Pope Francis made headlines recently when, during an interfaith meeting with young people, he made the following statement:
“All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the Divine … There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood? Yet, interfaith dialogue among young people takes courage.”
The obvious concern with the above statement is the appearance of false religious pluralism—the idea that all religions are equal or relative and therefore there is no one true religion (Christianity).
Of course, the pope is Catholic and does not espouse such an idea, not least because he has previously said, for example, “the door by which to enter the sheepfold is Jesus. There is no other … One cannot enter into eternal life through another way.”
Yes, Jesus is the Way and there is no other way by which we can be saved (c.f. Act 4:12).
Nevertheless, there are still countless (subjective) ways by which countless souls come to participate in the (objective) Way, including through baptisms of desire.
This can apply not only to those who sincerely follow other religions which “reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men,” (Nostra Aetate, 2) but even to those who have no religion!
Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) was once asked, “How many ways are there to God?”
Quite surprisingly, his response at the time was, “As many as there are people.”
Neither he nor Pope Francis meant that religion is merely a matter of personal preference.
Far from it.
Instead, they were recognising, even reverencing the diverse and unique ways in which each human person actually participates in God’s saving grace in the depth of his or her soul.
So, there can be no doubt that the interfaith statement made by Pope Francis, when rightly interpreted, is in harmony with Catholic theology.
Needless to say, the pope is more than theologically literate enough to know the risk of being misinterpreted.
Therefore it does not suffice to merely defend the orthodoxy of his statement; we must also ask what salutary lesson might have been imparted by the Holy Father (or the Holy Spirit).
Christian doctrines, supreme though they might be, are not an end in themselves; instead, they are a means to an end, which is the person of Jesus Christ or the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
For this or a similar reason, Benedict XVI once wrote, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Deus Caritas Est, 1)
What is the measure of a true Christian?
Intellectual assent to doctrines is certainly a constitutive factor but what is of utmost importance is authentic communion or actual participation in the substantial reality of divine love, without which we will be told in the end, “I never knew you” (Mt 7:23).
How easy is it for Catholics to become complacent, conceited or tribalist, due to a sense of superiority which does more harm than good, even fatally at times.
Catholics who have been privileged with access to the substantial reality of God’s love in the Eucharist ought to be the humblest. After all, “Every one to whom much is given, of him much will be required” (Lk 12:48).
They also ought to be the first to show reverence wherever God’s inspiration manifests itself, including through those who are different, so as to become true experts in the art of actual participation, as well as its most courageous practitioners.
What wins souls for Christ? Not doctrinal or liturgical purism, which can externalise the faith to the point of bypassing the human heart.
We already know the answer: the beauty of holiness which radiates from those who fully participate in the substantial reality of Divine Mercy, starting from the depth of their soul—the saints.
This is a hard teaching from the Holy Father but entirely appropriate for those who belong to the one true religion of Catholicism.
- Fr Peter Kwak is parish priest of Regina Coeli parish, Beverly Hill. First published in The Catholic Weekly. Reproduced with permission.