I Still Have Pope Francis' Back Because He Is Right And The Vatican Is Wrong

 

Vatican Spokesman Fr Thomas Rosica explaining how Pope Francis is wrong about that salvation/redemption thing.

What to make of this.  Fr Thomas Rosica achieved fame, beyond Canada's Salt and Light Catholic TV Station by working as the Vatican's English spokesperson during the recent resignation/election cycle.  The following article from Irish Central is most likely correct is stating it is the Vatican which is correcting Pope Francis.  I guess this means the Vatican is infallible and not our current Pope.....or maybe the retired Pope is not so retired as we were led to believe.

Vatican corrects infallible pope: atheists will still burn in hell

Cahir O'Doherty - Irish Central - 5/26/2013

The Vatican has just announced that, despite what Pope Francis said in his homily earlier this week, atheists are still going to hell.

What a relief. For a brief moment there it was possible to imagine a brave new world of compassion, generosity and acceptance, not qualities we have come to associate with the Holy See.  (Well, it's hard to maintain you sell the lone insurance policy to heaven if your main salesman is telling folks salvation is about how you treat others rather than about Catholicism as an insurance policy.)

Said Pope Francis this week: 'The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!'

That seemed like a pretty clear admission that people of other faiths and none have intrinsic worth to God and will be saved alongside the faithful. But this turned out to be wishful thinking.

Although they are otherwise good, moral people they are still doomed to burn in a lake of fire for having the temerity to have been born outside of Catholicism or having chosen to remain so.

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, spelled it out for the world on Thursday. People who know about the Catholic church 'cannot be saved' if they 'refuse to enter her or remain in her,' he said.

So that's one tall order of eternal hellfire for the rest of us, then.

It makes for an interesting spectacle to see the infallible pope being corrected by his handlers, doesn't it? For a moment it was possible to recall the welcoming and indulgent style of the short lived Pope John Paul I in the unexpectedly all-embracing words of Pope Francis. But you'll recall how quickly John Paul I was replaced by the much more doctrinaire John Paul II.

There's no question that Pope Francis sees the divinity in all human beings, but that's a message that comes with caveats. God may make them all, Jew and Gentile, but unless they're Catholic they're ultimately kindling. The Vatican waited 24 hours to correct him, but they corrected him. (I actually thought it would take less time, which is why I ended my last post by stating I have Pope Francis' back on this one.)

Yes, yes, the Council of Trent clearly taught that Jesus Christ, humanity's one and only Redeemer, redeemed both Jew and Gentile. But there is a huge difference between redemption and salvation. See how that works? Judas Iscariot was redeemed by Christ's death on the cross, but he was not saved - Catholics believe he is damned in hell.

To be justified requires faith - and that faith must be Catholic. You see where this is going?

If I was Pope Francis, I'd be employing a food tester right about now.

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/vatican-corrects-infallible-pope-atheists-will-still-burn-in-hell-208987111.html#ixzz2UXPrJ1xC

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I knew the Pope Francis tolerance limit was going to be reached and reached early in the halls of the Vatican.  Apparently Francis is no longer the breath of the Spirit permeating the votes of the Cardinals.  At best he is not an infallible pope, but a theologically delusional pope.  At worst he's a heretic who somehow managed to get where he is on the wafts of the infamous 'smoke of Satan'.

I actually deluded myself for a short time with thoughts that under this Pope we could all continue the growing into adult spirituality envisioned by Vatican II.  Silly me.  Catholicism has never historically preached adulthood.  The thing that Paul mentions when he speaks about giving up childish things and acting like adults is not for Catholics.  At least not as far as the Vatican is concerned.

 

I now wonder how this Pope will assert himself.  There is one thing in the above article that gives me great pause.  It's the distinction made between redemption and salvation.  That is a pretty good example of 'Jesuitical thinking'.  It's the kind of thing thinking that's needed to soothe the children who need the security of the Catholic insurance policy while giving the adults a moment of head scratching. It's theological BS.

 

Now for a mystical moment of my own.  In one deep meditative state I was taught the truth of salvation with regards to time.  I remember very vividly the point in the meditation when it dawned on me that the salvation story was endless.  I turned to my 'teacher' and I asked:  "Are you showing me that salvation history is endless?"  He replied, "It continues until every sentient being is once again aware of the God who is their Creator and loved them into being.  It continues until everyone of them comes Home".  "That's the prodigical son parable on a cosmic scale", I said.  He replied, "That it is and that is what you and many others are about".  So is Pope Francis.