Christianity & Culture with Kierstyn St. John

The insanely heretical things Pope Francis recently said

• Kierstyn St. John of Zoetic • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Pope Francis said some absolutely wild and heretical things during an interreligious meeting in Singapore. In this video, I talk about why he is basically promoting universalism and why Catholics need to reconsider their denomination.

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Kierstyn St. John:

Pope Francis said some absolutely wild things a few weeks ago, and I don't think it bodes well for the Catholic Church. All right, so today we're going to talk about the insane things that Pope Francis said a couple weeks ago to this group of people. It was an inter-religious meeting with young people in Singapore and he said some stuff that is just absolutely insane. So we're going to watch this interview and then I'm going to react to it.

Speaker 2:

basically, All religions are a way to get to God.

Pope Francis:

Because every religion is a way to arrive at God.

Kierstyn St. John:

The first thing that Pope Francis says and again he's speaking in Italian, but he has a translator is because every religion is a way to arrive at God. Okay, and that was what the official translator translated it as the Vatican tried to like, come back out and twist those words and make it a little more palatable, but that is a direct translation of what Pope Francis said. This is universalism. Like. This is not veiled, this is not covert. Universalism is defined as belief in the salvation of all souls. Okay, every religion is a way to arrive at God. He's basically saying that if you're a part of any sort of religion, you're going to arrive at God, which implies, like, you will go to heaven, you will be saved.

Kierstyn St. John:

And some people were like well, the context of this, like you're saying this out of context? Okay, here's the context Again. It's an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore. Interreligious, by the way, means there were people there from multiple religions. Okay, so he means what he's saying. He's saying you know, your faith is a way to arrive at God and your faith is a way to arrive at God. That is the context. Okay, he's basically pandering to these people. So let's keep moving forward.

Pope Francis:

Sort of a comparison. An example would be they're sort of like different languages in order to arrive at God.

Kierstyn St. John:

Different languages. No, different religions are not the same as different languages. Why? Because languages are neutral. Okay, there isn't a language that's more right than another language or more true than another language. Okay. Religions, however, are not neutral, particularly if you're Catholic. Okay. This is so weird because Catholics are the ones who say we're the one true church. Like I'm a Protestant and I have so many Catholic friends who have said to me well, we're the one true church. You're not a part of the one true church. You split off from the one true church, right? So did we get rid of that? Like it off from the one true church, right? So did we get rid of that? Like this is the Pope of Catholicism saying that these are just kind of different paths, different languages, to arrive at God? Like this is insane. This is insane, oh my gosh.

Pope Francis:

But God is God for all.

Kierstyn St. John:

Again, this is universalist. God is God for all. No, no, that is also not true. This is point blank heresy. This goes directly against what Jesus said when he said in John 14, I believe it's John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Okay, allah is a different God than the Christian God. Okay, buddhists, you know, buddha is a different God. I'm not actually sure if they consider Buddha a deity. I think they do, but Buddha is a different God than the Christian God. Even non-Messianic Jews believe in a different conception of God than Christians because, according to them, their God is not Trinitarian. It isn't. You know, god, the Father, god the Son, god, the Holy Spirit, and Christians. We believe that there is one true God and that every other God is a false God. This is what Christians have believed since the beginning of, since Jesus walked the earth. No, god is not God for all. Muslims believe in a different God than we do.

Speaker 2:

And as God is God for all, we are all children of God.

Pope Francis:

And if God is God for all, then we're all sons and daughters of God.

Kierstyn St. John:

No again, we are not all sons and daughters of God. We are not all children of God. This man is talking to non-Christians, okay, and I'm going to play the beginning of this video so you guys can actually see the context of, like, what is going on. There are people doing some sort of dance. These people are not Christians, like it's fairly obvious by watching. Also, they're in Singapore, which is not particularly a Christian country. I'm not saying these people are definitively not Christians, but Christians don't usually dance like that. Don't usually dance like that.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, so let's just assume that the Pope is talking to people who aren't Christians. Okay, non-christians are not children of God. People are alienated from God until they repent and believe in Jesus, and then they are adopted as God's sons John 1, 12 through 13. Yet, to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Okay, so this verse right there tells you what the requirement is for you to be a child of God. Okay, you have to receive him, you have to believe in his name.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, galatians 3.26 says so in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. So faith is the condition to make you a child of God. Now, all humans are made in the image of God, and God has a heart for everybody, even people who don't believe in him. You aren't God's child. You're not adopted back into God's family until you have faith. Okay, the Pope is either universalist, which is terrifying I mean that is terrifying. Okay, I mean, it's not terrifying for me because I'm Protestant, but for Catholics, right. Or that's one option or he's a coward and a liar about his own faith and beliefs, which is also terrifying.

Speaker 2:

Like either, way you spin this right.

Pope Francis:

But my God is more important than your God.

Speaker 2:

Is that true?

Kierstyn St. John:

Yes, yes, pope Francis, that is true, because your God I mean, I don't know who your God is, to be honest with you, but at least my God, the Christian God, the God, the only true God, the God of the universe. Yes, it is true that he is more important. Do you not believe that your God is the one true God? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? The cowardice is unbelievable. After so many biblical giants of the faith have proved that there is one true God by putting him to the test against idols, against other gods of other cultures, you, a coward, can't even say that you believe in the religion that you lead. You lead all of Catholicism.

Kierstyn St. John:

Yes, your God is more important if you believe in the Christian God, because he's the only God. That is true. So of course he is. I can't even listen to this. It's utter insanity. I'm sorry, but you will know them by their fruits, and Pope Francis has not come out and denounced what he said or clarified or anything, and so I honestly do not believe this man is a Christian. I just don't think a Christian would talk this way. It's crazy.

Speaker 2:

It's crazy.

Pope Francis:

There's only one God, and each of us is a language, so to speak, in order to arrive at God.

Kierstyn St. John:

Now, that's confusing, because I thought he just said that there were multiple gods and all were equally valid. Now there's just one God, okay, well, first of all, you're trying to be inclusive, pope Francis. That's not very inclusive to Hindus, because Hindus believe in multiple deities. So I guess there's just one God, I don't know. Anyways, that's pretty much it.

Kierstyn St. John:

This video makes my blood boil. This is one of the most infuriating videos I have ever seen, and I want to make a point to my Catholic. I have some friends who are Catholic, who I love, and the first thing I want to say, too, is that I don't want to get into a big thing on this, but if you're a Catholic and you believe the ecumenical creeds, okay, so believe, basically, that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was perfect and sinless and holy, that he died on the cross for the sins of mankind and that he rose again. If you believe that, then even if you're a Catholic and I disagree with you on a ton of things you're still saved, Like you're still a Christian. Now, I don't think all Catholics are Christians, but I don't think that no Catholics are Christians either. So I do want to make that disclaimer, but this video single-handedly, in my opinion, dismantles the biggest so-called advantage of Catholicism over Protestantism. I want to talk about this. So I'm a Protestant, I'm Anglican, to be exact, I'm in the ACNA and I have Catholic friends, like I said, and they tell me all the time that I should become Catholic, and they tell me that Catholicism is superior to Protestantism. Because? Why? Because Catholicism is united, it's unified. It hasn't schismed into thousands of denominations. You know, the Protestants have schismed, but the Catholic church is united, it's the one true church. But here's the thing your own Pope obviously from this video, your own pope, obviously from this video doesn't care about that. Why? Because he believes that all paths arrive at God. That's the translation of what he said. So if every single one of the protestant denominations arrives at God, if even Mormonism or Islam or Buddhism arrives at God, who cares? If you guys are more united, your pope doesn't care. What is the point of being more united if we're all going to arrive at God anyways? It doesn't even make any sense. Also, I don't really buy the Catholics are like more united. I mean, maybe they are more united, but there are a lot of Catholics, for instance, who schismed after Vatican II. So there's like.

Kierstyn St. John:

There's a group of Catholics called the Society of St Pius X, I believe, and they broke away at that point. Catholics called the Society of St Pius X, I believe, and they broke away at that point. And it says the Society of St Pius X is a canonically irregular, traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity oh my goodness. Founded in 1970 by Archbishop oh, I'm going to pronounce this guy's name incorrectly. It's up on the screen. Okay, so this society schismed? I believe it's up on the screen.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, so this society schismed, I believe, after Vatican II, and they would call themselves Catholics, but other Catholic groups would not call them Catholics because they schismed. Right, so the Catholic Church actually has schismed, even after the Protestant Reformation. So so much for Catholic unity there, right? Also many Catholics. Yes, they still sit under this Pope, but they hate literally almost everything that comes out of his mouth. Okay, so they are technically not schismed, but I don't know how much I would call that unity. It's like a tragically unhappy marriage. Okay, so this veneer of Catholic unity is BS at this point because, again, it doesn't even matter to your Pope. Okay, from what he said in that video, if you're universalist which according to that video he is then we are all united. That's what universalism means. It's all the same. In the end and I want to bring this up too Some Catholics hate what the Pope said in that video. They don't agree with it, which they shouldn't. It's terrible, and they may even call it heretical which it is but they won't convert out of Catholicism because he didn't say it ex cathedra.

Kierstyn St. John:

So ex cathedra is a Latin phrase meaning from the chair. The phrase does have religious origins. It was originally applied to decisions made by popes from their thrones. According to Roman Catholic doctrine, a pope speaking ex cathedra on issues of faith or morals is infallible. Okay, and that comes from, I believe, the Encyclopedia Britannica. Okay, so when a pope speaks ex cathedra, he is speaking officially from the chair and is considered infallible. Okay, it was a doctrine proclaimed for the first time by Pius, I believe the ninth Pope, pius the ninth, in 1870. The first and only time that a Pope has spoken ex cathedra since then was 1950, when Pope Pius XII proclaimed the bodily assumption of Mary, which, by the way, we have no scriptural evidence for. That's just a weird doctrine. Okay, but this ex-cathedra thing is the Catholic trump card.

Kierstyn St. John:

Okay, so if I go to a Catholic and I say your pope is sounding exactly like a universalist. This is massively heretical. They would reply well, he didn't say those things ex cathedra, like he didn't say them from the throne In any other religious institution. There would be horrific consequences for saying those things. If a pastor in a Baptist church said the things that the Pope just said, the pastor would I don't care if it's in the pulpit or not, even if he just said it in a podcast or something that pastor would I don't care if it's in the pulpit or not, even if he just said it in a podcast or something that pastor would be fired or the church would split like immediately.

Kierstyn St. John:

Even in an older branch like the Episcopal church, you know, when a bunch of Episcopal priests started being pro-LGBTQ, the ACNA, which I'm a part of, split off and schismed. Okay, the Presbyterian church, the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church have schismed. You know, over less, a lot less than that. Okay. And you may say that schism is always bad, because the schism is basically a church divorce, but even Jesus permitted divorce under certain circumstances. This is my challenge to Catholics If your leader is so corrupt that he is universalist and heretical, you have to split off from him, you cannot follow him anymore.

Kierstyn St. John:

He didn't say it ex cathedra, so he didn't say that all of you guys have to be universalist. Okay, that's great, but he is still one. So anything that a Pope says, if it is an ex cathedra, no matter how disturbing or anti-Christian it is it, it doesn't make you question what sort of church would allow someone who is definitively not a Christian to run it. Okay, your Pope from that video is not a Christian and and he is the leader of your church. There is something deeply wrong with that. Deeply, even though he didn't speak it from the throne, he has a tremendous amount of authority and millions of people will hear him say that and believe him.

Kierstyn St. John:

I'm telling you what I am Protestant and I have never been so grateful. Okay, not because all of the leaders or the bishops in the ACNA are perfect him. I'm telling you what I am Protestant and I have never been so grateful. Okay, um, not. Not because, um, all of the leaders or the bishops in the ACNA are perfect. Uh, not because there can't be corrupt bishops. Again, I'm I'm Anglican, so we do have bishops, but the difference is that Anglicans don't have a Pope. Um, there is no one central authority other than the truly infallible word of God, the word of scripture. Okay, I don't put my faith in in in men who can be insanely corrupted. I put my my faith in the infallible word of God, okay, and I would suggest that Catholics do the same.