Pope Francis went today to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Nur-Sultan, on his last day of his visit to Kazakhstan, to meet with the clergy and some faithful who represented the country’s Catholics, less than 1%, to whom he assured that “no one is a foreigner in the Church”.
”Most of us are foreigners; it is true, because you come from different places and countries, however, the beauty of the Church is this, that we are one family, in which no one is a foreigner”said the pope in this church, one of the few in the country.
“I repeat: no one is a foreigner in the Church, we are one single holy People of God enriched by many peoples! And the strength of our priestly and holy people is precisely in making diversity a wealth by sharing what we are and what we have, our smallness is multiplied if we share it”, he added.
Francis, who arrived in Kazakhstan last Tuesday to participate in the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, also officiated a mass this Wednesday and today he wanted to visit one of the churches where the 125,000 Catholics of this country of 19 million people attend. inhabitants, in which about 70% are Muslims.
To them, the pope said: “You need others, even those who profess a different creed. Only together can we do something good.”
He also invited to give more space to the laity and warned priests that they must be “pastors close to the people, not gendarmes concerned with enforcing religious norms.”
Francis will deliver a speech at the closing of the interreligious Congress after reading the Final Document that he has signed together with the other 80 religious representatives, and will then return to Rome.
BISHOP ASKED THE POPE TO AVOID “SUPERMARKET OF RELIGIONS”
The words of Athenasius Schneiderauxiliary bishop of Astana, might have been expected since is one of the most prominent critics of Francis and regularly denounces what he considers to be its doctrinal ambiguities as well as its excessively progressive approach to issues such as homosexuality or rapprochement between religions.
Schneider, has joined other traditionalist and conservative cardinals and bishops in criticism of several of the pope’s symbolic gestures and what they describe as doctrinal ambiguities on issues such as divorce and remarriage, homosexuality and interreligious relations.
Specifically, Schneider joined US Cardinal Raymond Burke in criticizing the document signed in 2019 by Francis and the Grand Imam of Cairo’s al-Azhar University, which, among other things, said that all religions are “willed by God”. Some Catholic critics maintain that this idea could lead to a relativism that would accept that all religions are equally valid paths to God, when the Vatican maintains that Catholicism is the only true path to salvation.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the papal visit to the cathedral, Schneider described his criticism as “respectful and fraternal advice” to Francis that is born of love and provides “real help to the Church.”
“This is normal because we are not employees of the pope“, said. “We are brothers. We have to speak with respect when we recognize something as a danger to the whole Church. This is a help”.
But Schneider warned that Francis’ participation in such a major international event could call into question what he says is the unique role of the Catholic Church in providing the only path to salvation.
“The congress itself has the good purpose of promoting mutual respect and understanding in today’s world. But it also has a danger because could give the impression of a ‘supermarket of religions’ and this is not correct because there is only one true religion, which is the Catholic, founded by God himself”, Schneider pointed out.
The religious also urged the Vatican to reconsider its participation in such events in the future and to focus instead on building relationships at a more local level.
Despite his criticism, Schneider played a major role in Thursday’s event at the cathedral: He helped push Francis’s wheelchair down the cathedral aisle at the start and introduced the dignitaries who greeted the pope at the end, acting as a translator. Furthermore, he dismissed the pontiff as he drove off in his little white Fiat 500.
(with information from EFE and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com