Now this is going to come as a shock to all of you, but a couple of weeks ago, the media misrepresented the Catholic Church. I know, I know, that never happens, so there must be some mistake. Let’s take a look at what happened. In his first few months on the job, Pope Francis has definitely demonstrated his own style. On some level, I almost feel a little sorry for our holy father. His immediate two predecessors are hard acts to follow, to say the least. Pope John Paul II is widely regarded as among the best philosophers to ever be Pope while Benedict the XVI has been described as maybe the best theologian to have ever ascended to the chair of Peter. Following that up is no easy task. But so far, Francis is more than holding his own, even if his style is certainly different. I saw a great picture on Facebook the other day that seemed to capture the essence of our last 3 pontiffs. It was a picture of all 3 men and under each was a caption. Under John Paul II it read, “This is what we believe”. Under Benedict XVI it said “This is why believe it”. Under Francis it said “Now go live it”.
Here is an excerpt from that
particular homily that caused the stir:
“The Lord has redeemed
all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics.
Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood
makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the
likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a
duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a
beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to
others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by
little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must
meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’
But do good: we will meet one another there.”
This ended up drawing attention
from a couple of different fronts. The Huffington Post (That bastion of
trustworthy news), ran a headline that said, “Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do
Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics”. Their piece suggested that the Pope was
teaching some form of universal salvation. He wasn’t. His setting was a short
homily at a mass, reflecting on the readings for the day where he could
reasonably assume his audience already knew at least a little something about
Catholic teaching and theology. He was not in an academic setting where his
purpose was to expound upon the theological depths of the Catholic Church’s teaching
on salvation. He was making a much simpler point. Simply that we are all
redeemed by Christ’s work on the cross. Redeemed doesn’t equal each individual
accepting that salvific work. Just because we are all redeemed doesn’t mean we
are all saved. But because of our redemption, we are all called (and via the
available grace are able) to do good.
What is interesting is that
the normal media outlets who are usually very quick to disagree with Church
teaching, and who seemingly go out of their way make the Church look as if its
teachings are so out of touch with modern times, etc. were now all of a sudden
ready to embrace what they thought the holy father was saying. They would love
nothing more than for the Pope to be a teacher of the brand of liberalism that
they love so much. So when they think that the Pope is teaching that all people
are saved, they like that and now all of a sudden this Pope guy is someone who
should be listened to! I think that speaks to the fact that a longing for God
is in all of us. Those of us who choose to have a relationship with God know
this well. But even for those who do not, they still feel in the deepest
recesses of their very being, that tugging toward something greater. Of course
they do. That is what we are created for, union with God. We reject Him in many
ways through sin as we fall for the lies of the enemy who tells us all these
things will make us happy. But acceptance of Him and what He wants for us is
the only thing that makes us truly happy, because it is what we are made for.
So when people think they hear the leader of Christians on earth say that we
will all be with God, it makes sense that they would want to latch on to that. But
they would do well to scratch the surface a little to see more clearly the
fullness of faith that this Pope represents.
I also saw criticism from the
other side of the spectrum from those who were upset because they saw this is a
smoking gun that proved the Catholic Church teaches a doctrine of works
righteousness. That is that we can earn salvation by our works, apart from
faith in Jesus. I don’t have space to go into it here, but they are equally
wrong. The Church does not now, nor has it ever taught that we are saved by our
works alone. Every person who goes to heaven does so because of the saving work
of Christ on the cross. Without it, no one could enter the kingdom of heaven.
But to whom much is given, much is required and Christ clearly asks more of us
that just our faith alone.
Clearly any Pope is in a
unique and difficult position. Every word they utter is scrutinized by more
people in the world than any other public figure. Understandably they must be
careful with how they present their thoughts. But perhaps this Pope is not
nearly as concerned about that aspect of the job as maybe some of the rest of
us are. After all, his predecessor was an absolute wordsmith. And more than
that, he was a man who anticipated how his words would be responded to by
others and therefore carefully selected them so as to be not misunderstood.
Even so, the media never missed a chance to twist his words into something far
away from their meaning (think Regensburg address). Seeing that, Francis may
have made a conscious decision to spend less time worrying about being
misrepresented and more time doing the work to which he was called. Let us too brothers, do the work to which we were called.
