Recently Pope Francis made headlines all across the media when many reported that the Pope has preached Salvation by works. Here is what the Pope said:
“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."
Catholic Church has long been teaching that we are saved by the grace of God and not by our works. Many of the secular media has used the Pope's speech to imply that the new Pope has a very liberal attitude when it comes to faith. In other words, it seems that the Pope is contradicting the teachings of his predecessors and is more in line with the modern day thought that being good is all that's required of human beings. Did Pope Francis err in his speech or has the Church changed its teaching?
“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."Catholic Church has long been teaching that we are saved by the grace of God and not by our works. Many of the secular media has used the Pope's speech to imply that the new Pope has a very liberal attitude when it comes to faith. In other words, it seems that the Pope is contradicting the teachings of his predecessors and is more in line with the modern day thought that being good is all that's required of human beings. Did Pope Francis err in his speech or has the Church changed its teaching?
