Pope Francis and other Christians

JMJ

So, by now this should come as no surprise.

If one takes the happy slant on ecumenism in V2, there is only one real question? If one can be equally saved through religions as opposed to just 'in spite' of them ... then why be Catholic at all?

In the U.S. a large number of former Catholics have taken the 'openness' to it's logical conclusion and abandoned a religion that has forgotten a key element: A religion without a hell isn't worth a damn.

Attached below are some excerpts from the Catholic Herald article.

Catholic Herald: Pope Francis siad that it's a sin to deny God has blessed other Christians ???

1. We should also acknowledge 'the value of the grace granted to other Christian communities,' ...“It is easy to forget the fundamental equality existing among us: that once we were all slaves to sin, that the Lord saved us in baptism and called us his children,” ... equally saved through baptism.

2. “It is a grave sin,” he said, “to belittle or despise the gifts that the Lord has given our brothers and sisters, and to think that God somehow holds them in less esteem.”

3. God’s grace, the Pope said, must never “become a source of pride, injustice and division.” ... The path to Christian unity, the oneness that Jesus prayed his disciples would have, begins with humbly recognising that “the blessings we have received are not ours by right, but have come to us as a gift; they were given to be shared with others,” he said.

This is just repackaged spirit of V2 so let's put some Catholic perspective on this mess:

Any grace provided via non-Catholic religions is via the vestiges that they took with them when they departed. In the case of protestants this is generally limited to baptism and matrimony. Regarding 'equally saved through baptism' - see my earlier comments.
I would like to know what gifts God has granted to the protestants that they did not obtain and retain from the period before their separation from the Catholic Church.
Here the Pope has a point, we must be grateful for what we Catholics have received from the hands of God because we have no merit in it at all (See article on Gratitude).

Other References:
FSSPX.News:From utopia to heresy

P^3

Comments

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