Posted on 05/26/2015 1:05:01 PM PDT by piusv
"I feel like saying something that may sound controversial or even heretical. But there is someone who knows that despite our differences we are one. It is he who is persecuting us. It is he that is persecuting Christians today; he who is anointing us with the blood of martyrdom, knows that Christians are disciples of Christ. That we are one, that we are brothers! He doesn't care if they are Evangelicals, Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic. He doesn't care! They are Christians."
I think that is not the only point he is making, if language means anything. But whatever. I don’t care.
If Jews are being slaughtered for their beliefs I would defend them. It matters not what brand of faith is being slaughtered. Murder is murder.
alarming the world
I don’t see anything alarming or unusual about his statement. It’s in the news everyday - Christians of all denominations are being persecuted, because they are Christians, regardless of their “brand” of Christianity, and regardless of which group of Christians agrees or disagrees with another group of Christians. ISIS could care less about that. Same with the secularists who are taking Christians to court in America for not baking cakes, etc., Denomination doesn’t matter to these people. That’s all that the pope is saying.
You rock, Pope Francis. We all need to get together in the face of global evil, murder, and perversion, and find a way to do it without everyone having to convert to Catholicism.
I think that is not the only point he is making
Simple reading comprehension shows that this is his point: Christianity is under attack - all denominations of it. And Satan — “he,” as the pope refers to him — is behind the attacks.
He is stating that all Christians are “one”. Catholic teaching is that unity is only found in the Catholic Church. It has never taught that various denominations “are one”.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, Christ promised it and I believe it. Have faith Christ will protect His Church.
Pray the rosary and pray for the Church. This is our time to unite ourselves with Father, Son, Holy Spirit and all the Saints that have gone before us, not to despair or be afraid, God IS.
This is true on one level, and not true on another. People killed for faith in Christ, even if that faith didn’t conform to Catholic doctrine, have always been regarded as true Christian martyrs (although not for veneration by the faithful). In fact, even non-Christians who adhered to natural law have been regarded as virtuous pagans and were considered to be retroactively covered by Christ’s atonement. After all, God is eternal, so what happens in God-time is not like what happens in our time.
But in terms of the future, there has got to be a definable and uniform Christian faith, especially as people, confused by everything from the “Reformation” to Vatican II, move further and further away from the roots of faith.
The Catholic Church has undermined itself in its attempt to adapt to Protestants and even to non-Christians, and this has got to stop. We have to keep our Faith and our doctrine, because whether they admit it or not, all the other non-Catholic Christians look to the Church as a standard.
Vatican II destroyed the Protestants as much as it destroyed Catholics. In fact, even non-Christians expect to be told the truth by the Church - but they haven’t heard it for 50 years now.
I believe it might be seen as heretical because the devil is after only one thing, and that not be a “thing” at all, but Christ Jesus Himself in the Blessed Sacrament ... The “other” Christian faiths, the devil has already conquered to a degree, because they do not feed their flock with Jesus (through the Most Holy Eucharist).
Well, he didn't ascend on his own. The Cardinals PUT HIM THERE.
Perhaps THEY are the heretics.
It is revealing to see who the Devil thinks it’s worth his time and effort to oppose. It’s true, he thinks all Christians are dangerous to him, so it seems.
Please cite Catholic teaching (pre-Vatican II) to support this.
I believe it might be seen as heretical because the devil is after only one thing, and that not be a “thing” at all, but Christ Jesus Himself
So do you think the Devil is not behind ISIS’s persecution of Christians - if those Christians aren’t Roman Catholics?
C’mon,this will be fun! We’ll teach y’all how to handle the snakes. Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty fun, and if they bite you it brings that much closer to God.
You bring the wine, though, you can’t have a party on grape juice and that’s all we got.
The devil DOES care whether a Christian is Catholic or not. The protestant denominations are much less a threat to him.
We may all be in the same field, but some are wheat and some are tares.
He is stating that all Christians are “one”.
He’s talking about Satan’s perspective in trying to eradicate Christianity. In fact, many of the Christians who’ve been killed in Iraq and Syria are non-Catholic Christians. You think Satan isn’t being their persecution?
The devil DOES care whether a Christian is Catholic or not.
As I’ve asked some of the others on this thread, do you think that Satan is not behind ISIS’s killing of Christians who aren’t Catholics?
No, he's not. He's stating that Satan sees all Christians as one. And he's right, at least to a large degree. Satan doesn't care whether you're Lutheran or Catholic. Either way, you profess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and for that he hates you and wants to destroy you.
Catholic teaching is that unity is only found in the Catholic Church. It has never taught that various denominations "are one".
That's true. But Lutherans are a whole lot closer to Catholic than Hindus or Muslims. Close enough to get ol' Beelzebub pretty ticked off. The pope, at least in this statement, did not say that all Christians are one. I'm no great fan of this pope, but that's not what he said here.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino.
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