The answer to “What must I do to be saved?” has always been complicated in Catholic theology. Departing from the simplicity of the gospel, the Roman Catholic Church teaches a mix of works and grace for salvation. But apparently none of that really matters because, well, “We’re all God’s children.”
Pope Francis was recently at a gathering of young people in Singapore where he shared,
All religions are paths to reach God. . . . They are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for everyone. . . . Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God.
If you start to fight—“My religion is more important than yours; mine is true and yours isn’t”—then where will that lead us? . . . There is only one God, and each of us has a language to reach God. Some are Sikh, some Muslim, Hindu, Christian. And they are all paths to God.
He then doubled down on this sentiment in a video message just a few days later. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, based on his previous statements. But many Catholics are confused—after all, what’s the point of being Catholic if, no matter what you do or believe, you’re just speaking a different language about the same God?
This is what happens when human wisdom is elevated above the authority of God’s Word. As Christians, we must take everything—including the words of the pope—and compare it against the only infallible standard: the perfect Word of God. So, does God’s Word confirm this idea that every religion is just a different path, a different language, to reach God?
The answer is no. Scripture is very clear that Christ is the only way of salvation.
Acts 4:12 KJV – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
When Paul confronted the Greek thinkers, philosophers, and worshippers at Athens, he didn’t tell them the one true God accepted their worship and they could continue as they were. Read what he said:
Acts 17:22–31 KJV – “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
Paul grabbed their attention by using their altar to an unknown god as a springboard for the gospel—and then he told them about their Creator (explicitly telling them the Creator was not like the gods of precious metals or stone they worshipped), called them to repent, and preached the resurrection of Jesus.
Or consider the first two of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20:3–5).
Why would God command the Israelites to worship him alone—and then eventually punish them when they failed to do so—if every religion is just a different language for the one God?
The kind of pluralism preached by Pope Francis and that is popular within the culture, and the progressive Christian community is foreign to the pages of Scripture. I pray that those in the Roman Catholic Church who are confused by his statements will realize that Scripture—not human tradition given by fallible men—must be their authority.
And consider Jesus’ words: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
