Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI on indifferentism

[dominikus28]

Did Pope JPII ever condemn indifferentism?
Has Benedict XVI condemned indifferentism?

I am looking for a quote because a friend of mine has said ‘Pope John Paul II didn’t try to convert people - instead he worked for mutual respect between Muslims and Catholics and other religions’. He uses this argument as a way to show, that JPII shunned trying to convert others and ‘impose your views’ on them, and instead opted to respect their religions.

I just want a quote from JPII so that his argument is self-refuting. (Please don’t give me quotes from old Popes, because my friend is bordering on the belief that ‘religion changes over time’, so I don’t want to push him over the edge. If I cite JPII, he will realise he has no argument and that will make him realise that Church teaching has in fact not changed one bit)

Also: why did JPII kiss the Quran? I cannot imagine Jesus kissing a Pagan statue. So was it just an empty sign to make the Muslims happy or what?

I can understand him wanting to build relationship between different religions, especially Islam (considering all the persecution of Christians that goes on in Muslim countries). As I see it, JPII wanted to build friendship between religions, so as to open the door to conversion (people will be more open to conversion when the discussion is friendly and civil I think).

 

[henrikhank]

look at this christlife.org/resources/articles/popequote.html
Accoding to SSPX and some othe Catholics JP2 preached indifferentism in Assisi I & II ad that Benedict XVI also did so in Assisi III but this is up to God to decide. I think that we need to go beyond the quotes of a Pope to see what he really teaches.

 

[Ohana]

I think there is a difference between showing respect and indifferentism. I really respect the Baptists for example, for memorizing the Bible. They do make an effort to do so according to a friend of mine. I like the Buddhist idea of compassion, and Lutherans liturgies are similar to our own. Indifferentism on the other hand is a statement or belief that one religion is as good as any other, when we hold to the conviction that Catholicism was instituted by Christ and has survived through thousands of years with an unbroken line of Popes. We are also the only religion to have the Eucharist revered as transubstantiated. I believe strongly that the Catholic Church is the one true and apostolic church, but I do not deny that other churches have part of the truth preserved in them. I choose to respect them. and their effort to assist their members in developing a belief in God and/or something beyond themselves.

 

[Bookcat]

“What I have said above, however, does not justify the relativistic position of those who maintain that a way of salvation can be found in any religion, even independently of faith in Christ the Redeemer, and that interreligious dialogue must be based on this ambiguous idea. That solution to the problem of the salvation of those who do not profess the Christian creed is not in conformity with the Gospel. Rather, we must maintain that the way of salvation always passes through Christ, and therefore the Church and her missionaries have the task of making him known and loved in every time, place and culture. Apart from Christ “there is no salvation.” As Peter proclaimed before the Sanhedrin at the very start of the apostolic preaching: “There is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12).”

• Bl. Pope John Paul II from an Audience May 1995

(he goes on to explain how it is possible for those to be saved by Jesus …even if they have not heard of him…etc)

and approved by Pope John Paul II and the work of Card. Ratzinger:

“However, from what has been stated above about the mediation of Jesus Christ and the “unique and special relationship”84 which the Church has with the kingdom of God among men — which in substance is the universal kingdom of Christ the Saviour — it is clear that it would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions…”

Dominus Jesus 21 (there will be other things there too)

Also see Redemptoris Missio by Pope John Paul II vatican.va/edocs/ENG0219/__P7.HTM see in particular 55

And approved by Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20071203_nota-evangelizzazione_en.html

He too will have said various things contrary to “Indifferentism” of course.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

An encyclical by John Paul II I pulled out of a footnote from the Catechism:

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html

I’ve mainly just scanned through it, but the first part is pretty much repeating the fact that missionary work is good and necessary and that we aren’t doing enough, which is most definitely not indifferentism.

A couple relevant quotes I pulled from the beginning:

“No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit.”

"But it must also be stated, again with the Council, that “in accordance with their dignity as persons, equipped with reason and free will and endowed with personal responsibility, all are impelled by their own nature and are bound by a moral obligation to seek truth, above all religious truth. They are further bound to hold to the truth once it is known, and to regulate their whole lives by its demands.” "

“It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for salvation. Both these truths help us to understand the one mystery of salvation, so that we can come to know God’s mercy and our own responsibility. Salvation, which always remains a gift of the Holy Spirit, requires man’s cooperation, both to save himself and to save others.”

 

[Iron_Donkey]

In the same encyclical linked above, John Paul II also states that those who are not formally in the visible confines of the Church can be saved (I imagine over emphasis on this without explanation is what threw your friend off), but then says this:

To the question, “why mission?” we reply with the Church’s faith and experience that true liberation consists in opening oneself to the love of Christ. In him, and only in him, are we set free from all alienation and doubt, from slavery to the power of sin and death. Christ is truly “our peace” (Eph 2:14); “the love of Christ impels us” (2 Cor 5:14), giving meaning and joy to our life. Mission is an issue of faith, an accurate indicator of our faith in Christ and his love for us.

The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a pseudo-science of well-being. In our heavily secularized world a “gradual secularization of salvation” has taken place, so that people strive for the good of man, but man who is truncated, reduced to his merely horizontal dimension. We know, however, that Jesus came to bring integral salvation, one which embraces the whole person and all mankind, and opens up the wondrous prospect of divine filiation. Why mission? Because to us, as to St. Paul, “this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8). Newness of life in him is the “Good News” for men and women of every age: all are called to it and destined for it. Indeed, all people are searching for it, albeit at times in a confused way, and have a right to know the value of this gift and to approach it freely. The Church, and every individual Christian within her, may not keep hidden or monopolize this newness and richness which has been received from God’s bounty in order to be communicated to all mankind.

This is why the Church’s mission derives not only from the Lord’s mandate but also from the profound demands of God’s life within us. Those who are incorporated in the Catholic Church ought to sense their privilege and for that very reason their greater obligation of bearing witness to the faith and to the Christian life as a service to their brothers and sisters and as a fitting response to God. They should be ever mindful that “they owe their distinguished status not to their own merits but to Christ’s special grace; and if they fail to respond to this grace in thought, word and deed, not only will they not be saved, they will be judged more severely.”