Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, USA, weighs in on Francis' Singapore controversy (FirstThings.com, Sept. 16). Key points.
- Francis has the habit of saying things that leave listeners confused.
- In Singapore, he suggested that all religions are paths to God.
- That all religions have equal weight is an extraordinarily flawed idea for the Successor of Peter to appear to support.
- Religions are not equal in their content or consequences. They have very different conceptions of who God is and what that means for the nature of the human person and society.
- St Paul condemns false religions and proclaims Jesus Christ as the reality and fulfillment of the unknown God worshipped by the Greeks (Acts 17:22–31).
- Not all religions seek the same God, and some religions are both wrong and potentially dangerous, materially and spiritually.
- We are called Christians because we believe that Jesus Christ is God.
- To borrow a thought from C. S. Lewis, if Jesus were just one of many, he'd also be a liar, because he emphatically claimed that, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
- A loving God may accept the worship of any sincere and charitable heart — but salvation comes only through His only Son, Jesus Christ.
- To suggest that Catholics follow a path to God more or less similar to that of other religions is to deprive martyrdom of its meaning. Why give one's life for Christ when other paths can lead to the same God?
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