{"id":24459,"date":"2024-09-19T17:06:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T21:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=24459"},"modified":"2024-09-19T17:20:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T21:20:27","slug":"pope-francis-blasted-after-claiming-all-religions-are-a-path-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/09\/pope-francis-blasted-after-claiming-all-religions-are-a-path-to-god","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis Blasted After Claiming \u201call religions are a path to God.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Riccardo-De-Luca-Update \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pope Francis recently spoke with a group of young people at a Catholic college in Singapore and one of his statements has earned him the ire of Catholics and Protestants alike. The remarks were during an interreligious meeting, with the Pope breaking off from his prepared remarks to note that different religions are like \u201cdifferent languages\u201d but \u201cGod is God for all.\u201d \u201cIf you start to fight, \u2018my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn\u2019t\u2019, where will that lead us?\u201d he asked. \u201cThere\u2019s only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God],\u201d he added. He encouraged the youths of different faiths to engage in dialogue with each other.<\/p>\n

The Pope\u2019s remarks earned him swift rebukes. Father Calvin Robinson, who hosts \u201cCalvin\u2019s Common Sense Crusade,\u201d called the Pope\u2019s words<\/a> \u201ccounter-scriptural.\u201d \u201cThis is a counter-scriptural statement from Pope Francis. The Scriptures teach us the opposite,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe gate to heaven is narrow. In Christ\u2019s own words: \u2018I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u2019\u201d CBN\u2019s Billy Hallowell wrote an op-ed in The Washington Times<\/em><\/a>, entitled \u201cNo, Pope Francis: All religions aren\u2019t a path to God.\u201d \u201cThese remarks wouldn\u2019t be shocking if coming from Universalists or even academics in the bowels of our secular institutions \u2014 people who patently deny the historic and theologically unique nature of Christianity,\u201d wrote Hallowell. \u201cBut the proclamation is a head-turning, show-stopping moment considering it slipped from the lips of the man who heads the world\u2019s largest Christian denomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallowell pointed out the number of people criticizing the Pope\u2019s comments, particularly comments from Greg Laurie and Catholic Bishop Joseph Strickland, who recently was ousted by the Vatican for issues he had with what he considered to be the Pope\u2019s increasing openness to issues like LGTBQ+ and abortion. \u201cPope Francis\u2019 claim, as shared by the Vatican and without any further context or clarification from the pontiff, overtly contradicts the heart of the Gospel message, which explicitly and indubitably states that the only way to God and eternal life is through Jesus,\u201d wrote Hallowell. He pointed to John 3 as Scriptural evidence against the Pope\u2019s claim. In that chapter, Jesus tells a Pharisee named Nicodemus that in order to see the Kingdom of God, they must be \u201cborn again.\u201d In order to be born again, Jesus says a person must believe in the Son of Man (Jesus). And later in the chapter, Jesus warns against those who do not accept him as being condemned. \u201cThus, it\u2019s impossible to act as though different religions are merely divergent \u2018languages\u2019 that all lead to the same God. The entirety of the biblical message is one of transformation \u2014 the need to accept Jesus and allow God to transform our hearts and lives. Christ makes it painstakingly clear that a person can truly access the Lord only through him,\u201d Hallowell concluded from the passage. To date, the Pope has not clarified his statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis recently spoke with a group of young people at a Catholic college in Singapore and one of his statements has earned him the ire of Catholics and Protestants alike. The remarks were during an interreligious meeting, with the Pope breaking off from his prepared remarks to note that different religions are like \u201cdifferent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":24462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,623],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic","category-catholic-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis Blasted After Claiming \u201call religions are a path to God.\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/09\/pope-francis-blasted-after-claiming-all-religions-are-a-path-to-god\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis Blasted After Claiming \u201call religions are a path to God.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Francis recently spoke with a group of young people at a Catholic college in Singapore and one of his statements has earned him the ire of Catholics and Protestants alike. The remarks were during an interreligious meeting, with the Pope breaking off from his prepared remarks to note that different religions are like \u201cdifferent…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/09\/pope-francis-blasted-after-claiming-all-religions-are-a-path-to-god\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-19T21:06:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-19T21:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/09\/pope-francis-pluralism_credit-Riccardo-De-Luca-Update-Shutterstock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Francis Blasted After Claiming \u201call religions are a path to God.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/09\/pope-francis-blasted-after-claiming-all-religions-are-a-path-to-god","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis Blasted After Claiming \u201call religions are a path to God.\u201d","og_description":"Pope Francis recently spoke with a group of young people at a Catholic college in Singapore and one of his statements has earned him the ire of Catholics and Protestants alike. 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