TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) — Prominent Canadian anti-woke psychologist Jordan Peterson blasted Pope Francis for neglecting the salvation of souls and focusing on “climate change” and criticized attempts to make the Catholic Church “relevant” since the 1960s and the Second Vatican Council.
.@jordanbpeterson says @Pontifex should be focused on ‘saving souls’ instead of ‘saving the planet,’ slams post-#Vatican II developments#CatholicChurch #CatholicTwitter #PopeFrancis pic.twitter.com/dqzHtkQZPj
— LifeSiteNews (@LifeSite) February 16, 2024
On February 11, Peterson joined Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) reporter Colm Flynn to discuss a sundry of topics, including his wife Tammy’s miraculous recovery from cancer, the widespread loss of faith in the Catholic Church since the 1960s, and Pope Francis’ fixation on “climate change.”
“That’s not working. It’s shallow,” he said, slamming the “guitar and hippies” that proliferated in the Church following the ’60s and Vatican II.
Peterson explained that religion is “supposed to be an invitation to the great adventure of life.”
“What’s the great adventure of life?” he questioned.
“Pick up your cross and follow me,” Peterson responded, quoting Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
“That’s a h-ll of an invitation,” he admitted, “but that’s the invitation, and the Church lost faith in that.”
Peterson explained that efforts in the Catholic Church to make the Gospel message more “relevant” have clouded the Gospel’s true calling.
“As soon as you say that you need to be more relevant than that what you’re doing, technically it is putting something else above that,” he said.
“Well, that’s not going to work not if the original proposition was correct,” Peterson warned, adding, “and obviously the original proposition is correct.”
Peterson explained that just as “Christ faced and triumphed over death and hell,” each person must likewise triumph over death and hell in their own lives. According to Peterson, the Catholic Church is currently not challenging Her members to take the difficult path.
“The gateway to Paradise is barred by the cherubs who have swords that flame,” he said. “It means it’s hard to get into the club, man.”
“Anything that isn’t worthy gets cut and burned away,” he warned, adding, “well of course that’s hell.”
“There’s no sugar-coating that and that isn’t what people want anyways. Young people want an adventure,” Peterson said.
He stated that the desire for adventure is the reason that young people feel called to “save the planet” from “climate change,” which “Pope Francis seems to be on about constantly when you should be saving souls.”
“That’s how you save the planet, not by worshiping Gaia,” Peterson stated, referring to the pagan name for “Mother Earth.”
“I don’t see for the life of me what the Catholic Church has to do with the ‘climate crisis,'” he continued. “Just the formulation is wrong; the priority is wrong; you save the world one person at a time.”
“It lacks faith in its own mission,” he added.
While his wife Tammy is set to enter the Catholic Church this Easter, Peterson has yet to publicly affiliate himself with one specific religion but says he remains dedicated to searching for the truth.
However, he admitted that “there’s plenty of things the Catholic Church got right,” for which he has an “appreciation.”