- Feb 5, 2002
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While most Catholics are completely unaware that Pope Francis has been delivering a weekly catechesis concerning St. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, it’s important that they not overlook the contents of that catechesis.
Why?
The catechesis that popes offer at those weekly audiences oftentimes reveal the substance behind much of their agenda for the Church. [NOTE: Remember St. Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” and “culture of life-culture of death” catechesis? Overlooking those, Catholics were clueless about 2 of the keystones of his papacy.]
So, what’s in this particular catechesis that Catholics should note, especially with Pope Francis having just embarked the Church upon the pathway called the “Synod on Synodality”?
Remember: It’s the context that counts.
St. Paul—the “apostle to the gentiles”—opened the door to a new form of Christianity, one where non-Jewish Christians were accorded equality with Jewish Christians. That was the result of a battle royale at the First Council of Jerusalem which pitted the “conservative, orthodox” faction led by St. James (who held that Christians must first be Jews, like Jesus, whether by birth or conversion was immaterial) against the “liberal, heterodox” faction led by St. Paul (who held that Christians needn’t be Jews because, in Christ, all are equal because what counts is “faith working through love”).
To sum up: Baptism is what makes a person Christian and it encompasses “all peoples and cultures.”
For this reason, Pope Francis maintains, there’s no singular, cultural model of Christianity that’s most desirable.
Continued below.
From the "Synod on Synodality" file: What authentic reform of the Church requires...
Why?
The catechesis that popes offer at those weekly audiences oftentimes reveal the substance behind much of their agenda for the Church. [NOTE: Remember St. Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” and “culture of life-culture of death” catechesis? Overlooking those, Catholics were clueless about 2 of the keystones of his papacy.]
So, what’s in this particular catechesis that Catholics should note, especially with Pope Francis having just embarked the Church upon the pathway called the “Synod on Synodality”?
Remember: It’s the context that counts.
St. Paul—the “apostle to the gentiles”—opened the door to a new form of Christianity, one where non-Jewish Christians were accorded equality with Jewish Christians. That was the result of a battle royale at the First Council of Jerusalem which pitted the “conservative, orthodox” faction led by St. James (who held that Christians must first be Jews, like Jesus, whether by birth or conversion was immaterial) against the “liberal, heterodox” faction led by St. Paul (who held that Christians needn’t be Jews because, in Christ, all are equal because what counts is “faith working through love”).
To sum up: Baptism is what makes a person Christian and it encompasses “all peoples and cultures.”
For this reason, Pope Francis maintains, there’s no singular, cultural model of Christianity that’s most desirable.
Continued below.
From the "Synod on Synodality" file: What authentic reform of the Church requires...
