 |
| The Pope at final WYD Mass in Krakow |
Are we in one of those low-budget Evangelical end times movies? Or is it just meaningless Obamaesque braggadocio?
From the Pope's finally homily at World Youth Day:
People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centred or small-minded. Don’t be discouraged: with a smile and open arms, you proclaim hope and you are a blessing for our one human family, which here you represent so beautifully!
With this gaze of Jesus, you can help bring about another humanity, without looking for acknowledgement but seeking goodness for its own sake, content to maintain a pure heart and to fight peaceably for honesty and justice.Does he mean "new humanity" compared to what we've had before? What's the mechanism for that exactly? A middle-eastern man spends three years as a wandering teacher. Then, 2,000 years later, a south-american man triggers things by finally getting people to understand what that middle-eastern man was really saying.
At long last people stop hating each other, drop their opposition to immigration and become custodians of their cultural traditions without being too right-wing about it. Peace, honesty and justice break out. Goodness is practiced (finally) for its own sake. And we are one human family again.
You don't think that's a fair reading? Fine. You tell me what he means.
If you reject the end times interpretation, then this is merely a vacuous political speech, made doubly annoying by the fact that the audience did not come for politics and much of it no doubt disagrees with the politics of the speaker.
But the speaker surprises them by presumptuously claiming that they all share his politics - pacifist, pro-migrant, open borders, anti-nationalist or anti-traditionalist or whatever he meant by the "small-minded" quip. What if you're a Catholic teenager who, say, supports the current ruling Polish political party or Marine Le Pen or Donald Trump or whomever? Will you be included in the "one human family" too?
And this part of the speech, despite the fact that it references Christ, is not Christian in any sense of the term.
Christ died to save the world from sin, not to save it from Brexit.
And some of us will get our new humanity (or to put it better, glorified bodies free from suffering and pain) when He returns.
Or so the Church has always taught.
I think the Pope means 'humanity' in the sense of creating a new sense of community as opposed to changing what it means to be human.
ReplyDeleteHaha I feel your blood pressure increasing in anger...trust me, I'd also be much happier if our Papa sounded much less like John Lennon...sigh. Did you see the "'download' the best 'link' of all" part? Now that's language my generation can understand! Aaaaahhhhhh
I understand. "New sense of community" sounds less sinister. But my point is, what does he think Catholics have been doing for all these years? Or to flip it, If the purpose of the incarnation was to create a "new sense of community," then (given world history over the last 2,000 years) our faith is in vain.
DeleteSo what about: "Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? furthermore, what harmony is there between Christ and Be'lial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God's temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; . . . therefore get out from among them and separate yourselves . . .and quite touching the unclean thing . . ." 2 Corinthians 6:14 thru 18.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that your Pope has left Christianity and Bible teaching far behind him.
He is a gasbag who spreads error. What he says has very little to do with the message of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a sham.
ReplyDeletePope John Lennon I
ReplyDeleteI watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. (Revelation 6,1)
ReplyDeleteThis man on white horse is Bergoglio
The idea of a new humanity is a typical 20th century idea. 20th century ideologies are like pseudo-religions, and they ape Christianity in trying to invent their own "new man".
ReplyDeleteSee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Man_(utopian_concept)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_at_the_Crossroads
Yes, I would call this a vacuous political speech. It's not like the Holy See hasn't been abused for political ends before, it's just that modern politics is peculiar in that it has a kind of messianic bent to it that it allows it to act as a kind of ape of or replacement for our religion.