Pope Francis: "All religions are a path to God"
Pope Francis is welcomed by dancing children as he arrives at Singapore airport on September 11, 2024. Photo: Gregorio Borgia/AP
Wrapping up his journey with a three-day visit to Singapore on September 13, a country with representatives of at least five different faiths, Pope Francis stated that "all religions are a path to God," reports the Catholic publication Cruxnow.
"They are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all," said the pope, setting aside his prepared text and speaking mostly off-the-cuff. "Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God," he added.
The pontiff made this statement during an interreligious meeting with young people at a Catholic junior college, prior to departing Singapore for his return flight to Rome.
"Such rhetoric has stirred controversy in the path among more conservative Catholics who fear that it calls into question Catholic doctrine on Christ as the lone savior of the world and also undercuts missionary efforts to bring people to the faith," the publication notes, recalling that Francis previously used similar expressions during an interfaith meeting in Kazakhstan in 2022.
At that time, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana and frequent critic of the pope, warned that it risked creating a "supermarket of religions". However, according to journalists, judging by his remarks on Friday, the pope was not deterred by such reactions.
"If you start to fight, ‘my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn’t’, where will that lead us?" Pope Francis asked the youth in Singapore. "There’s only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God]," he added.
It is noted that Catholics in Singapore make up about 3.5% of the population, which is just under 6 million people. Overall, Christians of all denominations make up about 19% of the population, Buddhists 31%, Muslims 15%, with significant Hindu and Sikh minorities.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the Pope urged Catholics to choose "the lesser of two evils" in the upcoming U.S. elections.
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