…or perhaps the “paths…to…God.”
During a visit to Singapore on September 13th, Pope Francis caused a stir among his flock. While addressing young people, his remarks on the “paths to God” implied a form of pluralism, baffling many. But, as with many of his foot-in-mouth remarks, the opinions vary widely. There are so called “popesplainers” who seem to assume it’s impossible for the pope to contradict the Catechism of the Catholic Church (the “CCC” from 1992). Then there are fair-mined, knowledgeable apologists (they do exist) who consider the remarks contradictory to Catholic teaching and heretical. I am not a Roman Catholic and have no inclination to discuss, much less debate my views on the matter. Rather, I merely want to draw attention to a curious edit of the published Vatican transcript for whatever posterity the internet affords.
Timeline of Francis’s remarks, as published by Vatican sources and captured by archive.org
The Vatican News portal – September 13, 2024, 05:24:08
“All religions are paths to reach God. They are—to make a comparison—like different languages, different dialects, to get there. But God is God for everyone. [But] God is God for all, and if God is God for all, then we are all sons and daughters of God.“
Note: I have combined and ordered the quotes from the article according to how they were spoken.
Vatican transcript: September 13, 2024, 12:36:55
One of the things that has impressed me most about the young people here is your capacity for interfaith dialogue. This is very important because if you start arguing, “My religion is more important than yours…,” or “Mine is the true one, yours is not true….,” where does this lead? Somebody answer. [A young person answers, “Destruction”.] That is correct. Religions are seen as paths trying to reach God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children. “But my God is more important than yours!”. Is this true? There is only one God, and religions are like languages that try to express ways to approach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood? Yet, interfaith dialogue among young people takes courage. The age of youth is the age of courage, but you can misuse this courage to do things that will not help you. Instead, you should have courage to move forward and to dialogue.
Vatican transcript: September 14, 2024, 20:34:07
One of the things that has impressed me most about the young people here is your capacity for interfaith dialogue. This is very important because if you start arguing, “My religion is more important than yours…,” or “Mine is the true one, yours is not true….,” where does this lead? Somebody answer. [A young person answers, “Destruction”.] That is correct. All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children. “But my God is more important than yours!”. Is this true? There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood? Yet, interfaith dialogue among young people takes courage. The age of youth is the age of courage, but you can misuse this courage to do things that will not help you. Instead, you should have courage to move forward and to dialogue.
What is happening…damage control?
Discussions regarding the translation of his words aside (as I understand such explanations are hopeless), the timeline suggests an effort to officially sanitize the statement. Apparently, that effort could not be sustained. It seems Vatican News was first on the scene, accurately reporting the statement. Within a few hours (no more than 7 hours, 12 minutes), the main Vatican site posted a transcript with a decidedly different statement. All the while, social media is abuzz and the controversy from the Singapore event is raging. The following day, the Vatican quietly edited their transcript. The new version more closely conforms to that which Vatican reporters (and most everyone else) understood from the beginning.
According to the Vatican News website, their “…adventure began on 27 June 2015 with the Motu Proprio of Pope Francis that established the Secretariat for Communication.” Their platform “seeks to respond and…to anticipate the continual changes taking place in communication” (emphasis added). How ironic. Regardless of ones views on the “paths to God,” it is difficult to say Vatican News is not accomplishing their mission.
In case the Vatican decides to amend the Vatican News mission to include anticipating their own changes in communication, here is a screenshot of the statement as of December 4, 2024:
I appreciated how you explored Pope Francis’s comments alongside our Christian call to truly engage with people beyond just surface connections. The analogy of religion becoming like languages, while we forget the face-to-face presence Christ modeled, really hit home for me.
As someone who believes in walking with Jesus in the everyday, I’m reminded of how easily we can shift into “screens and safe zones” instead of leaning in where real people are.
Decided to respond quickly to this post as well. Pope Francis said lots of things “off the cuff”, as was his unfortunate style. The Catholic Church doesn’t need to popesplain on these “off the cuff statements” since the Church has always taught that the popes can err when talking “off the cuff”. The Vatican website tried to clarify what Pope Francis would have agreed to if he was subsequently asked to further explain. Remember, Pope Francis controls the Vatican news services and could have changed their wording if he did not agree with it. As Pope he is only Infallible in what he says or writes in very specific circumstances (way too much to continue here). However, some examples are dogmas from the Chair of Saint Peter on the immaculate conception and the assumption of Mary into Heaven. These statements from Pope Pius IX and Pius XII are truths definitively from the Holy Spirit and must be believed by the faithful.