PAPAL ECUMENISM IN THE HOLY LAND
Nobody questions the openly political nature of the Pope’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as an attempt to build bridges with Muslims, offended by his 2006 Regensburg speech, quoting from a medieval author who stated that Islam is a religion of violence (!). It is likewise an attempt to build bridges with Jews, who continue to falsely attack Pope Pius XII for supporting the Nazi regime, and also Benedict XVI for allowing his cause of beatification to be introduced, and for lifting the excommunication of the Society’s bishops. Hence the constant preoccupation with interreligious dialogue, paradoxically interspersed with a fervent defense of the rights of women, so opposed by Islam.
He had this to say to King Abdullah II of Jordan: “My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by His Majesty the King in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam…the central role played in our respective religious traditions by the commandment of love. I hope very much that this visit, and indeed all the initiatives designed to foster good relations between Christians and Muslims, will help us to grow in love fot he Almighty and Merciful God, and fraternal love for one another.”
Of what virtues and of what love is he speaking? Clearly not the supernatural virtues and love that Christ Our Lord showed us by his sacrifice on the Cross, for there is no mention either of Christ or of the Cross. It is not the bond of charity that unites the Church, the Mystical Body. He is only speaking of some vague, natural, philanthropic do-good feeling, deliberately confused with the supernatural charity that the Catholic Church has the mission to infuse through the sacraments.
The Pope then visited Jordan’s state mosque, and although reports differ as to whether or not he prayed there, he certainly did deliver a discourse, in which he maintained that religion is “by nature, a builder of unity and harmony, an expression of communion between persons and with God”, as if he had not heard of Our Lord’s words: “Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you no; but separation.” (Lk 12:51), or again: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20), and “He that hateth me, hateth my Father also” (Jn 15:23). He went on to add that “Muslims and Christians… must today strive to be known and recognize as worshippers of God faithful to prayer, eager to uphold and live by the Almighty’s decrees, merciful and compassionate, consistsent in bearing witness to all that is true and good (but not to Christ, so it seems!) and ever mindful of the common origin and dignity of all human persons…” The least that could be said of such a discourse is that it is pure naturalism, allowing no place for revelation, grace, the distinction between the true supernatural Faith in Christ that saves from sin, and the false belief in a human system. More realistically, though, it promotes a grevious form of indifferentism, namely the belief that it does not matter what religion a man embraces, for if Muslims truly are worshippers of God, faithful to prayer, eager to live by God’s decrees, merciful and compassionate, why on earth would anyone need or want to believe in Christ and become a Catholic?
The same sirene was heard with respect to the Jews once the Pope crossed into Israel. This is illustrated by the text of the prayer that Benedict XVI placed in one of the cracks of the wailing wall, the remnant of the foundation of the west wall of the temple, where Jews lament the destruction of their temple. This is a prayer that mentions neither the Trinity nor Christ, neither the Holy Ghost nor the Virgin Mary, neither the Redemption nor the Incarnation, nor any other Catholic doctrine for that matter. Carefully phrased that every element might be acceptable to Jews and Muslims alike, it was addressed to the “God of all the ages…God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and simply requests “peace … upon the entire human family”, as if St. Paul had never written that it is Christ who is our peace, having brought us near to God by his blood (Eph 2:13 & 14).
The Pope continued his prayer to ask that God “stir the hearts of all who call upon your name, to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion”, as if this were in the power of man to do without Christ and His Cross (=naturalism), as if Christ had not given us the most solemn command to ask all things in His Name, the only Mediator between heaven and earth: “Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything [in my name]{.underline}, he will give it to you. Hitherto you have not asked anything [in my name]{.underline}. Ask and you shall receive; that your joy may be full” (Jn 16:23 & 24). For a Catholic, this can be no more than an expression of a natural desire, rather than a prayer to the Triune God, through Christ Our Lord. It is consequently not capable of supernatural fulfillment, and is a grave scandal, leading souls away from true prayer. The explanation given of this “prayer” in the official commentary of Father Caesar Atuire, delegate administrator of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, who accompanied the Holy Father on his pilgrimage, confirms this: “to go and pray precisely before the Western Wall is a way of saying that all of us are children of the one God and we try to follow what this God teaches us and thus we can find the way to live together, in harmony and peace”. It is not a prayer at all, but a natural striving for a human understanding.
The logical conclusion of this striving for dialogue and reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity is the renouncement to all missionary work among the Jews. The Pope did not draw this conclusion publicly, but when welcomed by Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, he did not contradict or correct him in the slightest, although the Rabbi thanked the Pope for his “historic agreement and the commitment given by the Vatican that the Church will henceforth desist from all missionary and conversion activities amongst our people. This is for us an immensely important message”. (Jerusalem Post). The Pope, who spoke immediately afterwards, could have contradicted a statement essential to Metzger’s discourse, but did not. Moreover, even if the statement is not true, the fact of allowing it to pass without comment is a grave scandal, reminiscent of the agreement of Balamand of 1993, promising to the Eastern Orthodox that in future there would be no proselytism.
In order that Ecumenism be complete, it must include the other christian denominations; - and so it did, in the Pope’s discourse to Holy Land Ordinaries, of all places, in the Upper Room, where the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, efficacious sign of unity, was instituted. “The different christian churches found here represent a rich and varied spiritual patrimony and are a sign of the multiple forms of interaction between the Gospel and different cultures. (Is this the main difference between the different churches?) They also remind us that the mission of the Church is to preach the universal love of God and to gather, from far and near, all who are called by him, in such a way that, with their traditions and their talents, they form the one family of God. (Obviously this family is now something much broader than the Catholic Church!). A new spiritual impulse towards communion in diversity within the Catholic Church and a new ecumenical awareness have marked our times, especially since the Second Vatican Council…” Such is the Pope’s pilgrimage of dialogue that can only result in a further weakening of all influence of Catholic doctrine and morality, replaced by the freemasonic politics of universal tolerance and the dignity of man.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.