(LifeSiteNews) — On this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland and Deacon Keith Fournier return to discuss Pope Francis’ recent heretical comments that “all religions are a path to God,” the parallels between the Pope’s statements and John Lennon’s “Imagine” song, and more.
I began the episode by reading part of the Pope’s original statement about all religions leading to God, which he made at an interreligious youth meeting in Singapore: “Every religion is a way to arrive at God. … There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.”
Then, after some pushback, Francis doubled and then tripled down on these comments, saying the third time in part: “’Imagine Peace’ … [w]e need to keep weaving the bonds of fraternity and to allow ourselves to be guided by the divine inspiration present in every faith.” I asked the clergy what they make of the Holy Father’s heretical comments.
Bishop Strickland said there is an agenda in the Vatican that is pushing back against the teachings of Christ Himself.
“Certainly every person in the world God wants to be His beloved children – but Jesus Christ, His Son, Truth Incarnate, told us, ‘Only through baptism.’ So that was the most troubling thing Pope Francis said: to make equivalent Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian. … Where does Jesus Christ fit into that? Because they don’t believe in Jesus Christ as who He is,” the bishop said.
READ: Bishop Strickland calls on ‘all of the shepherds of the Church’ to defend the faith as Synod looms
Strickland added that this statement sadly sounds like what others in the Vatican have been saying. “Basically, this is saying, ‘Oh, we want to welcome everyone. But don’t worry about being baptized by Jesus Christ, and that for us is to say, ‘Don’t believe, don’t follow the one God so loved the world to send us, His own Son.’”
Deacon Keith said these statements are terribly confusing to the faithful and non-Catholics, whom the Lord wants to come to the Church, to know His Son Jesus Christ, and profess Him as our Lord and Savior. He emphasized that in Acts 4, Peter stood up and said there is no other name in heaven and on earth in which man can be saved. And Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.”
“And for 2,000 years, the Church has clearly proclaimed the Father sent His only Son, that’s the core, the kerygma of the Gospel, that’s what makes us Christian. Certainly, we want to collaborate, work with other people, and respect their traditions, but our goal is to bring them to acknowledge Jesus’ law,” Deacon Keith said.
The deacon added that the Pope’s last statement reminded him more of John Lennon’s “Imagine” song than the teaching of the Church. I chimed in to speculate that Francis might have intended that because the song is all about peace and he had said, “Imagine peace.”
I replied that it was scary, because it does sound nice to say, “Hey, we’re all headed to God in our own different way. Just follow your path and be sincere in what you’re doing, and that’s your truth and my truth. It’s beautiful, and we can come together in peace.” I asked the bishop and deacon how we could answer that.
Bishop Strickland said we can answer this line of thinking by our Lord Jesus Christ, saying he goes back to John 3:16, which says, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.”
“This is denying the importance of that, denying that it’s God’s plan, that His Son will bring us to Him, the Father. Jesus is the one who revealed the fullness of God, the trinitarian God: Father, Son, and [Holy] Spirit. Sikhs and Hindus don’t believe in a trinitarian God, so it really is striking at the very root of what Christianity is,” the bishop said.
A bit later, Strickland added that we, as baptized Christians, need to say no to an ecumenical brotherhood of man. Instead, we need to start proclaiming again that there is only one God, one faith, one baptism, and that is Jesus Christ. “Frankly, if that were God’s will, He wouldn’t need to send His Son, and we don’t need a Church if it’s all about a brotherhood of man.”
Deacon Keith agreed, saying that if what the Holy Father said is true, then we don’t need a Savior, and the fact that we need a Savior is the “whole point” of the Church.
“[W]e were separated from God because of sin, we couldn’t overcome that ourselves, so ‘God so loved the world’ … He sent His only Son; He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. And He shed every last drop of His blood to bridge that gulf when He hung on that cross. And then He defeated the last enemy, death, and then He was raised from the dead. And the Church continues His redemptive mission.”
To hear more from Bishop Strickland and Deacon Keith, watch or listen to my full interview.
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