Pope Francis Crosses All Red Lines With Claim 'All Religions Are A Path To God'

 By PNW Staff September 24, 2024

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Pope Francis has made several questionable statements over the years causing people to debate just what he meant by certain words. However this time he has made it pretty clear what he believes about the exclusivity of the Gospel and now has many Catholics questioning how this man can be Pope while contradicting the core tenets of the faith.

During a three-day visit to Singapore and while attending an interreligious meeting with young people at a Catholic junior college, Pope Francis departed from his prepared remarks and declared to the gathering that "every religion is a way to arrive at God." He continued, "Sort of a comparison, an example, would be they're sort of like different languages in order to arrive at God."

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics continued along this universalist tack: "But God is God for all. And if God is God for all, we are all sons and daughters of God."

He lamented that some argue, "But my God is more important than your God!" and asked, "Is that true?"

Answering his own question to the young people, the pontiff finished,

There is only one God and each of us has a language, so to speak, in order to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian. There are different paths. Understand?

And the leaders on stage, representing various religions, happily shook their heads in agreement.

Reacting to the pontiff's comments, Bishop Joseph Strickland, who oversaw the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler, Texas, until his dismissal by the Vatican last year, said in a post on X, 

"Please pray for Pope Francis to clearly state that Jesus Christ is the only Way. To deny this is to deny Him. If we deny Christ, He will deny us, He cannot deny Himself."

Strickland was ousted for disagreeing with Francis on the issue of banning pro-abortion Catholic politicians from receiving communion and over the degree to which outreach to the LGBT community is acceptable in the Catholic Church. A petition created in defense of Strickland last year said he was ousted because he "publicly corrected several heterodox statements from Pope Francis."

Jesus didn't say, "Go out and point people toward any random religion or philosophy," nor did he offer any prompt that affirms "all religions are paths to God." The pope's claims simply do not stand up to the Bible's historical and theological narrative -- and even an atheist understands this reality.

The proclamation is a head-turning, show-stopping moment considering it slipped from the lips of the man who heads the world's largest Christian denomination. Critics were quick to appropriately react in sheer horror, frustration and with corrective rebuke.

If Francis is correct, then Jesus was wrong when He stated, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me" (John 14:6). 

The false doctrine which Francis proclaimed has been around for centuries. But Jesus did not die on the cross to merely provide "one more way" of getting to God. He died for our sins because it was the only way we could be reconciled to our Father in Heaven.

"God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is only through Christ that anyone can be reconciled to the Father. There simply is no other way, period.

You see, "If righteousness could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing" (Galatians 2:21). In other words, if a person could get to God without Christ, the Father would never have sent His only Son to suffer the agony of crucifixion for our salvation.

The world wants Christians to embrace the false gospel that Pope Francis unashamedly presented as truth. The world is unable to comprehend the true Gospel. And without the working of the Holy Spirit, you and I could never understand and believe the Gospel.

Pray for Pope Francis to repent of his false teaching and come to know the true Gospel. This is no minor doctrine but is a foundational issue for every professing believer and every professing church body.

Francis previously faced criticism and accusations of heresy on social media back in May for claiming the human heart is "fundamentally good" during a "60 Minutes" interview.

When asked by interviewer Norah O'Donnell what gives him hope about the world, the pope responded with "everything," citing acts of goodness by people as proof of humanity's inherent goodness.

"You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things," he said. "You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good."

At the time, many commenters on X criticized Francis for his remarks, with some accusing him of failing to grasp the basic teaching of the Gospel. Others quoted portions of Scripture that teach God alone is good and that humanity has a sinful nature.

Some X users noted that Francis' comment appeared to be an example of Pelagianism, a fifth century heresy that denied original sin and taught the essential goodness of humanity.

The Holy Bible states, "Whosoever shall confess that JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, God dwelleth in him, and he in God: " (1 John 4:15)

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