Bishop Athanasius Schneider has stated that Pope Francis has contradicted “the entire Gospel” with the claim that all religions are a way to God.
Speaking with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo on The World Over, Kazakhstan’s Bishop Athanasius Schneider responded to the controversial comment made by Pope Francis on his recent trip to Singapore.
“Every religion is a way to arrive at God,” the Pope said. “There are different languages to arrive at God, but God is God for all. And how is God God for all? We are all sons and daughters of God. But my god is more important than your god, is that true? There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.”
When asked by Arroyo about this, Schneider was clinical in his critique:
Such an affirmation of Pope Francis is clearly against the divine revelation, it contradicts directly the first Commandment of God which is ever valid – “You shall not have other gods beside me” – this is so clear, and such a statement contradicts the entire Gospel.
Continuing, Schneider reminded viewers that “Jesus Christ said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
BREAKING: Bishop Schneider responds to #PopeFrancis‘ claim that all religions are a way to arrive at God:
“Clearly against divine revelation. It contradicts the 1st Commandment of God… We have to pray for #PopeFrancis..to repent.”@WorldOverDC Sep 26.pic.twitter.com/BXfzerdqO7— Michael Haynes (@MLJHaynes) September 26, 2024
“He is the only way to God, there are no other ways or paths,” said the auxiliary bishop of Astana. “So in this statement sadly, regrettably Pope Francis plainly contradicts the first Commandment of God and the entire Gospel.”
Francis’ comments have caused widespread controversy and confusion among concerned Catholics, and consternation remains high even though he made the remarks now two weeks ago during an inter-religious meeting of young people in Singapore.
NEW: #PopeFrancis on inter-religious dialogue:
“Every religion is a way to arrive at God. There are different languages to arrive at God but God is God for all.
But my God is more important than your god, is that true?
There is only 1 God & each of has a language to arrive at… pic.twitter.com/TMHRDjEuJ9— Michael Haynes (@MLJHaynes) September 13, 2024
When Arroyo raised this issue of how a Pope could say such a statement, Schneider pointed back to the betrayal of Christ by St. Peter in the Gospels.
God permitted that the first pope, Simon Peter, he renounced [and] denied Christ three times, and he was appointed the vicar of Christ and nevertheless he denied Christ three times. So God permitted it that it could also happen in the future, that a successor of Simon Peter would speak some words which are contrary to the divine truth.
Such a scenario, commented Schneider, “is rare, but it happened with Peter and it happened in very rare cases in history. But Peter repented, and he again defended Christ and confessed Him and gave his life for Christ as a martyr.”
The auxiliary bishop urged Catholics “to simply pray for Pope Francis that he may receive this grace of the Lord as Peter received, to repent and to again clearly, courageously confess that there is no other name given to man in which they can be saved except Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the only redeemer of mankind.”
Though St. Peter was named “Peter” by Christ – and hence promised the papacy – before his denial of Christ and the Lord’s Resurrection, the Church teaches that Christ “confided the jurisdiction of Supreme Pastor” of the Church to him after the Resurrection. The First Vatican Council states: “it was to Peter alone that Jesus, after his resurrection, confided the jurisdiction of Supreme Pastor and ruler of his whole fold, saying: ‘Feed my lambs, feed my sheep.’”
