Pope Francis Points to Dangers of Intolerance and Ideology







Donate now





© Vatican Media

Pope Francis Points to Dangers of Intolerance and Ideology

‘The young Saul is portrayed as intransigent, namely, as one who manifests intolerance towards those that think differently from him’
OCTOBER 09, 2019 15:46GENERAL AUDIENCE

Pope Francis continued his catecheses on the Acts of the Apostles today with an analysis of one of history’s greatest changes of heart: the conversion of Saul to Paul. And the Holy Father suggested the story demonstrates the dangers of intolerance and ideology.
The Holy Father’s remarks came during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square, where he met pilgrims from around the world. He recalled the horrible persecution of the Christians carried out by Saul with the authority of the high priest. In fact, Saul thought he was doing the right thing.
“The young Saul is portrayed as intransigent, namely, as one who manifests intolerance towards those that think differently from him; he absolutizes his political or religious identity and reduces the other to a potential enemy to fight — an ideologist,” the Pope explained. “In Saul, religion was transformed into an ideology: religious ideology, social ideology, and political ideology.  Only after having been transformed by Christ will he then teach that the true battle is not ‘against flesh and blood, but [. . .] against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness’ (Ephesians 6:12). He will teach that one must not fight against people, but against the evil that inspires their actions.”
Francis continued by noting that Saul was angry. He was determined to eliminate the Christians. The Pope suggested that believers should ask themselves how they live their faith:
“How do I live my life of faith? Do I go to encounter others or am I against others? Do I belong to the universal Church (good people and bad people, all) or do I have a selective ideology? Do I adore God or do I adore dogmatic formulations? How is my religious life? Does the faith in God that I profess make me friendly or hostile towards those who are different from me?
Of course, when Saul encountered the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he was stuck with a deep and penetrating question: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4).
“The Risen One manifests here His being one with all those that believe in Him: to strike a member of the Church is to strike Christ Himself!,” the Holy Father asserts. “Also, those that are ideologists because they want the ‘purity’ — in quotation marks — of the Church, strike Christ.”

The Holy Father’s Full Catechesis

OCTOBER 09, 2019 15:46GENERAL AUDIENCE

About Jim Fair

Jim Fair is a husband, father, grandfather, writer, and communications consultant. He also likes playing the piano and fishing. He writes from the Chicago area.


 

Support ZENIT

If you liked this article, support ZENIT now with a donation
Donate now






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Image

By FSJ 16/09/2025. The Housing and the Affordability issue: The architect said lets reason together as we build and design an energetic future with financially energized people; a discussion. By Mary Godwhen. Click here. BW Where would it go if I reverse engineer a "BAPE" shoe logo? Charles cares. He has vowed to have the most able and responsive Tiger economy in Europe and North America and the most safe and ably funded citizens in those regions; his citizens, his people. It is that we will be the economic winners; not losers; at the top and not the bottom...in front and not at the back. It would only take him a day to get it going. We can design anything. Certainly, anything we design demands and requires people with money for us to enjoy it; if it's a restaurant, an amusement park, a shopping centre or a town or city in general. The Bugatti sellers will have more sales and the Vauxhall owners will finally make full payment for the shopping and vacations; for their vehicles also. We do not enjoy suffering, lack or insufficiency. But maybe a vengeful bum might. Money is important. It has to be important. So, why are we incessantly brought to have this conversation about income support rather quite often when observing the economies west of Calais as run by; whom? Laissez Faire is not an economic policy but the policy of no policy in light of industrial mechanization of labor and the social problems it occasions when the families do not have enough money to buy their coal for heat, milk, bananas and vegetables. They would usually just take what they need; wherever they can take it. The economy is run by whom? The income support in Vermont, Minnesota and Massachusetts exceeds $70000.00 per year. This should be so for the whole, entire continent. But, some states and provinces, not all, are being run by income support benefit men touring boxes of undistributed emergency debit cards that they can now hand out to people in those camps. They seek public attention more than public efficacy. They have had enough time to solve the obvious. Money is the obvious issue but you wouldn't be waiting for an God fearing man to come and campaign on this issue when we know you can see the problem and solve it for us. We do not enjoy suffering, lack or insufficiency. But maybe a vengeful bum might. They are experimenting with money in terms of crypto or bit coin and its definition before they would agree to just HAVE MONEY. Money is the most important weapon in spite of all your Oppenheimer detonators that can't read help during peace time and for what when you would still need money?

Post a Comment