Pope Francis asks Protestants to forgive Catholics for persecution

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After walking across the threshold of the Holy Door of the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls with an Orthodox metropolitan and an Anglican archbishop, Pope Francis invoked God’s mercy upon divided Christians and apologised for times that Catholics may have hurt members of other denominations.
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“As bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I want to beg for mercy and forgiveness for un-Gospel-like behaviour on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches,” the Pope said on Monday at a prayer service concluding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
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“We ask most of all for forgiveness for the sin of our divisions, which are an open wound on the body of Christ,” Pope Francis said.
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“At the same time, I ask all my Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if, today or in the past, they were hurt by other Christians,” he said. “We cannot erase what happened, but we do not want to allow the burden of past faults to continue to poison our relationships.”
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catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/01/26/pope-francis-asks-protestants-to-forgive-catholics-for-persecution/
 
Tired of it. How many times do we have to grovel and apologize?
 
DonCampbell said:
Tired of it. How many times do we have to grovel and apologize?
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I was going to say that was a very Christlike gesture for Pope Francis to make. And that I’d hope that other Christians denominations would reciprocate the gesture forgiving the Catholic Church for any harm caused and asking for forgiveness for harms Protestants and Protestant churches had caused Catholics and the RCC over the years…

But then I read this first response… :nope:
 
Padres1969 said:
I was going to say that was a very Christlike gesture for Pope Francis to make. And that I’d hope that other Christians denominations would reciprocate the gesture forgiving the Catholic Church for any harm caused and asking for forgiveness for harms Protestants and Protestant churches had caused Catholics and the RCC over the years…

But then I read this first response… :nope:
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That would be ‘nice’, but we almost never get reciprocity. Oh well.
 
DonCampbell said:
Tired of it. How many times do we have to grovel and apologize?
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He didn’t grovel or apologize, he asked God to forgive some peoples’ sins. There is a difference. The pope says the Our Father everyday and asks for forgiveness as part of it, but I never hear anyone say “Tired of it. How many times do we have to grovel and apologize?” When it’s done in the Our Father it is Obvious that asking for forgiveness is neither groveling nor apologizing. When it’s done in an ecumenical prayer that ought to be just as obvious.
 
We need to do the right thing, despite what the other side does.
 
Padres1969 said:
I was going to say that was a very Christlike gesture for Pope Francis to make. And that I’d hope that other Christians denominations would reciprocate the gesture forgiving the Catholic Church for any harm caused and asking for forgiveness for harms Protestants and Protestant churches had caused Catholics and the RCC over the years…

But then I read this first response… :nope:
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Have Anglicans asked forgiveness for their persecution of Catholics? 😦
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
Have Anglicans asked forgiveness for their persecution of Catholics? 😦
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On various occasions, yes Anglicans and Catholics have both offered expressions of regret and asked for forgiveness of each other. I’d hope this instance of the Pope expressing regret might spur another of those reciprocal moments. 👍

Indeed I’d hope more than just Anglicans reciprocate.
 
Christ never tires of forgiving us for our sins. We are called to do the same, as followers of Christ.
 
An apology doesn’t mean you are wrong, it means you value the other person/organizations friendship more. My Pope is practicing what he preaches. What are all the naysayers practicing?

Christianity is under attack, as Ben Franklin said, we must hang together or surely we will hang separately.
 
“Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.”

(G.K. Chesterton)

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, Oct 23 1909.

G.K. CHESTERTON COLLECTED WORKS, VOl. XXVIII, p. 413.
 
What are we apologizing for? I have no idea.

The only thing I know about Christians persecuting other Christians are Protestants persecuting Catholics in the US and Mexico.
 
Thom18 said:
What are we apologizing for? I have no idea.

The only thing I know about Christians persecuting other Christians are Protestants persecuting Catholics in the US and Mexico.
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Probably nothing currently, but in the past. Are you saying Christians are persecuting Catholics in the US and Mexico currently?
 
Peter_J said:
Thank you for posting that, Copyboy.

I wonder how long until this is denounced by the SSPX or somebody?
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Yes, I agree. The real hullabaloo on this whole apology thing seems to me to come from within - I am not sure who on the OTHER SIDE is so entrenched against apologies, in either direction. Hopefully that is just a mis-perception on my part.

My personal experience is that apologies in this area (which I think are justified and appropriate) can get you a lot of traction with Protestants, who suddenly don’t hate you anywhere near as much as you’ve been led to believe…in fact, they actually quite like you. There is of course ugly extremism in all denominations - who form the exception to this rule of thumb.
 
Padres1969 said:
I was going to say that was a very Christlike gesture for Pope Francis to make. And that I’d hope that other Christians denominations would reciprocate the gesture forgiving the Catholic Church for any harm caused and asking for forgiveness for harms Protestants and Protestant churches had caused Catholics and the RCC over the years…

But then I read this first response… :nope:
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You know what? The apology tour has already been made. More than once. We really don’t need another one. Everywhere we go, we’re sorry again. Sorry to the Jews. Sorry to the Protestants. Sorry to the Muslims. Do we ever get absolved and move on?

I am frankly tired of being reminded of how sorry we need to be for all the sins of the Church. I have not heard much from Pope Francis that would give me the impression that he has any pride in Christ’s bride. He rarely ever has anything good to say about the Church, it’s clergy, or its people. He apparently thinks its all broken and needs fixing.

Honestly, I am ready for a little triumphalism. Oops, did I say that? But you know what? We are right. Protestants are wrong. Muslims are wrong. Maybe we’ve made mistakes but we don’t need to keep prostrating ourselves before them 500 years later. Especially when we have made the grand apologies before and never get any reciprocity.
 
DonCampbell said:
I have not heard much from Pope Francis that would give me the impression that he has any pride in Christ’s bride.
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I considered doing a humorous/sarcastic reply to that … but it just seems a little too easy, on a Catholic forum anyhow.🙂
 
I can’t remember a Protestant ever saying “I am sorry” to my face. But then in most of these interactions, exchanges, it is completely clear that they consider me a fellow Christian, the Pope is not the Anti-Christ; he is just not their head of Church; this is a given. Frankly, I think a vast majority of time, in the real world, Protestants and Catholics are thoroughly beyond the need to apologize - conflicts of the past are a done deal, over and done with, rear view mirror. Now, on the Internet, in our official paths of ecumenism…another story.
 
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