The False Christ of Richard Rohr and the False Pope of Trent Horn

Oops! Novus Ordo apologist slams apostate friar unaware he has ‘papal’ endorsement…

The False Christ of ‘Father’ Richard Rohr
and the False Pope of Trent Horn

To make this video screenshot more realistic, we added Bergoglio’s roaring endorsement of the friar…

It can’t be fun working for Catholic Answers these days.

Ever since the Jesuit apostate from Buenos Aires made himself at home in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta under his stage name ‘Pope Francis’, the California-based Novus Ordo apologetics org has found itself in a difficult spot. Early on in his ‘pontificate’, the man whose real name is Jorge Bergoglio made clear that Catholicism isn’t really his thing — and that it shouldn’t be anyone else’s thing, either:

At first, Catholic Answers tried to do what most others in their camp did: maintain that it was all a big misunderstanding, that we just needed the right ‘key’ to understanding Francis, that the problem was the translations, that the media are misrepresenting “what the Pope really said”, that Francis is just a bit different (if for no other reason than that he’s a Jesuit), etc., ad nauseam.

While that strategy may have worked for the first few years, it couldn’t possibly be successful in the long run. Other ‘orthodox Catholic’ commentators also found this out the hard way, such as the Rev. John ‘Reading Francis through Benedict’ Zuhlsdorf and the now-disgraced Michael Voris.

At some point in the Bergoglian ‘papacy’ Catholic Answers closed down their discussion forums and eliminated the print edition of Catholic Answers Magazine. In 2016, Patrick Coffin, the long-time host of their popular radio program Catholic Answers Live, called it quits. He has since embraced the position we have termed ‘Resignationism’, the idea that ‘Pope’ Benedict XVI‘s resignation in 2013 was invalid, which of course implies that Francis was never validly elected Pope in the subsequent conclave.

Just before the bombshell accusations of ‘Abp.’ Carlo Maria Vigano against ‘Pope’ Francis regarding the Theodore McCarrick scandal in late August 2018, the founder and former president of Catholic Answers, Karl Keating, published a book called The Francis Feud: Why and How Conservative Catholics Squabble about Pope Francis, though it is not entirely clear to the present writer just to what end, nor what impact it may have had. It can still be purchased from Amazon but is curiously not offered for sale at Catholic Answers’ own online shop (anymore).

Fast-forward to 2023.

On May 1, one of the staff apologists employed at Catholic Answers, Trent Horn, published a video showing that the ‘Jesus Christ’ preached by the “frustrating Franciscan friar” Richard Rohr — long a thorn in the side of more conservative Novus Ordo adherents such as the folks at Catholic Answers — is not the true Jesus Christ but in fact a dangerous counterfeit (cf. Gal 1:8-9):

A transcript of the video has also been released:

Few priests in the Vatican II Church are as brazen and candid in their heretical depravity as Rohr is. In 2014, we published two posts on the false doctrines of this ‘spiritual leader’ that are worth revisiting, and Catholic Answers itself has had online a ‘Primer on Richard Rohr’ for years:

In his able critique of ‘Fr.’ Rohr’s latest book, The Universal Christ, Trent Horn shows that Rohr embraces and promotes the hardcore heresies of Pantheism, Nestorianism, and Gnosticism — and that’s just for starters. In fact, The Universal Christ contains so many whoppers, one quickly stops trying to count the number of heresies stated outright, implied, hinted at, or encouraged.

Here are some direct quotes of the spiritual garbage Rohr presents to the hapless reader in The Universal Christ (page numbers are based on the electronic Amazon Kindle edition and may not correspond exactly to the print edition):

  • “When Christians hear the word ‘incarnation’, most of us think about the birth of Jesus, who personally demonstrated God’s radical unity with humanity. But in this book, I want to suggest that the first Incarnation was the moment described in Genesis 1, when God joined in unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything.” (The Universal Christ, p. 12)
  • “The Incarnation, then, is not only ‘God becoming Jesus.’ It is a much broader event, which is why John first describes God’s presence in the general word ‘flesh’ [John 1:14]. John is speaking of the ubiquitous Christ that Caryll Houselander so vividly encountered, the Christ that the rest of us continue to encounter in other human beings, a mountain, a blade of grass, or a starling.” (p. 12)
  • “Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God.” (p. 12)
  • “For you who have loved Jesus … do you recognize that any God worthy of the name must transcend creeds and denominations, time and place, nations and ethnicities, and all the vagaries of gender, extending to the limits of all we can see, suffer, and enjoy?” (p. 36; italics given)
  • “When you look your dog in the face, for example, as I often looked at my black Labrador, Venus, I truly believe you are seeing another incarnation of the Divine Presence, the Christ.” (p. 51)
  • “Our inherent ‘likeness to God’ depends upon the objective connection given by God equally to all creatures, each of whom carries the divine DNA in a unique way.” (p. 60)
  • “God loves things by becoming them.” (p. 113)
  • “In the mythic imagination, I think Mary intuitively symbolizes the first Incarnation — or Mother Earth, if you will allow me.” (p. 122)
  • “In Mary, humanity has said our eternal yes to God. A yes that cannot be undone.” (p. 127; italics given)
  • “When Jesus spoke the word ‘This is my Body,’ I believe he was speaking not just about the bread right in front of him, but about the whole universe, about every thing that is physical, material, and yet also spirit-filled. … His assertion and our repetition resound over all creation before they also settle into one piece of bread.” (p. 131)
  • “Honestly, and without any stretch, my dog Venus taught me more about ‘real presence’ over a fifteen-year period than any theological manual ever did.” (pp. 131-132)
  • “As if eating his body weren’t enough, Jesus pushes us in even further and scarier directions by adding the symbolism of intoxicating wine as we lift the chalice and speak over all of suffering humanity, ‘This is my blood.’” (p. 132)
  • “The bread and the wine together are stand-ins for the very elements of the universe, which also enjoy and communicate the incarnate presence.” (p. 133; italics given)
  • “A true believer is eating what he or she is afraid to see and afraid to accept: The universe is the Body of God, both in its essence and in its suffering.” (p. 134; italics given)
  • “Jesus was always objectively the Universal Christ, but now his significance for humanity and for us was made ubiquitous, personal, and attractive for those willing to meet Reality through him. Many do meet Divine Reality without this shortcut, and we must be honest about that. I cannot prove that Jesus is the shortcut, nor does he need me to….” (p. 178; italics given)
  • “When we find a truly healthy and holy attitude toward ‘earthly’ things like money and sex, the Mystery of Incarnation will finally have its full victory….” (p. 237)

Wow! Obviously, what Rohr presents in this book is an insane heretical hodgepodge of elements of Immanentism, Emanationism, Naturalism, Pantheism, Teilhardism, Jungian psychology, and what not. The man is beyond being a mere heretic — he is an apostate, meaning he has completely abandoned the religion revealed by God.

Thus it is clear how dangerous of an individual this ‘Fr.’ Richard Rohr is, as is anyone who promotes his work. Naturally, therefore, we applaud Horn’s refutation of some of the many errors found in The Universal Christ.

However, there is one little thing Horn failed to mention which pretty much destroys his entire case against the Frustrating Franciscan Friar: Approximately ten months before Horn made his video, ‘Fr.’ Rohr had been received in private audience by ‘Pope’ Francis and gotten full ‘papal’ approval of his work. The Universal Christ, a copy of which Rohr wanted to present to Francis at the meeting, had already been read by the ‘Pope’, who gave it his enthusiastic endorsement.

This is revealed by Rohr in a press release published by his Center for Action and Contemplation following his visit with the Jesuit squatter at the Vatican on June 20, 2022:

ALBUQUERQUE, July 1, 2022: I am full of joy – ecstatic even – reflecting on my meeting with Pope Francis. Our conversation focused on how the rediscovery of the contemplative mind can serve the renewal of Christianity and healing of our world.

Sitting across from each other, I shared with him about what God has done in my life – from my beginning as a charismatic learning the healing power of heart-based devotional prayer, to confronting the social justice issues of our time through my travels around the world, to founding an organization for the teaching of action and contemplation. I consider putting those two back together to be the historic and singular opportunity we have in this moment.

Pope Francis listened to what I shared and seemed genuinely eager to encourage our work. I brought him a copy of Universal Christ, my end-of-life book, but he said he had already read it!

He shared three times very directly, “I want you to keep doing what you’re doing, keep teaching what you’re teaching.” For this Catholic [sic] boy from Kansas, that is a wonderful, hard-to-believe affirmation coming from the Pope himself, for the whole Christian contemplative movement.

Of course, most of my own teaching years are now behind me. I am in the twilight of my own life. Yet I remain utterly convinced of the message that led me to found the Center for Action and Contemplation nearly 35 years ago: the rediscovery of the contemplative roots of Christianity is the key to the future of our faith.

The teaching of the contemplative mind gets to the heart of the matter because it changes consciousness, and thus transforms how we relate to ourselves, each other, and God. I believe it is the key to experiencing what Jesus calls “metanoia” and St. Paul refers to as the “new mind.” Jesus modeled it, and the desert mothers and fathers in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Cappadocia understood and cultivated it. It was taught systematically in monasteries for centuries. It is a treasure of our Christian tradition.

The Christian contemplative movement has worked for decades now to renew and reimagine how this ancient wisdom can be taught and shared. Today, it is becoming increasingly accessible to everyone. It is hard to overstate the potential implications for helping heal our church and world. Leaving the meeting with Pope Francis, accompanied by our Executive Director Michael and our small group, with the support and encouragement of our whole community, I felt great hope in what God is doing.

(“Statement from Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM after meeting Pope Francis”, Center for Action and Contemplation, July 1, 2022; underlining added.)

Checkmate, Trent Horn. You either have to give up your condemnation of Rohr’s apostasy, or you must, at the very least, charge your ‘Pope’ with the same heresies as Rohr.

Now, of course someone could claim that Rohr is lying through his teeth about his meeting with Francis, but not only is there no evidence of that, Rohr has actually shared photos that very much suggest that he is telling the truth:

That the encounter between the two apostates, Rohr and Bergoglio, was a joyful one is clear from the images published.

In one of the photos, a copy of the Spanish version of Rohr’s blasphemous book — El Cristo Universal — is plainly visible on Francis’ desk. We have annotated the image accordingly:

If Rohr were lying and Francis had in fact condemned his book, the Vatican press office would have the strict obligation to make that fact known to the public, lest souls be scandalized and misled by Rohr’s false claims about a papal endorsement. The fact that the Vatican keeps a deafening silence very much confirms Rohr’s testimony.

So, why did Trent Horn fail to mention that his oh-so-valid ‘Pope’ has endorsed Rohr’s teachings, specifically as found in his Universal Christ? Granted, perhaps Horn was simply unaware of the friar’s visit to the Vatican and reception by the ‘Pope’. In that case, perhaps the Catholic Answers staff apologist could weigh in on the matter now. As we said, it can’t be fun working for Catholic Answers these days.

So Trent Horn has identified the False Christ of Richard Rohr. Now if only he could identify also the False Pope that is Jorge Bergoglio.

Image source: composite with elements from catholicnews.org.uk (Mazur; modified) and YouTube (screenshot)
License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 and fair use

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