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Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches
Catholic News Agency ^ | 04/23/13 | Estefania Aguirre

Posted on 04/23/2013 1:31:08 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM

Jesus not found outside the Church, Pope preaches :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jesus-not-found-outside-the-church-pope-preaches/
April 23, 2013

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in St. John Lateran on March 29, 2013. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/CNA.

Vatican City, Apr 23, 2013 / 07:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said that people cannot be fully united to Jesus outside of the Church during a Mass to commemorate Saint George, the saint he is named after.

“You cannot find Jesus outside the Church,” he said April 23 in the Apostolic Palace’s Pauline Chapel.

“It is the Mother Church who gives us Jesus, who gives us the identity that is not only a seal, it is a belonging,” he declared in his homily.

The pontiff spoke about Christian identity as well as persecution, making it the sixth time in two weeks he has mentioned those who suffer for the faith.

Speaking about the Gospel reading for today from Saint John, Pope Francis underscored that “the missionary expansion of the Church began precisely at a time of persecution.”

“They had this apostolic fervor within them, and that is how the faith spread!” he exclaimed.

It was through the Holy Spirit’s initiative that the Gospel was proclaimed to the Gentiles, the Pope noted, and the Spirit “pushes more and more in this direction of opening the proclamation of the Gospel to all.”

The pontiff also repeated a line from his April 17 homily in St. Martha’s residence, when he emphasized that being a Christian is not like having “an identity card.”

“Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these (the apostles) belonged to the Church, the Mother Church, because finding Jesus outside the Church is impossible,” he said.

“The great Paul VI said it is an absurd dichotomy to want to live with Jesus but without the Church, following Jesus out of the Church, loving Jesus without the Church,” he added.

Pope Francis said that “if we are not sheep of Jesus, faith does not come” and that it is “a rosewater faith and a faith without substance.”

The Pope also commented on Barnabas, who was sent to Antioch and was glad to see that the grace of God had encouraged people there to remain true disciples.

“Let us think of the consolations that Barnabas had, which is the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing,” he preached.

“Let us ask the Lord for this frankness, this apostolic fervor that impels us to move forward, as brothers, all of us forward,” he remarked.

After the Mass in the papal chapel, the Swiss Guard band offered a brief musical performance in the Courtyard of Saint Damaso for the Pope’s name day.



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Ecumenism; Ministry/Outreach
KEYWORDS: kissmyass
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

So all non Christians go to hell then.....


21 posted on 04/23/2013 1:56:33 PM PDT by drunknsage
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

let’s not let history or the New Testament get in the way of whatever the pope wants to say...../s


22 posted on 04/23/2013 1:57:03 PM PDT by Nifster
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To: demshateGod
Church=A called out assembly. A local body.

Exactly right.

23 posted on 04/23/2013 1:57:13 PM PDT by Yashcheritsiy (It's time to Repeal and Replace the Republican Party)
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To: FatherofFive

no reason to include all of scripture (I wil leave alone your misinterpretation of the ancient languages...) after alll Jesus merely told us that ...”I am the Truth, the Light, and the Way”


24 posted on 04/23/2013 1:58:44 PM PDT by Nifster
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To: FatherofFive
Completly following Scripture

IF any pope followed Christ the Savior they would NEVER allow themselves to be called 'holy father'. Peter never called himself 'holy father'... them traditions made up by setting up a key cutting shop are night and day different than the 'keys' by which Peter established the 'body of Christ' the Church.

John in Revelation says there are seven churches, I guess that just won't play in the chant of being the first only oldest mother church. That thief hanging beside Christ never confessed to any mortal he had direct access to Christ as does each and every individual.... There is nothing Biblical about the need to confess to any flesh being ones sins for forgiveness of sin... Only 'hailing Mary' counting beads came long after Peter's walk in the flesh on this earth...

The Catholic Church does not own Christ... Christ owns all of us and there is no required sprinkling of water to have direct access to the greatest Gift ever given.

What does that word 'grace' literally mean? Nobody earns 'grace'.

25 posted on 04/23/2013 1:58:47 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: MeganC

The Pope is not only wrong, he’s far, far wrong. I’m disappointed at his ignorance of Scripture. This is very sad.

I know of Muslims in countries where there are no Churches who have come to trust Christ as a result of Christ appearing in a dream to them and calling them to himself.

People who have entrusted themselves to the Gospel of Grace ARE His Church, His Body, His Bride.


26 posted on 04/23/2013 1:59:03 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Gone rogue, gone Galt, gone international, gone independent. Gone.)
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To: drunknsage
So all non Christians go to hell then.....

Yes. The only way to salvation is through the redemption of Christ. That is why Christians are desperate to spread this news. No one has to go to hell, all they have to do is accept the sacrifice that Christ made for them and believe.

But outside of that, yes, they are stained with sin and will spend eternity in hell.

27 posted on 04/23/2013 1:59:10 PM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius (www.wilsonharpbooks.com - New Robin Hood book out!)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp
As usual, a great many of those who disagree have no clue what the Pope means when he says "Church."

Some people prefer being outraged to knowing the thing they're outraged about.

28 posted on 04/23/2013 1:59:34 PM PDT by Mad Dawg (In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum.)
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To: demshateGod
Church=A called out assembly. A local body.

How can a ‘local body’ be “the pillar and foundation of the truth”???

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1Tim 3:15

29 posted on 04/23/2013 1:59:46 PM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: FatherofFive

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1Tim 3:15

“Here Christ says, and Paul reaffirms, that the Church will always teach the TRUTH.

Actually, Paul does not say what you claim. He says the Church is the pillar and foundation. There are many times in history where churches have gone into error.


30 posted on 04/23/2013 2:00:39 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Gone rogue, gone Galt, gone international, gone independent. Gone.)
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To: Nifster
after alll Jesus merely told us that ...”I am the Truth, the Light, and the Way”

EXACTLY! One, not many.

31 posted on 04/23/2013 2:02:35 PM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

Why, and I thought that Jesus was to be found in the Protestant Cafeteria of 30,000 delicious sects!


32 posted on 04/23/2013 2:02:46 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

...who began his Papacy facilitating communion at the Vatican for Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

It’s evidently okay to trash the other sacraments, but step right up for the Host.


33 posted on 04/23/2013 2:03:42 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: FatherofFive
Completely clueless

Completly (sic) following Scripture

I'd have to have a little more context before making a judgment. Is he saying you cannot have Christ without being a part of the Church (the worldwide body of believers, saved by grace through faith, irrespective of denominational association); or you cannot have Christ without being a part of the Roman Catholic church?

If the first, I whole-heartedly agree: once you belong to Christ you are a part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. You are part of the Church by virtue of your relationship with Christ, and cannot have Christ living in your heart without being a part of the Church.

If the second, then I agree that the Pope is very far off base. I hope this is not the case, because I think the Catholic Church needs a leader who is more knowledgeable of the Bible than that statement would indicate.

34 posted on 04/23/2013 2:05:12 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: Mad Dawg
As usual, a great many of those who disagree have no clue what the Pope means when he says "Church." Some people prefer being outraged to knowing the thing they're outraged about.

So one must have the secret Catholic decoder ring to understand what this man plainly said? See now I have had up front and personal nearly 40 years of this same mentality of not being able to have or be near Christ because I was not stamped Catholic.... It is not outrage, it is 'righteousness indignation' there is a vast difference in the two. Most especially when it has been those CINOS that obviously have this church's Christ that have been in charge of making a mockery of what our founding 'fathers' put into writing.... God gives unalienable rights that no flesh man or government can give or take... Look who in the numbers are all about fixing that big problem.

35 posted on 04/23/2013 2:08:21 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

The earth physical church is buildings where Christians and non-Christians go. The spiritual church is all who believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - I belong to this one.


36 posted on 04/23/2013 2:08:26 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: .45 Long Colt

Complete false teaching.


37 posted on 04/23/2013 2:10:20 PM PDT by hope (Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!)
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To: Dr. Brian Kopp

Then the Pope hasn’t looked very hard.


38 posted on 04/23/2013 2:11:59 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Actually, Paul does not say what you claim. He says the Church is the pillar and foundation. There are many times in history where churches have gone into error.

Heresies were dealt with from the beginning of the Church, and the Church has dealt with those introducing false teachings through the ages.

Paul warned us this would happen, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (2 Tim. 4:3–4).

Martin Luther was one of these men Paul warned us about. He so wanted to believe in his view of salvation by faith alone that he tried to remove James from the Bible. "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." James 2:24. You have to go through mental and verbal gymnastics to say the clear language of the Bible does not really say what it really says. This is one reason the Catholic Church protected the Bible in the early days. A hand written copy would be guarded as a treasure because of its rare nature, but more importantly to prevent false copies from circulating and supporting heresy.

Fortunately, we have Christ’s promise that heresies will never prevail against the Church. They will arise, endure sometimes for centuries, like Protestantism, but we can be confident in Christ’s promise that the Church will always teach the Truth.

39 posted on 04/23/2013 2:12:42 PM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: FatherofFive

and that One is JESUS not the pope


40 posted on 04/23/2013 2:14:36 PM PDT by Nifster
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