Pope Francis puts works before faith. Amen.
by David Atkins
I have to admit to having been highly skeptical of the new Pope, given his history in Argentina and the conservative bent of the cardinals who elected him. But this is certainly progress:
"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”
...
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
It's not a reversal on LGBT or reproductive rights. But it is an amazing and eye-opening improvement in theological outlook that prioritizes works over faith.
If by chance there is a God who cares about what we hairless monkeys do down here, it's almost certain that S/He cares far more about what we good do than what version of Him/Her we pray to (or not). To do otherwise would entail a level of detached vanity that would be unbecoming and illogical for a presumably benevolent divine being.
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