“Pope” Francis: ‘Dialogue means Renouncing the Claim that our Ideas and Traditions Alone are Valid or Absolute’
When someone like Jorge Bergoglio presumes to instruct others on how and what to communicate, it is a given that disaster will result.
And so it has. On Jan. 23, 2014, “Pope” Francis issued his annual Message for World Communications Day. Of course, he was promoting his essentially meaningless but feel-good pet theme of a “culture of encounter”, but the penultimate paragraph in his document was rather meaningful indeed:
Effective Christian witness is not about bombarding people with religious messages, but about our willingness to be available to others “by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence” (BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day, 2013). We need but recall the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. We have to be able to dialogue with the men and women of today, to understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death. We are challenged to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening around us and spiritually alert. To dialogue means to believe that the “other” has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective. Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.
(“Pope Francis: Communication Must Promote Culture of Encounter”, Vatican Radio, Jan. 23, 2014; red bold print added for emphasis.)
There’s hardly a thing contained in this passage that the folks at CNN, Planned Parenthood, or in the White House would vehemently disagree with. No doubt the “conservative Catholic” full-time bloggers and apologists will quickly spring into action now to neutralize this latest anti-Catholic salvo (Zuhlsdorf? Akin? Shea? Armstrong? On your marks!), to explain what Bergoglio “really” meant or said, and why it doesn’t mean what everyone can tell it means.
As was pointed out on Restoration Radio’s Francis Watch broadcast, Bergoglio’s latest catastrophic pronouncement can hardly be squared with the clear and stern teaching of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ: “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk 16:16).
For a quick reality check, the following quotes are extremely helpful to consider, the very first from another papal impostor, the others from true Popes:
“Dialogue does not aim at conversion, but at understanding….”
(Antipope Benedict XVI, Christmas Address to Curia, 2012)
“But if one wishes to search out the true source of all the evils …, he will surely find that from the start it has ever been a dogged contempt for the Church’s authority…. It is clear that contempt of the Church’s authority is opposed to the command of Christ and consequently opposes the apostles and their successors, the Church’s ministers who speak as their representatives. [Lk 10:16] ‘He who hears you, hears me; and he who despises you, despises me’; and ‘the Church is the pillar and firmament of truth,’ as the apostle Paul teaches. [1 Tim 3:15] In reference to these words St. Augustine says: ‘Whoever is without the Church will not be reckoned among the sons, and whoever does not want to have the Church as mother will not have God as father.'”
(Pope Leo XII, Encyclical Ubi Primum, n. 22)
“And let [the Protestant heretics] not cease to offer most fervent prayers to the God of Mercy, that he may break down the wall of separation, that he may scatter the mists of error, and that he may lead them back to the bosom of Holy Mother Church, where their fathers found the wholesome pastures of life, and in which alone the doctrine of Jesus Christ is preserved and handed down entire, and the mysteries of heavenly grace dispensed.”
(Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Iam Vos Omnes)
“The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind.”
(Pope Pius XI, quoting Lactantius, in Encyclical Mortalium Animos, n. 11)
While Francis decries the “scandal” of division among Christians, not once has he called for the conversion of heretics to the Catholic Church, which is the only possible way all who profess to be followers of Christ can be legitimately united, for “the only true union [is] by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ” (Holy Office, Decree Ecclesia Catholica on the Ecumenical Movement, 1949, sec. II). Indeed, Pope Pius XII emphasized that as far as convincing Protestants to become Catholics, “one should not speak of this in such a way that they will imagine that in returning to the Church they are bringing to it something substantial which it has hitherto lacked” (ibid.). So much for only Catholic ideas being valid and absolute — they are indeed!
Moreover, not only does Francis think Protestants don’t need to become Catholics to go to Heaven, he also isn’t terribly worried about the eternal destiny of Non-Christians. For example, he is on record encouraging Muslims to expect “abundant spiritual fruit” from their Ramadan observance, and of course he’s madly in love with the faithless Jews, even though they deny the Father and the Son (cf. 1 Jn 2:22-23) and clearly fall under Christ’s condemnation in Mark 16:16 (see also Jn 8:24).
Jorge Bergoglio, “Pope” Francis, is not a Catholic but an apostate. This means he is a baptized man who has utterly abandoned the Roman Catholic religion.
It’s that simple.
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