There has been a lot of talk about Pope Francis letter to El Republica and how is shows him to be a heretic. This is especially in light of an article that appeared in the UK Independent online under the title Pope Francis assures atheists: You don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven.
Let's set the context for the comments quoted. In the letter Francis writes: 'For me, faith began by meeting with Jesus. A personal meeting that touched my heart and gave a direction and a new meaning to my existence.'
He goes on to cite the scandalous authority of Jesus: 'I would say that we must face Jesus in the concrete roughness of his story, as above all told to us by the most ancient of the Gospels, the one according to Mark. We then find that the "scandal" which the word and practices of Jesus provoke around him derive from his extraordinary "authority": a word that has been certified since the Gospel according to Mark, but that is not easy to translate well into Italian. The Greek word is "exousia", which literally means "comes from being" what one is. It is not something exterior or forced, but rather something that emanates from the inside and imposes itself.'
You can read the whole text on the El Republica site in English. You'll see 'The Independent' didn't summarise very well!
He ends with 'Dear Dr. Scalfari, here I end these reflections of mine, prompted by what you wanted to tell and ask me. Please accept this as a tentative and temporary reply, but sincere and hopeful, together with the invitation that I made to walk a part of the path together. Believe me, in spite of its slowness, the infidelity, the mistakes and the sins that may have and may still be committed by those who compose the Church, it has no other sense and aim if not to live and witness Jesus: He has been sent by Abbà "to bring good news to the poor... to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4: 18-19).'
The whole letter is quite long and the summary took part of one paragraph near the end totally out of context. I call that bad journalism.
You can read the whole text on the El Republica site in English. You'll see 'The Independent' didn't summarise very well!
He ends with 'Dear Dr. Scalfari, here I end these reflections of mine, prompted by what you wanted to tell and ask me. Please accept this as a tentative and temporary reply, but sincere and hopeful, together with the invitation that I made to walk a part of the path together. Believe me, in spite of its slowness, the infidelity, the mistakes and the sins that may have and may still be committed by those who compose the Church, it has no other sense and aim if not to live and witness Jesus: He has been sent by Abbà "to bring good news to the poor... to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4: 18-19).'
The whole letter is quite long and the summary took part of one paragraph near the end totally out of context. I call that bad journalism.
