-religious gathering of young people in Singapore: “Every religion is a way to arrive at God. There are different languages to arrive at God, but God is God for all. And how is God God for all? We are all sons and daughters of God. But my god is more important than your god, is that true? There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.”
And just the other day in a video message to an ecumenical youth gathering in Tirana, Albania, he reaffirmed this stance: “I invite you to learn together to discern the signs of the times. Contemplate the difference of your traditions like a richness, a richness God wants to be. Unity is not uniformity, and the diversity of your cultural and religious identities is a gift of God. Unity in diversity. Let mutual esteem grow among you, following the witness of your forefathers.”
Let me say a few things before some people get all bent out of shape about this. One, I have long made it clear that while I am an evangelical Protestant, it is not my purpose with this site to incessantly attack Catholics. I certainly have many major theological differences with them, but I count many of them as my friends, I speak at their meetings, and some of my fav authors are Catholics, and so on.
Two, some have said that we need to take his words in context, and that he does not really mean what he has said. Well, it seems pretty clear to me just what he was trying to say, especially in that first comment. It is very hard for anyone to weasel their way out of what was declared. He even specifically mentions Muslims, Hindus and so on as he makes his point.
And I have plenty of Catholic associates, friends and acquaintances who are all equally disgusted with this and many other things the current Pope has done and said over the past 11 years. One gal who is as devout and gung-ho a Catholic as you will ever meet actually told me once: “Pope Francis is a heretic.” Plenty of folks within the Roman Catholic Church are quite concerned about these matters.
Is Jesus just one of many ways?
Not only does biblical Christianity unambiguously affirm that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to the Father, but this is even basic Roman Catholic teaching. Always has been. And no one actually reading the New Testament can ever come up with any other ideas.
You will not find there any idea that Jesus thought of himself as just one of many great religious leaders and teachers, and that he was just one path among many that would take us to God. Indeed, simply consider some of the things he said about himself:
Matthew 11:27 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:14-16 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:35-36 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
John 10:7-10 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
And the rest of the New Testament also affirms this. Some passages that can be mentioned include:
Acts 4:11-12 Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 16:30-31 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 10:9 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.?
Romans 10:13-15 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
1 Corinthians 8:6 Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.?
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
How anyone can read a passage like John 14:6 or Acts 4:12 and come away with any other spin on things is beyond me. There is one way and one way only to God. And that is through Jesus Christ – not Muhammad or Buddha or Confucius.
No we are not all children of God
The Pope also claimed that everyone is a child of God: “We are all sons and daughters of God.” Um no, wrong again. This too is made clear throughout Scripture. This too is basic Christian teaching, and something I have also written about before.
Some eight years ago I penned a piece on this, offering a number of biblical texts which clearly make this case. I just looked at that article now, and was interested to note what or who prompted me to write that piece back then. Yep, you guessed it: Pope Francis!
He sure likes to push this interfaith and interreligious nonsense. Back then he said this: “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: We are all children of God.”
Just one of the texts I highlighted was John 8:39-47
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Hmm, not much room for any other slant on this. Even religious leaders are NOT children of God unless that get right with God through Christ alone. We are all made in God’s image, and in THAT sense we are all God’s handiwork via creation, but we need to become his actual children via redemption – in Christ alone.
Sorry, but I must stick with the clear words of Scripture here, and not the words of any religious leader.
You are certainly quite right in saying that Pope Francis has upset and alienated many Catholics, on this issue (the equal validity of all religions) and on many other issues as well. Many in positions of leadership in the Catholic Church — such as Cardinal Raymond Burke of Wisconsin — have tried to question him or call him to account, but their views have been dismissed and they themselves treated with contempt. I honestly cannot understand what is going on in the head of Pope Francis!
With regard to inter-faith discussions, certainly there is nothing wrong with trying to encourage people of different religions to try to talk civilly with each other, or to work together when they can on certain issues such as promoting peaceful resolution of conflict. And I do think that God (the one God we Christians worship) has put in the human heart a longing for Him and desire to search for Him — as St Augustine put it “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” All religious faiths reflect this fundamental desire to find something beyond ourselves, and I suppose in that sense they do have something in common. But it is only in Christ that we find the true answer to this longing.
Thanks Marla.
The joke used to be whether the Pope was Catholic. Now, we have to ask whether this Pope is Christian. Francis’s soul is at risk for leading so many people astray. He needs prayer.
He sure does Katherine.
This will be the next big spiritual battle. As we learn more and more, especially about things like how functional, information rich and astoundingly clever DNA is and how it is essentially computer type code except far more dense, intrinsically functional and information rich and see things like error correction in how DNA works (how can you have error correction without teleology?), the atheistic religious belief in simple materialism is increasingly shown to be completely and totally untenable. So if reason demonstrates overwhelmingly that there is intelligence behind the universe, who is that intelligence?
The devil knows that not only is he up against God, he is also up against the knowledge humans are accumulating, so it becomes increasingly important to muddy the waters. If at all possible, he would like to put himself in the position of God in the minds of men to control that power. The Pope has now opened up the door to this possibility. If the Pope was born from above he would not be saying such things.
This issue is one I’ve often pondered.
I find it hard to understand that a just God would punish people simply because they were born into a non-Christian family, country or culture. How can this be a reasonable or loving attitude to take? It seems like mere bigotry or hubris.
It answers all your objections, objections that have been raised countless times and easily answered countless times.
But a few things are worth reiterating. There is absolutely nothing unfair or unreasonable about any of this. The truth is, every person on the planet, regardless of where they live, are born as sinful, rebellious creatures who need to lay down their arms and surrender to God. Even those born in a Christian home or a Christian nation have to do this.
And as I always point out, if you are really so worried about this, there is one obvious solution: become a Christian yourself, and then go and tell everyone you can about how Christ offers us reconciliation with God. Jesus did tell his disciples to go into every nation and make disciples. That is what I am now doing, having once been a wild drug-taking hippy who wanted nothing to do with God. How about you?
There is only one way to God and Heaven and that is through Jesus. Jesus said I am the truth the way and the life. No one gets to the father except through me.
I have to wonder if the Pope hasn’t been warped by the influence of liberation theology. There have been a number of red flag comments that warn us that this Pope holds heretical views on the Faith.
Thank you for a thoughtful analysis of yet another red flag comment.
There’s a problem. We are all familiar with Pascal’s Wager. But it suffers from a major flaw that is pertinent to this discussion.
If we accept the proposition that it is wiser to believe in God purely from the perspective of the risk of being wrong, there is no objective way of determining which God to believe in. Christians believe they have the correct view, but so do devout Muslims, Jews and other faiths.
To some extent, we are all religious narcissists, even atheists. This is a deep and profound philosophical problem.
Thanks Thomas. Some critics can misunderstand what the intent of Pascal was – and of other apologists – such as Thomas Aquinas – who offered their famous arguments for God’s existence. In part, the aim of most of these philosophers and theologians was not so much to immediately make the case for the superiority of Christian truth claims, but something much humbler: to establish – as a first step along the way – a rational and reasonable case for the existence of God. Once the atheist, sceptic or agnostic becomes convinced of the rationality and coherence of theism, then one can go on to discuss the matter of many gods and which religion might be true. They can then learn about the various arguments for and against the superiority of Christianity. And of course making a credible and compelling case for Christianity has been done countless times over the past 2000 years, with many thousands of volumes available that one can consult.
A few more quick points:
-Pascal was much more than a proponent of his famous Wager argument.
-Pascal was quite aware of the limitations of natural theology.
-He elsewhere argues strongly for the case for Christ.
-The God he WAS focussing on of course was the Judeo-Christian God, not for example the multitude of gods in Hinduism or the non-gods of Buddhism.
-If you are following the literature, you will know that there is now a renewed interest in, and defence of, his Wager in particular, and his work as a philosopher, mathematician and probability theorist in general.
-Lastly, the main point of my article here was of course not to make some intellectual argument for the case for Christian theism (see the other 880 articles in my apologetics section for an attempt at that), but simply to look at one major Christian leader who should know better than to make the sorts of claims that he has been making. If the Pope really believes what he has been saying, fine, but then he can no longer call himself a spokesperson for biblical Christianity.
Not only does the Pope contradict, possibly the most important principle in the Bible, he completely disagrees with Catholic doctrine.
I am a devout Catholic and attend both the Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo. I also speak and read Italian so I can tell you if there is a mistranslation of Pope Francis’ words. Usually there is no mistranslation but he does like to talk out of both sides of his mouth so it’s difficult to pin down what he actually is saying. In fact, sometimes when the written translation comes out the “offending” comments might even be disappeared! Yes, it has happened!
just for reference, I have also read enough theology books to have an honorary degree!
I used to listen to all Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday Addresses and Angelus and any homilies along the way which were all well thought out and wonderful teachings. I looked forward to them. He actually said Mass every morning in his chapel with a smattering of guests (Francis does not). Incidentally, Masses in St Peters’ side altars which were constantly used by visiting groups of pilgrims with their priests were also ceased with no explanation.
I started listening to Francis as I used to listen to Benedict but after a short time found his words confusing and at the same time simplistic. I felt as if I was being talked down to as if I were a child by a teacher who was trying to convince me.
Listening to Pope Benedict vs Pope Francis is similar to first eating succulent steak and then being suddenly switched to a dried up over cooked hamburger patty.
I’ve given up eating the hamburger. I avoid the Pope’s words. Once in a while a hear a few sentences that actually sound like a true Catholic pope but usually I just tune him out.
There are so many wonderful Catholic theology books and biographies of saints old and new and beautiful words written down by the previous two popes among others that I don’t need to listen to confusing Francis.
Please God, give us a clear and faithful shepherd!
Thanks Isabella. Although I am a Protestant, I quite liked Pope Benedict as well.
Thanks Bill, my opinion is Pope Francis seems to be forgetting his doctrines so as to unite with other religions/faiths so there is a one world religion. He has had to make some difficult decisions lately eg one article says ‘Pope Francis has granted his formal approval allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples so long as they do not appear to endorse their marriage,’ Rather than taking a stand or causing offense he is compromising with the world’s beliefs.
Thanks Lynette.
Bill – your (longer) replies to comments here are outstanding! This last paragraph is pertinent to many questions, slurs and objections… “And as I always point out, if you are really so worried about this, there is one obvious solution: become a Christian yourself, and then go and tell everyone you can about how Christ offers us reconciliation with God. Jesus did tell his disciples to go into every nation and make disciples. That is what I am now doing, having once been a wild drug-taking hippy who wanted nothing to do with God. How about you?”
You are certainly quite right in saying that Pope Francis has upset and alienated many Catholics, on this issue (the equal validity of all religions) and on many other issues as well. Many in positions of leadership in the Catholic Church — such as Cardinal Raymond Burke of Wisconsin — have tried to question him or call him to account, but their views have been dismissed and they themselves treated with contempt. I honestly cannot understand what is going on in the head of Pope Francis!
With regard to inter-faith discussions, certainly there is nothing wrong with trying to encourage people of different religions to try to talk civilly with each other, or to work together when they can on certain issues such as promoting peaceful resolution of conflict. And I do think that God (the one God we Christians worship) has put in the human heart a longing for Him and desire to search for Him — as St Augustine put it “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” All religious faiths reflect this fundamental desire to find something beyond ourselves, and I suppose in that sense they do have something in common. But it is only in Christ that we find the true answer to this longing.
Thanks Marla.
The joke used to be whether the Pope was Catholic. Now, we have to ask whether this Pope is Christian. Francis’s soul is at risk for leading so many people astray. He needs prayer.
He sure does Katherine.
This will be the next big spiritual battle. As we learn more and more, especially about things like how functional, information rich and astoundingly clever DNA is and how it is essentially computer type code except far more dense, intrinsically functional and information rich and see things like error correction in how DNA works (how can you have error correction without teleology?), the atheistic religious belief in simple materialism is increasingly shown to be completely and totally untenable. So if reason demonstrates overwhelmingly that there is intelligence behind the universe, who is that intelligence?
The devil knows that not only is he up against God, he is also up against the knowledge humans are accumulating, so it becomes increasingly important to muddy the waters. If at all possible, he would like to put himself in the position of God in the minds of men to control that power. The Pope has now opened up the door to this possibility. If the Pope was born from above he would not be saying such things.
This issue is one I’ve often pondered.
I find it hard to understand that a just God would punish people simply because they were born into a non-Christian family, country or culture. How can this be a reasonable or loving attitude to take? It seems like mere bigotry or hubris.
Thanks Catherine. I have already written on this matter in some detail, so if you are really interested, and not just asking rhetorical questions here, have a careful read of this piece: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2007/01/24/what-about-those-who-have-not-heard/
It answers all your objections, objections that have been raised countless times and easily answered countless times.
But a few things are worth reiterating. There is absolutely nothing unfair or unreasonable about any of this. The truth is, every person on the planet, regardless of where they live, are born as sinful, rebellious creatures who need to lay down their arms and surrender to God. Even those born in a Christian home or a Christian nation have to do this.
And as I always point out, if you are really so worried about this, there is one obvious solution: become a Christian yourself, and then go and tell everyone you can about how Christ offers us reconciliation with God. Jesus did tell his disciples to go into every nation and make disciples. That is what I am now doing, having once been a wild drug-taking hippy who wanted nothing to do with God. How about you?
There is only one way to God and Heaven and that is through Jesus. Jesus said I am the truth the way and the life. No one gets to the father except through me.
I have to wonder if the Pope hasn’t been warped by the influence of liberation theology. There have been a number of red flag comments that warn us that this Pope holds heretical views on the Faith.
Thank you for a thoughtful analysis of yet another red flag comment.
There’s a problem. We are all familiar with Pascal’s Wager. But it suffers from a major flaw that is pertinent to this discussion.
If we accept the proposition that it is wiser to believe in God purely from the perspective of the risk of being wrong, there is no objective way of determining which God to believe in. Christians believe they have the correct view, but so do devout Muslims, Jews and other faiths.
To some extent, we are all religious narcissists, even atheists. This is a deep and profound philosophical problem.
Thanks Thomas. Some critics can misunderstand what the intent of Pascal was – and of other apologists – such as Thomas Aquinas – who offered their famous arguments for God’s existence. In part, the aim of most of these philosophers and theologians was not so much to immediately make the case for the superiority of Christian truth claims, but something much humbler: to establish – as a first step along the way – a rational and reasonable case for the existence of God. Once the atheist, sceptic or agnostic becomes convinced of the rationality and coherence of theism, then one can go on to discuss the matter of many gods and which religion might be true. They can then learn about the various arguments for and against the superiority of Christianity. And of course making a credible and compelling case for Christianity has been done countless times over the past 2000 years, with many thousands of volumes available that one can consult.
A few more quick points:
-Pascal was much more than a proponent of his famous Wager argument.
-Pascal was quite aware of the limitations of natural theology.
-He elsewhere argues strongly for the case for Christ.
-The God he WAS focussing on of course was the Judeo-Christian God, not for example the multitude of gods in Hinduism or the non-gods of Buddhism.
-If you are following the literature, you will know that there is now a renewed interest in, and defence of, his Wager in particular, and his work as a philosopher, mathematician and probability theorist in general.
-Lastly, the main point of my article here was of course not to make some intellectual argument for the case for Christian theism (see the other 880 articles in my apologetics section for an attempt at that), but simply to look at one major Christian leader who should know better than to make the sorts of claims that he has been making. If the Pope really believes what he has been saying, fine, but then he can no longer call himself a spokesperson for biblical Christianity.
Not only does the Pope contradict, possibly the most important principle in the Bible, he completely disagrees with Catholic doctrine.
Robert Spencer – a Catholic – writes : https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2024/09/15/pope-all-religions-are-paths-to-god-n4932532
I am a devout Catholic and attend both the Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo. I also speak and read Italian so I can tell you if there is a mistranslation of Pope Francis’ words. Usually there is no mistranslation but he does like to talk out of both sides of his mouth so it’s difficult to pin down what he actually is saying. In fact, sometimes when the written translation comes out the “offending” comments might even be disappeared! Yes, it has happened!
just for reference, I have also read enough theology books to have an honorary degree!
I used to listen to all Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday Addresses and Angelus and any homilies along the way which were all well thought out and wonderful teachings. I looked forward to them. He actually said Mass every morning in his chapel with a smattering of guests (Francis does not). Incidentally, Masses in St Peters’ side altars which were constantly used by visiting groups of pilgrims with their priests were also ceased with no explanation.
I started listening to Francis as I used to listen to Benedict but after a short time found his words confusing and at the same time simplistic. I felt as if I was being talked down to as if I were a child by a teacher who was trying to convince me.
Listening to Pope Benedict vs Pope Francis is similar to first eating succulent steak and then being suddenly switched to a dried up over cooked hamburger patty.
I’ve given up eating the hamburger. I avoid the Pope’s words. Once in a while a hear a few sentences that actually sound like a true Catholic pope but usually I just tune him out.
There are so many wonderful Catholic theology books and biographies of saints old and new and beautiful words written down by the previous two popes among others that I don’t need to listen to confusing Francis.
Please God, give us a clear and faithful shepherd!
Thanks Isabella. Although I am a Protestant, I quite liked Pope Benedict as well.
Thanks Bill, my opinion is Pope Francis seems to be forgetting his doctrines so as to unite with other religions/faiths so there is a one world religion. He has had to make some difficult decisions lately eg one article says ‘Pope Francis has granted his formal approval allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples so long as they do not appear to endorse their marriage,’ Rather than taking a stand or causing offense he is compromising with the world’s beliefs.
Thanks Lynette.
Bill – your (longer) replies to comments here are outstanding! This last paragraph is pertinent to many questions, slurs and objections… “And as I always point out, if you are really so worried about this, there is one obvious solution: become a Christian yourself, and then go and tell everyone you can about how Christ offers us reconciliation with God. Jesus did tell his disciples to go into every nation and make disciples. That is what I am now doing, having once been a wild drug-taking hippy who wanted nothing to do with God. How about you?”
Thanks for that Tim.