Category Archives: Roman Catholicism

Jesus vs. the Pope

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pope_francisThere’s Jesus who says, “whoever does not believe will be condemned.” .. and then there’s the Pope who says “you don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven.”

hmmm.. its a tough one.. but… I am with Jesus on this one.

Here below are the actual words of Pope Francis, translated into English:

Dear Dott. Scalfari,

I would cordially like to reply to the letter you addressed to me from the pages of “La Repubblica” on July 7th, which included a series of personal reflections that then continued to enrich the pages of the daily newspaper on August 7th.

First of all, thank you for the attention with which you have read the Encyclical “Lumen fidei”. In fact it was the intention of my beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI, who conceived it and mostly wrote it, and which, with gratitude, I have inherited, to not only confirm the faith in Jesus Christ, for those who already believe, but also to spark a sincere and rigorous dialogue with those who, like you, define themselves as “for many years being a non-believer who is interested and fascinated by the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth”. Continue reading →

Purgatory, Indulgences, the Treasury of Merit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ

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purgatory2As you may have heard in the news this week, the new Pope (Francis), wishing to make use of the new social media announced that indulgences would be granted not only to those who attend the upcoming Roman Catholic Youth Day celebration in Brazil (a week-long event which starts tomorrow, July 22), but also to those who follow the event online, and especially follow his tweets on twitter. Some people seem very surprised by this announcement and yet the only thing new about it is the twitter component. The doctrine of Indulgences remains a central teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

PURGATORY: (Latin: purgatorium; from purgare, “to purge”) – the condition, process, or place of purification. This is a place of PURGING or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.

The doctrine of purgatory is an integral doctrine to the Roman Catholic understanding of redemption. It is the place where the vast majority of even professing Christians go upon their death.

As recently as the Roman Catholic Catechism, the Church declares that if a person dies with any spot or blemish or stain on their soul – any impurity – instead of going directly to heaven they must first go to this place of purging which is this intermediate state between earth and heaven. Rome makes clear that purgatory is not hell. It is not a place of the punitive wrath of God, but it is a place for the corrective wrath of God, as it were, where the sanctifying process is continued through the crucible of fire.

A person may be there for two weeks or they may be there for two hundred million years – as long as it takes for a person to become truly righteous – inherently righteous, and once that process is completed, they can be declared justified by God and released into heaven.

I’d now like to go through all the Bible verses that teach the doctrine of purgatory ________________________.

Ok.. well that did not take long, because there are none! That’s right, we do not find either the word or the concept of “purgatory” in the Bible. It is a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church that developed over a long period of time. Continue reading →

When a tweet on the twitter dings, a soul from purgatory springs

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According to the Vatican’s Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary publication, in an effort to make more use of social media, Pope Francis will give indulgences when he is followed on twitter. See this article from the Guardian newspaper here.

For more on Indulgences see the articles “The power is not in Joseph’s pants” and “Indulgences – Alive and well in the Roman Catholic Church.”