From Crux:
In a line that may once again stir reaction in more traditional Catholic quarters, Pope Francis on Friday wrapped up a three-day visit to Singapore, a country with large pockets of at least five different faiths, that “all religions are a path to God.”
“They are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for all,” the pope said, who had set aside his prepared text and spoke largely off the cuff. “Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God.”
The pontiff made his remarks during a interreligious meeting with young people held at a Catholic junior college, just 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.
When Francis used similar language at an interfaith meeting during a 2022 trip to Kazakhstan, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of the national capital of Astana, a frequent papal critic, warned that it risked creating a “supermarket of religions.”
Judging by his remarks Friday, however, the pontiff has not been deterred by such blowback.
“If you start to fight, ‘my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn’t’, where will that lead us?” he asked aloud. “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].”
Catholics in Singapore make up about 3.5 percent of the population of just under 6 million. Overall, Christians of all types represent about 19 percent of the population, Buddhists 31 percent and Muslims 15 percent, with significant Hindu and Sikh minorities as well.
The pontiff exhorted young people to engage in interfaith dialogue.
“For interreligious dialogue among young people, it takes courage, because youth is the time of courage in our lives,” he said. “You can also have this courage and use it for things that don’t help you, or you can use it to move forward and engage in dialogue. One thing that helps a lot is to respect dialogue.”
“I want to tell you something historical: every dictatorship in history, the first thing they do is take away dialogue,” Pope Francis told the gathering of roughly 600 young people from 50 schools and religious organizations in Singapore.
Francis invited the youth “to do everything possible to maintain a courageous attitude and promote an environment in which young people can enter into dialogue, because interreligious dialogue is something that creates a path.”
“If you dialogue as young people, you will dialogue more as adults, as citizens, as politicians,” he said.
“Interreligious dialogue is built on respect for others. This is very important,” he said.
Photo: Vatican Media
