Pope Francis: “All Religions Are Paths to Reach God”

Pope Francis was recently at a gathering of young people in Singapore where he shared,

All religions are paths to reach God. . . . They are like different languages in order to arrive at God, but God is God for everyone. . . . Since God is God for all, then we are all children of God.

If you start to fight—“My religion is more important than yours; mine is true and yours isn’t”—then where will that lead us? . . . There is only one God, and each of us has a language to reach God. Some are Sikh, some Muslim, Hindu, Christian. And they are all paths to God.

He then doubled down on this sentiment in a video message just a few days later. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, based on his previous statements. But many Catholics are confused—after all, what’s the point of being Catholic if, no matter what you do or believe, you’re just speaking a different language about the same God?

As Christians, we must take everything—including the words of the pope—and compare it against the only infallible standard: the perfect Word of God.

This is what happens when human wisdom is elevated above the authority of God’s Word. As Christians, we must take everything—including the words of the pope—and compare it against the only infallible standard: the perfect Word of God. So, does God’s Word confirm this idea that every religion is just a different path, a different language, to reach God?

The answer is no. Scripture is very clear that Christ is the only way of salvation.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

When Paul confronted the Greek thinkers, philosophers, and worshippers at Athens, he didn’t tell them the one true God accepted their worship and they could continue as they were. Read what he said:

Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: “To the unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“In him we live and move and have our being”;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“For we are indeed his offspring.”

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:22–31)

Paul grabbed their attention by using their altar to an unknown god as a springboard for the gospel—and then he told them about their Creator (explicitly telling them the Creator was not like the gods of precious metals or stone they worshipped), called them to repent, and preached the resurrection of Jesus.

Or consider the first two of the Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God. (Exodus 20:3–5)

Why would God command the Israelites to worship him alone—and then eventually punish them when they failed to do so—if every religion is just a different language for the one God?

Why would God command the Israelites to worship him alone—and then eventually punish them when they failed to do so—if every religion is just a different language for the one God?

The kind of pluralism preached by Pope Francis and that is popular within the culture and the progressive Christian community is foreign to the pages of Scripture. I pray that those in the Roman Catholic Church who are confused by his statements will realize that Scripture—not human tradition given by fallible men—must be their authority.

And consider Jesus’ words:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed today on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Georgia Purdom, Dr. Marisa Tillery, and Patricia Engler. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.