Bergoglio suddenly dislikes atheism…
Heresy at Synod Opening: Francis Slams ‘Atheists Dressed as Christians’
For the opening of the second part of the Vatican’s beloved Synod on Synodality — treated by some as if it were practically the greatest event since Pentecost — the Argentinian apostate running the Vatican under the pseudonym ‘Pope Francis’ (real name: Jorge Bergoglio) gave an ideological opening speech in the serpentine Paul VI audience hall on Oct. 2.
The full 3-hr-40-min video of the so-called First General Congregation of the Synod on Synodality ’24 can be watched here:
One of the many things Francis said in his tedious and at times convoluted address is the following:
We are making [this synodal journey], convinced of the “relational” nature of the Church and seeking to ensure that the relationships given to us and entrusted to our responsible creativity will always be a sign of the gratuitousness of mercy. A so-called Christian who does not enter into the gratuitousness and mercy of God is simply an atheist dressed as a Christian. The mercy of God enables us to be trustworthy and responsible.
(Antipope Francis, Address at the First General Congregation of the 16th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican.va, Oct. 2, 2024; underlining added.)
Obviously, what we see here is typical Vatican II speak; it is needlessly obscure and quite deliberately so.
Exactly what does it mean to “enter into the gratuitousness and mercy of God”? If, for example, it means acknowledging one’s indebtedness to God for having received grace and mercy without any prior claim or merit, why is it not phrased that way? Why the constant ambiguity when clarity is called for?
As it stands, what Francis has said there — the underlined part — is actually a Protestant heresy condemned by the Council of Trent in the 16th century:
If anyone shall say that together with the loss of grace by sin faith also is always lost, or that the faith that remains is not a true faith, though it be not a living one, or that he, who has faith without charity, is not a Christian: let him be anathema
(Council of Trent, Session VI, Canon 28; Denz. 838.)
To apply this directly to Bergoglio’s remarks, we can and must affirm that a Catholic “who does not enter into the gratuitousness and mercy of God” remains a Christian (=Catholic), even if — depending on what the false pope’s obscure wording is actually supposed to mean — he has lost, through mortal sin, sanctifying grace and thereby supernatural charity, as long as he continues to profess the true Faith.
A Catholic in such an unhappy state of mortal sin would not be saved, of course, if he should die in it and not regain sanctifying grace through the sacrament of penance (or at least through perfect contrition) before God calls him. As St. James says: “What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? … For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:14,26).
Only a living Faith will save, which means a Faith animated by charity, by sanctifying grace. However, in this discussion the question is not who goes to Heaven but who is a true Christian, a member of the Mystical Body of Christ; and the simple fact of the matter is that the Catholic who professes the true Faith but is in the state of mortal sin remains a Catholic and a member of the Church, even though he be dead spiritually.
He who thinks all this is merely useless squabbling over semantics could not be more wrong, for the implications of Francis’ heresy have the profoundest significance.
If Faith without works were not a true Faith, then this would mean that every time a Catholic is in mortal sin, every time he “does not enter into the gratuitousness and mercy of God”, he would no longer be a Christian, no longer a Catholic. It would mean that any and all mortal sin expelled one from Church membership. And this in turn would mean that, since we cannot know who is or isn’t in the state of grace at any particular point in time, we could never know who is actually a Catholic, who is a member of the Church. The visibility of the Church would vanish!
Even more so, since those who are not members of the Catholic Church logically also cannot hold positions of authority in the Church (cf. Canon 188 §4), it would then follow that when a pastor, a bishop, or even a Pope commits a mortal sin and thus loses sanctifying grace, he would at once cease being a valid pastor, local bishop, or Pope. So one could never know who one’s legitimate shepherds are who have the valid authority to rule, teach, and sanctify them. Chaos would result, and the Church could not seriously claim to be the only Ark of Salvation, since one would not even be so much as able to identify the Church at any point in history.
In contrast to the Protestant heresy subtly injected into his hearers by Bergoglio, Pope Pius XII taught in his beautiful encyclical on the Church:
Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior’s infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet. For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.
(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis, n. 23; underlining added.)
Catholic teaching is thus very clear. It is necessary to have Faith as well as charity to save one’s soul, and it is charity that gives life to Faith and makes it supernaturally fruitful. With every mortal sin, charity is lost and so we no longer possess the supernatural life of grace. However, Faith is not lost, unless, of course the sin was one against Faith itself, such as heresy or apostasy.
By the way: We might add that this isn’t the first time Francis has advanced this particular heresy. One other instance, for example, was in a homily he gave on Jan. 28, 2016:
Now, someone might argue that Francis was simply using a kind of rhetorical hyperbole in order to emphasize the importance of God’s grace and mercy. Perhaps so, but the point is that as it stands it is heresy, and it’s not the first time he’s said it. Francis isn’t exactly known to be a firm adherent of the dogmas proclaimed at the Council of Trent. On the contrary, he has explicitly sided with Martin Luther on the all-important issue of justification:
One final point: In his Oct. 2 address to the synod, Francis used the term “atheist” to slam Christians who are not up to his peculiar moral standards. When it comes to actual atheists, however, he always manages to say, or at least insinuate, that all is well and that their conversion is not necessary:
- In 2019, Bergoglio told atheist sodomite Stephen Amos that no matter how he lives his life, he doesn’t lose his dignity
- In 2018, Francis proclaimed in public that a little boy’s deceased atheist father was in heaven
- since they don’t pray, Francis frequently asks unbelievers to send him “good vibrations” instead
- In a 2013 interview given to his Catholic-turned-atheist friend Eugenio Scalfari (1924-2022), Bergoglio made clear he was not trying to convert him (Scalfari died an atheist)
Francis does the same with pagans and idolaters. He loves to hurl the epithet “pagan” at certain Catholics, but has no problem with actual paganism; he is happy to blast some Catholics as guilty of idolatry, but when it comes to real idolaters, he is happy to sing their praises.
After 11+ years of ‘Pope’ Francis and his constant heresies, blasphemies, impieties, and countless other errors and scandals (see substantial laundry list here), we can confidently say that if the man is seriously looking for an atheist dressed as a Christian, he may want to take a look in the mirror.
Image source: YouTube (screenshot)
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