Francis on "When faith becomes an ideology"

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“The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology,” he said, according to Radio Vatican. “And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid.
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“And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements.”
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news.va/en/news/pope-francis-prayer-keeps-us-from-losing-faith
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I think there is a substantial difference between ideology, and theology.

I’ve heard more than I ever wanted to about “the Christian Right”; and TRUE Christians are far more welcoming. Notice I said “welcoming” rather than “permissive”. I think that idea gets lost more often than we’d care to admit.
 
CatholicGuy22 said:
cough…Republican Catholics…cough
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I highly doubt that the Holy Father was referring to American politics when he was speaking about faith becoming an ideology. It seems he was speaking more of some of the insular groups in and outside of the Church.
 
And, the Pope said, “I say to pray, I do not say to say prayers, because these teachers of the law said many prayers” in order to be seen. Jesus, instead, says: “when you pray, go into your room and pray to the Father in secret, heart to heart.” The pope continued: “It is one thing to pray, and another thing to say prayers.”
“These do not pray, abandoning the faith and transforming it into moralistic, casuistic ideology, without Jesus. And when a prophet or a good Christian reproaches them, they the same that they did with Jesus: ‘When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him’ – they are ideologically hostile – ‘and to interrogate him about many things,’ – they are insidious – ‘for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.’ They are not transparent. Ah, poor things, they are people dishonoured by their pride. We ask the Lord for Grace, first: never to stop praying to never lose the faith; to remain humble, and so not to become closed, which closes the way to the Lord.”
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Pope Francis will not have been specifically referring to American politics and associated Christian viewpoint (although some of what he has said may be applicable to that as it is elsewhere) he will have been talking about the Church globally. The Catholic Church is a worldwide, international Church of which the Church in the USA represents a very small part (6% I believe). The Pope was speaking globally, but like everything else, if the cap fits…
 
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