Those who have entered heaven with a sure ticket have their heaven, salvation, and Christ smaller than the chairs they are enthroned in. They celebrate loneliness in their heaven because they have kept all ‘others’ away. Unfortunately, they found no one on the way worthy of being with them in heaven, probably because their journey had been lonely.
When Pope Francis compared different religions to different
languages, it is an endorsement of the multiplicity of religious manifestations
and a call to partake in dialogue and mutual understanding. It does not refute
the Church’s doctrines on salvation. Instead, it emphasises the necessity for respect,
openness, and cooperation among people of different faiths.
Pope Francis’s likening of different religions to different
languages is very much within the framework of the Catholic Church’s doctrines
on interreligious dialogue and reverence for various religious traditions. The
Catholic Church acknowledges the significance and inherent value of other
religions and posits that they can function as channels for human capacity for God.
The concept of ‘no salvation outside the church’ has evolved
over time. While historically, it has been interpreted to signify that
salvation is exclusively attainable within the Catholic Church, the Second
Vatican Council and subsequent teachings have underscored the potential for
salvation among those who, without their own fault, lack knowledge of Christ or
his Church, yet earnestly seek what God wills and strives to fulfil. If someone
continues to imagine heaven as adherence to the imperial Christendom, that has
little to do with the heaven that Jesus introduced.
What should the Pope have said, “You wretched people, you
have no salvation unless you all become Christians?” The world might ask, “What
shall we do then?” “Believe in Christ!” “What does this ‘believe in Christ’
mean?” “Which Christ should we believe, Eastern or Western, Catholic or Protestant?
Your Christ is a need for the Western guilt culture. We have read from the
bible a different Christ who called the world to the freedom and joy of the
children of God. Being in a Christian sect does not seem to be a necessity.”
Christ, the Logos, has many languages, reveals in diverse
cultures and histories. His grace is visible throughout history in the goodwill
of millions of people whom we meet them in our daily lives. The Church is wherever
the body of Christ extends, by its members seeking to do the will of God.
Is there anything wrong in saying, “We need to keep meeting,
to weave bonds of fraternity and to allow ourselves to be guided by the divine
inspiration present in every faith, in order to join in “imagining peace” among
all peoples. We need such “occasions to speak with one another and to act
together for the common good and the promotion of the poor”. In a world at risk
of being fragmented by conflicts and wars, the efforts made by believers are
invaluable for holding out visions of peace and fostering fraternity and peace
among peoples everywhere.” Message of Pope Francis to participants in the
international meeting for peace organised by the community of Sant’egidio Paris,
22-24 September 2024.
I understand that Pope Francis also believes that Christ is
the way, the truth and the life. He has not made the statement all of a sudden
from nowhere. It has been in the vision of interreligious dialogue initiatives
of the Church. The interreligious dialogue was not seen as an exercise by some
intellectuals. Instead, it is in the form of the Church’s being. As ‘through
him, and for him, and in him’ everything is made, the Word has been visible and
present in culture and history. Christ has a much wider space than Christian religious
culture and language.
Pope said that religions are like many languages that speak of God, not that there are many Gods. Was Christianity itself a perfect and whole language that spoke of God in every way and every time? Unfortunately, the present controversy itself is a language that speaks of the church and its attitudes. If there is crisis in Christian identity, what is that identity which is in crisis? What is the form of Christian/catholic identity in need of revival? Can that be comprised of certain cultural values, beliefs, prestigious achievements and so on? They do have the risk of being symbols/language without meaning, looking for the beauty of style over the message.
