Francis and the Missions: Dissecting Bergoglio’s Message for World Mission Day 2018
Note: not an endorsement for sedevacantism
The Modernists have been hard at work to undermine the very nature and purpose of missionary activity, reducing it to little more than practicing the corporal works of mercy with a preaching of the Beatitudes — and plenty of Vatican II Modernism, especially interreligious dialogue and sometimes even syncretism (mixing of religions). A quick look at “Fr.” Arturo Sosa’s 2017 trip to Cambodia to visit the Jesuit missions there underscores this point:
In short, the de facto Novus Ordo idea of missionary activity is essentially making the world a better place at the behest of Jesus Christ. That’s what it ultimately comes down to, regardless of what some official document that nobody reads may actually say.
We see this very clearly, for instance, in the supposed missionary activity of the U.S. Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. They divide their work into ten categories, which are: Clean Water, Construction & Shelter, Economic Empowerment, Education, Emergency Relief, Hunger, Medical Care, Ministry & Formation, Peace & Human Rights, and Vulnerable Children. You can see where the emphasis is here. Salvation of souls? Not so much. Yes, the words “catechesis” and “evangelization” do eventually make an obscure appearance when you start digging, yet how much even that actually has to do with the salvation of souls from eternal damnation — rather than the generic “message of God’s love” they advertise on their site — is probably not hard to guess.
On May 20, “Pope” Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) released a message for this year’s World Mission Sunday. Since the dreaded youth synod will be held in Rome during the month of October (Oct. 3-28), the Jesuit apostate addressed his missionary message specifically to youngsters. The Vatican has published it in English here:
- Message for World Mission Day 2018 (Antipope Francis)
Francis begins with such profoundly luminous statements as: “Every man and woman is a mission; that is the reason for our life on this earth”, a fact that he claims we are all “called to reflect on”. Precisely what he means by this he does not say, but the following words of his give the reader a pretty good idea of the direction he has in mind: “…when I think back to my youth and my family, I remember the strength of my hope for a better future.” But of course! A better world, a better future — that’s what it’s all about.
But then! The subheading of the next section reads: “We proclaim Jesus Christ”. Surely Francis will explain the true meaning of mission now, right? Let’s take a look:
The Church, by proclaiming what she freely received (cf. Mt 10:8; Acts 3:6), can share with you young people the way and truth which give meaning to our life on this earth. Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us, appeals to our freedom and challenges us to seek, discover and proclaim this message of truth and fulfilment. Dear young people, do not be afraid of Christ and his Church! For there we find the treasure that fills life with joy. I can tell you this from my own experience: thanks to faith, I found the sure foundation of my dreams and the strength to realize them. I have seen great suffering and poverty mar the faces of so many of our brothers and sisters. And yet, for those who stand by Jesus, evil is an incentive to ever greater love. Many men and women, and many young people, have generously sacrificed themselves, even at times to martyrdom, out of love for the Gospel and service to their brothers and sisters. From the cross of Jesus we learn the divine logic of self-sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) as a proclamation of the Gospel for the life of the world (cf. Jn 3:16). To be set afire by the love of Christ is to be consumed by that fire, to grow in understanding by its light and to be warmed by its love (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). At the school of the saints, who open us to the vast horizons of God, I invite you never to stop wondering: “What would Christ do if he were in my place?”It is true that our Lord Jesus Christ gives meaning to our life on this earth. Just what that meaning is, however, Francis neglects to mention. Vaguely calling it a “message of truth and fulfilment”, he proceeds to observe that it “fills life with joy”. So far, still no mention of the necessity of converting souls in order to save them from eternal punishment. Instead, Francis obscures this most important truth by focusing the reader’s thoughts on the natural world: It’s about “the sure foundation of my dreams and the strength to realize them” — you know, like Martin Luther King or Barack Obama. Do not be misled by Francis’ brief reference to “faith” — as is evident, he uses it merely as a gimmick to promote his Naturalist message of making the world a better place.
(Antipope Francis, Message for World Mission Day 2018, Vatican.va, May 20, 2018; italics given.)
Francis then immediately shifts into humanitarian mode, as he loves to do: suffering, wars, our brothers and sisters — business as usual. Christ is mentioned but only as an incentive to practice the corporal works of mercy. He is held up (in truth: dragged down!) as a model of self-sacrifice, as though He were merely an outstanding martyr who died to leave us an example of how noble it is to die for one’s friends. What should prevent anyone from choosing a different such figure, perhaps one more in tune with his own preferences, if the resulting humanitarian works be more or less the same? If for one the incentive is Jesus Christ, then for another it might be Mahatma Gandhi; for another, Buddha or Mohammed; and for still another, it could simply be belief in a generic higher power. Voilà, there is your one-world religion, your unity in diversity, where man has been put in the place of God (cf. 2 Thess 2:4) and where Christ has been made equal to the devil (cf. 2 Cor 6:14-18)!
The next section of Bergoglio’s text, entitled “Transmitting the faith to the ends of the earth”, sounds even more promising. Finally, he will talk about real missionary activity! Right?
Well, let’s see: He does talk about “bring[ing] the Gospel to everyone”, but so far he has given the impression, as he always does, that the Gospel isn’t much more than the corporal works of mercy and other works to facilitate man’s happiness in this life. He talks about “the infectiousness of love, where joy and enthusiasm become the expression of a newfound meaning and fulfilment in life” but still without saying just what this meaning or fulfilment consist in. Then, “attraction”, “encounter, witness, [and] proclamation” make an appearance — the interpretation of which is presumably left up to each individual reader.
In the final portion of the text, entitled “Bearing witness to love”, Bergoglio says that missionary work is “serving the ‘least’ of our brothers and sisters (cf. Mt 25:40), promoting human dignity and witnessing to the joy of love and of being Christians!” But of course it is not enough to be a witness to joy — not even the joy of being Catholics — for followers of other religions no doubt also find joy in their religions, or at least they think they do. By that logic, how will a Novus Ordo missionary compete against a joyful Hindu, a joyful Jain, a joyful Jew, or a joyful atheist, for example? Unless the missionary imparts the truth, however diplomatically, that there is salvation only in Jesus Christ and His Church and all other religions lead to hell, there is ultimately no point to any of the other undertakings: “Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The traditional Catholic concept of missionary activity is very straightfoward, and it is not difficult to come by. One can simply look it up in a pre-Vatican II Catholic dictionary, for example:
The object of foreign missions is the conversion of the heathen to the faith of Christ and their incorporation in his Church, the appointed means of salvation. Medical missions, schools, material relief, etc., are the corporal works of mercy which necessarily accompany the Christian missionary; but his job requires of him no other intervention in native affairs, except it be for the express purpose of saving souls or imparting that minimum of education which should enable them to improve themselves from within and in their own way.Pope Pius XII emphasized that the end (i.e. purpose) of the Church is supernatural because it consists in the glory of God and the salvation of souls:
(Donald Attwater, ed., A Catholic Dictionary, 3rd ed. [New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1961], s.v. “Missions, Foreign”)
The end which Christ assigns to [the Church] is of a strictly religious nature: it is, even, the synthesis of everything comprised in the idea of religion, the unique, absolutely true religion: the Church must lead men to God so that they can give themselves to Him without reserve and thus find in Him perfect interior peace. This is why Christ has entrusted his Church with all truth and grace.If this is not the impression you have gotten from Francis lately, there is a reason for that. Francis loves to repeat his slogan that “the Church is not an NGO [non-governmental organization]” (source), and yet that is precisely what he is doing his darndest to reduce the Catholic Church to: a humanitarian agency with bad liturgy and ugly art. Do not let occasional words to the contrary deceive you — after 5+ years, the proof is in the pudding. The last thing Francis wants is for people to actually become Catholics (in the real meaning of the term), and sometimes he will even tell you that flat-out:
The Church can never lose sight of this strictly religious, supernatural end. The meaning of all her activity, down to the last canon of her Code, can be nothing else than to move towards it, directly or indirectly.
(Pope Pius XII, Allocution to the International Union of Institutes of Archeology and History, Mar. 9, 1956; translation by Mother E. O’Gorman, RSCJ, in Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, eds., Papal Teachings: The Church [Boston, MA: St. Paul Editions, 1962], n. 1423.)
- Francis denounces Apologetics, Seeking Conversion of Protestants
- Francis: “Not Interested in Converting Evangelicals to Catholicism”
- Two More Protestants Confirm: Francis told them “Not Interested” in Converting Them
- Francis told Anglican Tony Palmer NOT to convert, ordered him buried as Catholic Bishop
- January 2016 “Pope Video”: Indifferentism and Agnosticism
- January 2017 “Pope Video”: Ecumenism for a Better World
- Francis confirms Muslims in Unbelief
The fact is that the corporal works of mercy are merely to accompany the primary missionary work of the Church, which is the conversion of sinners to Jesus Christ and His holy Church so that they will not suffer eternal punishment. That is what the martyrs died for — not for some generic humanitarianism loaded with “joy” and “encounter”. That is not to say that such things as medical care, food, shelter etc. are not important, only that they are not the primary focus of missionary activity. Christ did not commission His disciples to cure the sick but to convert sinners and lead them to eternal life.
Fr. Edward Leen (1885-1944) makes this very point in his phenomenal work Why the Cross?, explaining how the Naturalist places excessive emphasis on Christ’s relieving the temporal sufferings of man, thus obscuring the true nature and purpose of His mission:
The [Gospel] passages that reveal Jesus in the exercise of works of mercy, in healing disease, in consoling grief and in overcoming death, are given an undue emphasis [by Naturalists]. In this way the central truth is obscured, the truth, namely, that the conflict of the Redeemer was primarily with spiritual evil and only incidentally with physical evil. His purpose was to banish from earth the ills that appear to God as such, not those that appear so to the pain-dreading nature of man… The gospel is not a record of a more or less successful philanthropic mission.In these words, Fr. Leen has exposed and refuted Francis’ Naturalism to a tee. Francis inverts the mission of Christ, making His supernatural mission of saving souls secondary, and subservient, to a humanitarian one of alleviating natural suffering. This is why he can endorse Ramadan and the Koran for Muslims while recommending the Bible to Christians; this is why his ‘Ten Tips for a Happy Life’ do not mention God or the supernatural at all; this is why he can call Martin a Luther a “witness to the Gospel”; this is why he can blasphemously declare Rohingya Muslims to be “the presence of God today”; and of course we all know that he basically considers all migrants to be a Second Incarnation of Christ. Bergoglio uses the supernatural in service of the natural. Whereas Christ used the natural as a stepping stone to teach people a supernatural message (for example, see Jn 4:6-30 or Jn 6:5-60), Francis uses supernatural truths to teach a natural message (cf. Col 3:2). Francis thus behaves in a truly anti-Christ fashion. For more on this, please see our post “A Naturalist Easter: Francis inverts Christ”.
…To Christians, who persist in thinking that the function of Christianity is to provide men with good things and banish from their life evil things — understanding by good and evil what appear such to fallen human nature — life will speedily prove unintelligible. To men with such views the mystery of pain becomes insoluble. In the face of the harsh realities of existence their belief stands condemned. They have no answer to give to the ever-recurring question: if God is kind and good and tender towards human suffering, why does suffering continue to be not only for those that deserve it, but also for those who do not?
That Jesus, in His power and goodness, did not put an end to all human suffering shows that, in His eyes, suffering is not the real source of human unhappiness.
(Rev. Edward Leen, Why the Cross? [London: Sheed & Ward, 1938], pp. 54-56; italics given, underlining added.)
But do not think that only sedevacantists have noticed Francis’ God-betraying Naturalism. Others have too. For example, Aldo Valli, a well-known Italian journalist and author, is a Novus Ordo who started out as a supporter of Francis. This changed over the years. Valli recently noted in an interview published in Inside the Vatican:
Little by little … I could not help but notice, with growing dismay and sorrow, an imbalance in the preaching of Bergoglio: I refer to the idea of mercy [removed] from that of conversion and repentance, as if one could imagine a “right” of the creature to be forgiven and a “duty” of God to forgive. Francis does not speak of divine judgment and does not lose an opportunity to devalue the divine law, as if it were only a concern of the Pharisees.Do not, therefore, be deceived when you hear Francis talk about “the missions” and “preaching the Gospel”. Francis has made clear again and again that he does not believe in converting people to the true Faith by reasoning with them and teaching it to them, refuting contrary errors. No, this to him is “a great sin against ecumenism: proselytism”, as he blasphemously declared on Oct. 1, 2016.
…My questions are radical: what is closest to the so-called “Church of Francis”? The salvation of souls, or the psychological and emotional well-being of people?
(Aldo Maria Valli, in Cristiano Lugli, “Italian Newsman looks at Pontificate Five Years in”, Inside the Vatican [May 2018], pp. 38-39)
Yes, you read that correctly: The “Pope” has declared that the missionary mandate Christ gave to His disciples a “great sin”! One day God will judge this wicked blasphemer: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Pet 2:1).
It is abundantly clear that Francis is one of those “false apostles [who] are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (2 Cor 11:13), nullifying the teachings of God by his own false teachings (cf. Mt 15:6), which are doctrines of men, worse yet, doctrines of demons: “Now the Spirit manifestly saith, that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim 4:1).
Next time, therefore, when someone tells you Francis wants to spread the Gospel, point out that a gospel he might indeed wish to spread, but it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal 1:8).
Anathema he is!
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