Faith of our Fathers, faith and prayer
Shall WIN all nations unto Thee;
And through the TRUTH that comes from God,
Mankind shall then indeed be FREE.
Text: Frederick William Faber, 1814-1863
Jesus began His ministry by coming back from the wilderness to PROCLAIM: “The Time Has Come, and the KINGDOM of God is at hand. Repent and Believe the Good News.” cf. Mark 1:15
While the late Pope Francis is being recognized and lauded for going to the margins, reaching out to the peripheries, and welcoming all, everyone and anyone, into the Church…he has done so without the prerequisite proclamation that the Lord, Jesus Christ, made…which was to, first, proclaim and call to repentance, then belief in Himself, because He was ushering in the Kingdom of God…on earth.
But, it is a kingdom that, first and foremost, is based on sinners ‘…turning from (their) wicked ways…’ (cf. Acts 3:19) and becoming believers in Him as, ‘…the Way, the Truth, and the Life….’ He who proclaimed Himself to be, the one and only ‘way’ to the Father. (cf. Jn. 14:6)
So, I am left with the question, in my heart and mind: Whom am I to believe? Pope Francis, who was a compassionate, humble, fatherly man, who welcomed sinners, without qualification or question…or, Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, who said, ‘Repent and believe (in Me) for the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ The One who sent His followers, apostles and disciples, alike, into all the world to preach the Gospel…the ‘good news’ that Jesus, has come into the world, to, as St. Paul references, ‘…to save sinners, of whom,’ he says, he, ‘is the greatest.’ (cf. 1Tim. 1:15) Can sinners be received into the fullness of the Church, into receiving its Sacraments, and the attendent graces, without repentance?
That, for me is the issue.
So, I am left with the dilemma…to honor the man, who was Pope Francis, but still disagree with his theological perspective.
Can sinners be welcomed at the table of the Lord…without having repented, when they have not been washed clean in the redeeming Blood of Jesus and the waters of Baptism, or come through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in order to be restored to the state of grace necessary to receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, the Eucharist, which is the True and Real Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ? For it was He who suffered the horrific death on the Cross, shedding His Sacred Blood, for the sake of restoring us to right relationship with the Father, the relationship that had been lost in the Garden when our 1st parents disobeyed the injunction of the Father to NOT eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, lest they die…not physically, as we now see and realize, but spiritually.
Death was introduced into our eternity of fellowship with the Father…’death’ that was the very real, definitive, and unequivocal separation from God, the Father, their Creator. Their action broke their fellowship and communion with the Father, and they were left without an immediate remedy to restore the fellowship…i.e., living in that state of grace of the Garden…and being in full fellowship and communion with God, which could only be effected, i.e. restored, by the shedding of Blood for forgiveness of the accumulated sin of all mankind (which includes women and men, both made in the image and likeness of God, into whom was breathed the breath of life by the Creator God…without distinction.)
So, I ask again, the question: Who is it that has the authentic, final word in the matter of coming to the Table of the Lord, or being welcomed into full communion there…the, albeit humble, welcoming man who trusted in his interpretation of what has been taught down through the centuries, and promulgated his own understanding, or the Man whose words have been, until now, faithfully passed down in the Deposit of Faith, from one generation to the next, since the Apostles took up the mantle…and were commissioned by the Lord…to preach the Truth as they had received it from Him? Who are we to Follow?
I have no doubt which version of the Deposit of Faith, and the Gospel message that I believe…and choose to align myself with.
I cannot automatically elevate to sainthood the goodness of the man, Pope Francis, when he taught and modeled precepts and beliefs that failed to comply with the words recorded in Holy Scripture, the inerrant, infallible word of the One and Only Begotten Son of the Father, written down through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to human writers, written so that those who lived then, and we who live now, could know the TRUTH and the TRUTH would set us FREE.
Niceness, being good to one another, welcoming everyone with kindness, incorporating everyone into the social fabric of our faith community, does not bring salvation, unless it is accompanied by the Word of God being proclaimed and taught, that echoes down through the centuries, from one generation of believers to the next: Repent. Believe. The KINGDOM of God is at hand.
It is a Kingdom into which the Church Fathers and countless Saints, have proclaimed, on behalf of the Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that only those in a state of GRACE can be restored to the fellowship of the Garden, to walk with the Father, which is Heaven itself.
That’s what I choose to set my hopes in…the Teachings of the Traditions and the Deposit of Faith handed down from the Apostles, recorded in Holy Scripture, not in the niceness, kindness, goodness of a man, however, compassionate, humble, and open to everyone, come what may.
I close with a quote from Fr. Paul D. Scalia, writing in The Catholic Thing on Sunday, April 27, 2025, in an article entitled, Faith and the Papacy.1
“Everything else in the Church depends on doctrinal clarity. Without it, we don’t have faith but only religious opinion. Without it, we don’t know how to worship “in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23) Without it, we don’t know how to love God and neighbor because we don’t know the truth about God and man. The very teaching of doctrine is an act of charity, leading people out of error, out of false worship, in order to know and to love the one true God.“
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SEE ALSO: Fr. Raymond J. de Souza’s, Interregnum: Restoration of the Petrine Office, posted Saturday, May 3, 2025 on The Catholic Thing
Fr. de Souza makes the salient observation about Pope Francis: “…his final testament, a curious document that primarily dealt with the logistical disposal of his mortal remains rather than the affairs of his immortal soul.“
Perhaps, this ‘sums up’ the ‘man’ Pope Francis.
Eternal Rest grant unto Pope Francis, O Lord. And let Your perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in Peace.
Ending Our Life Well 