POPE
FRANCIS: 'PAGAN' CHRISTIANS 'IN NAME ONLY' ARE 'ENEMIES OF THE CROSS'
Not all those who claim to be Christians really are, said Pope Francis
Friday morning. Some are Christians “in name only,” he said. “They bear
the name of Christians but live a life of pagans.”
In his homily at Mass, the Pope that there have always been two types
of Christian, those who truly followed Christ and those who only
pretended to. At the time of Saint Paul, there were “worldly
Christians, Christians in name only, with two or three Christian
features, but nothing more.” The Pope called this sort of people “Pagan
Christians,” whom St. Paul called “enemies of the cross of Christ.”
In Paul’s time, the Pope said, the two groups of Christians “were in
church together, went to Mass on Sunday, praised the Lord, and were
called Christians.” So what was the difference? He asked. The second
were “enemies of the cross of Christ.”
The Pope went on to say that “even today there are many! We must be
careful not to slip into the way of pagan Christians.” These are the
ones, he said, who are “pagans painted over with two brush strokes of
Christianity, so they look like Christians, but are really pagans.”
(continued)
CARDINAL
BURKE: CHURCH RISKS SERIOUS TENSIONS IN MONTHS AHEAD
Burke has been one of the most outspoken opponents of Kasper’s
proposal, saying it is not Catholic, threatens the indissolubility of
marriage, and is therefore unacceptable. “The Church must do everything
she can when, once again, the integrity of marriage is under attack,”
he told the Viennese audience.
The
Vatican prelate was speaking in Vienna Tuesday, at the launch of the
German translation of Remaining in the Truth of Christ, a book to which
he contributed. The work is a response to Cardinal Walter Kasper’s
proposal to allow some remarried divorcees to have access to holy
Communion. The
Catholic Church has always barred such a possibility, based on Christ’s
teaching that remarrying after divorce constitutes adultery.
He said he “often heard” prelates at last month’s two-week Synod on the
Family in Rome say that because the culture has changed “so radically,”
the Church “cannot teach as we had in the past.” But Burke responded by
saying such a view betrays a “loss of hope in Jesus Christ, Who alone
is the salvation of the world.” He acknowledged that the culture is
“very corrupt” but added that doesn’t mean “we go chasing after it, but
rather bring to the culture that which will save it and be full of
hope.”
Talk of possible schism has increased in the Catholic Church after the
recent synod appeared to be leading the Church in a more “progressive”
direction on moral issues. A controversial document issued by bishops
midway through the meeting (which Burke called a “total disaster”)
pointed to radical changes in the area of homosexuals, divorce, and
remarriage among other things, but the proposals were largely toned
down or failed to reach a consensus in the final report.
Questioned about whether there is a genuine risk the Church might
split, Burke said if, in the runup to a second synod on the family next
October, bishops are seen to move “contrary to the constant teaching
and practice of the Church, there is a risk because these are
unchanging and unchangeable truths.” He also pointed out that the head
of the synod of bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, has “identified
himself very strongly” with Kasper’s thesis and “subscribes to that
school.”
Warning that this battle will continue, he called on Catholics to
“speak up and act.” [
Full]
| The
Catholic Church's guiding principle may be summed up, I think, with
this.
Jesus Christ said what he meant and meant what he said. |
