Pope Francis has told young people of different faiths in Singapore that “every religion is a way to arrive at God.”
We must make clear that there is only one true religion, the Catholic Faith, and that Jesus is the only way to God the Father.
SIGN: Pope Francis, there is only one true religion and Jesus is the only way to God the Father.
Addressing a meeting of young people in Singapore just before flying back to Rome, Pope Francis turned to one of the central themes of his pontificate – inter-religious dialogue.
“One of the things that struck me about all of you here is your ability to engage in inter-religious dialogue, and this is very important,” he told the crowd, assembled in Singapore’s Catholic Junior College.
Leaving aside his prepared speech and speaking largely off the cuff, Francis instead spoke chiefly on dialogue between religions, having just taken questions from a Catholic, a Sikh, and a Hindu.
Francis urged that no religion be given priority but that individuals instead focus on parity between beliefs:
"If we start to fight amongst ourselves and say 'my religion is more important than yours, my religion is true, yours is not,' where will that lead us? Where? It’s okay to discuss [between religions]."
Continuing, the Pope declared that each religion is a means to attain God, stating:
"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."
The Pope’s words were warmly welcomed by those present in the hall, which included leaders and representatives of Singapore’s many religious bodies and the large papal retinue.
But Jesus taught that "no one comes to the Father except through me." (Jn 14:6)
SIGN: Tell Pope Francis that there is only one true religion and that Christ is the only way to God the Father.
Pope Francis has made numerous inter-religious statements and collaborated in formal documents on the matter – notably the controversial 2019 Abu Dhabi document and the Istiqlal Declaration, signed just days ago in Indonesia. The Abu Dhabi text has been described as seeking to “overturn the doctrine of the Gospel” due to its promotion of equality of religions in a form of “fraternity.”
However, the Catholic Church teaches clearly that it is the only true Church, the Body of Christ (Eph 1:22), and it exercises the charge given by Christ to spread the Gospel to all nations and to bring souls into the Church. (Mark 16)
The much-loved and widely respected approved catechism, the Baltimore Catechism, reminds readers simply that “The one true Church established by Christ is the Catholic Church.” {Q. 152}
Catholic doctrine teaches that this fact is knowable since the Catholic Church alone has the four marks of being the true Church: one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic.
As a result, the Church teaches that all souls must “belong” to the Church to be saved: “All are obliged to belong to the Catholic Church in order to be saved.” {Baltimore Catechism Q 166.}
This teaching of “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” (no salvation outside the Church), has been increasingly rejected by modernizing activists in recent years, yet remains valid and unchanging in the Church’s teaching.
Pope Leo XIII pronounced it clearly in his 1824 encyclical letter Ubi Primum:
It is impossible for the most true God, who is Truth Itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal rewards on their members. For we have a surer word of the prophet, and in writing to you We speak wisdom among the perfect; not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery.
By it we are taught, and by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and that no other name under heaven is given to men except the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in which we must be saved. This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church.
The Vatican’s 1949 decree from the Holy Office instructed bishops charged with promoting true ecumenism to draw souls to the Church must always teach the fullness of the Church’s priority:
By no means is it permitted to pass over in silence or to veil in ambiguous terms the Catholic truth regarding the nature and way of justification, the constitution of the Church, the primacy of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, and the only true union by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ.
The Catholic Church notes that it is possible for those remaining outside the Church “through no grave fault of their own” and who are somehow unaware that the Church is the true Church, to still be saved “by making use of the graces which God gives them.” However, salvation in these cases of “invincible ignorance” is not found through other churches, but is through the Catholic Church as the channel of grace, as taught by St. Thomas Aquinas.
SIGN: Tell Pope Francis that there is only one true religion and that Christ is the only way to God the Father.
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BREAKING: Pope Francis says 'Every religion is a way to arrive at God' - LifeSiteNews
