Vatican: Pope Francis 'never said' what Scalfari reported about divinity of Jesus Christ Vatican City, Oct 10, 2019 / 07:17 am (CNA).- A Vatican spokesman directly denied on Thursday the report of an Italian journalist who wrote that Pope Francis said he did not believe that Jesus Christ was divine. “The Holy Father never said what Scalfari wrote,” Vatican communications head Paolo Ruffini said at an Oct. 10 press conference, adding that “both the quoted remarks and the free reconstruction and interpretation by Dr. Scalfari of the conversations, which go back to more than two years ago, cannot be considered a faithful account of what was said by the pope.” “That will be found rather throughout the Church's magisterium and Pope Francis' own, on Jesus: true God and true man,” Ruffini added. The statement came in response to an Oct. 9 column in La Repubblica, the newspaper founded by Scalfari, in which the 95-year-old self-declared atheist said that “Pope Francis conceives Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, a man, not God incarnate.” Ruffini's remarks followed an Oct. 9 statement from Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See's press office. “As already stated on other occasions, the words that Dr. Eugenio Scalfari attributes in quotation marks to the Holy Father during talks with him cannot be considered a faithful account of what was actually said but represent a personal and free interpretation of what he heard, as appears completely evident from what is written today regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ,” Bruni said. Some commentators responded to Bruni’s initial statement with criticism; saying the statement was too vague or was unclear. Ruffini’s remarks seemed intended to respond to that criticism. Scalfari’s column did not claim that he had recently interviewed the pontiff, only saying that this was a topic he had discussed with Pope Francis at some time in the past. Scalfari mentioned examples in Scriptures in which Christ prayed, among them his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, to support his thesis that Jesus Christ was not divine. He wrote that when he raised those points to Pope Francis, the pope told him: “‘They are the definite proof that Jesus of Nazareth, once he became a man, even if he was a man of exceptional virtue, was not a God.’” Pope Francis has made reference to Christ’s divinity frequently. In Evangelli Gaudium, the pope speaks of the “divine life” of Jesus. In his Dec. 24, 2013 homily, the pope said that “The grace which was revealed in our world is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God...In him was revealed the grace, the mercy, and the tender love of the Father: Jesus is Love incarnate. He is not simply a teacher of wisdom, he is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history, who has pitched his tent in our midst.” Speaking of Jesus last October, the pope said “God chooses an uncomfortable throne, the cross, from which he reigns giving his life.” Scalfari, who famously does not take notes during interviews has misrepresented Pope Francis in the past. In 2018, he claimed the pope denied the existence of hell, and the Vatican subsequently said that the pope had not granted an interview, and that the journalist had inaccurately represented a conversation between the men during a private Easter visit. “What is reported by the author in today’s article is the result of his reconstruction, in which the literal words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father,” a Vatican statement said in March 2018. The first time Scalfari reported that Pope Francis had made comments denying the existence of hell was in 2015. The Vatican dismissed that reporting as well. In November 2013, following intense controversy over quotes the journalist had attributed to Francis, Scalfari admitted that at least some of the words he had published a month prior “were not shared by the Pope himself.” I only watched a few seconds of the video but I noticed that Dr. Tim grabs the bridge of his nose. It could be a sinus infection, I think you are right Padraig a trip to the MD seems like a good idea. Padraig, Thank you for posting these videos. I have a lot of catching up to do. I watched a few minutes of this one too and it looks interesting also. I think that they were talking about the Borgias in the beginning of the video. Recently, I started watching the TV series about them with Jeremy Irons but then I stopped, I guess that I should go back to it now it might make me feel a bit better about what is happening currently. I know about them but watching it really brings it to life in a very scary way. Sean, I agree and it seems very similar to the example that you have offered here more and more similar almost everyday.
Whether this is true or not, this has to be the stupidest theological heresy I have ever heard of. Vacationism is a great name for it!
You could pray with Bishop Reed who has done videos of the rosary in Latin. Sanctum Rosarium | Mysteria Gaudiosa | CatholicTV
Precisely. Thank you. Edit to add: In my haste my mind read this as “not owing obedience.” Yes, we still must be united with our current Pope, but we do not owe obedience to his multiple errors and heresies in matters of faith and morals, and we can ignore his nonsense regarding climate and politics in general.
Unfortunately, as a Peronist he has a history of saying different things to different audiences. It seems likley that Scalfari's account is mostly true -- it would be easy to remember the controversial views of a Pope, especially on something so controversial. There is just no way Scalfari made this up -- you couldn't make it up!! It is up to Francis to deny Scalfari's account!
With all due tremendous respect to everyone: Please allow me to say (with absolutely no offense intended in any regard): I think "the ante should be up'd" by also refusing to attend Mass. Empty pews will quickly get the message across. This is rather easy for me to suggest, I suppose, having been Protestant for most of my life (no practice of daily attendance / Mass). Regarding this issue: How easy it is to simply say, "I did not say that."
Yes, one supports the pope until he starts doing things counter to the Faith. Then one continues to support the office of the papacy by resisting the rogue pope, because not to resist would be to act in complicity with the occupant of the papacy in undermining the office. But one always stays loyal to an office that was founded by Christ and that has mostly been occupied by a fine body of men. Whether this appalling allegation is true or not and Pope Francis is guilty or not is way beyond our pay grade. It's reminiscent of the Scrodinger's Cat thought experiment in quantum physics. The cat is both simultaneously dead and alive until the box is opened and actuality is derived from potentiality. Known as the 'collapse of the wave function'. We plebs might not be able to open the box, but God has observed the truth and knows the answer. Pope Francis had better mind himself or God's function will be to collapse him and wave him goodbye. I'll also say this...even if Pope Francis has in reality the most solid, most orthodox faith of any man that ever existed, he is recklessly negligent in not properly clarifying the likes of these statements from Scalfari. To allow this confusion and suspicion among the sheep to exist and grow is horrendous in itself, regardless of what he does or doesn't believe. If a pope came straight out and honestly proposed this kind of heresy, we could deal with it more easily, shocking though it would be. The uncertainty is, as I said earlier, pure 'spiritual terrorism'.
Absolutely not. Christ is and always is God, in Heaven and on Earth, and can be personally encountered in Mass. This is when we most need Him, in Person. In the Mass one actually encounters Him in His Godly Glory on Calvary, on Earth, in contrast to Scalfari's allegation. Hold your money in your pocket when the collection basket comes around. If enough do that, it'll hit home.
Can you define what you mean by resist? And by not owing allegiance? I'm not sure what you are proposing. Dangerously close to declaring the there is no pope IMO.
Ruffini has done a better job of crisis management than Bruni. However, a crisis remains. The reality is that very many of the faithful simply lack any trust in Pope Francis. It is very much of the latter's own making. Having relationships with hostile atheists intent on causing confusion inevitably leads to these appalling fiascos. To be honest, I'm not really reassured. As far as the (eventual) denial-they would say that, wouldn't they? The outcome of this Synod will tell us a lot more about Pope Francis than Vatican salvage missions.
Don’t be silly. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. This atheist has interviewed this pope nine times now, and subsequently supposedly “misquoted” him, as many times, with NO clarification from the Pope! There is simply no way a good shepherd would permit such statements to persist uncorrected all these years - unless they were not incorrect. Such naive credulity robs Catholics and Catholicism of any credibility and good will.
Today's best method of 'resistance', for example, would be the Hail Mary, with particular emphasis on 'Mother of God'. Prayer is probably the only effective instrument of resistance for we plebs. Of course, to resist would also be to refuse to believe such things as the 'Christ on Earth not God' heresy. One does not owe allegiance to a pope who is proposing heresy, at least in the matter of the heresy; if he is proposing other orthodox matters, one ought to obey, with caution; but to decide a pope is wicked is not to declare him as not being pope. We've had wicked popes before, they were still popes, just that they happened to be wicked. That's the way I look at it, but there seem to be few precedents for our current situation. You're right to keep the sensors active, all this confusion and anger might lead me astray.
I hate to say...it needs to get much worse for something to change. The Pope gets his message out with confusion. He surrounds himself with clergy who have covered up evil. Which makes them evil. We are in for a long process of distraction and distraction of the holy mother church. Sad sad sad
What I don’t understand then is why did Scalfari release this information now and not sometime in the previous two years? There seems something much more devious going on just by the timing of the release. If it was a true statement it seems it would likely have been released at the time the statement was said.i don’t know what to believe. Prayers are definitely needed.
The Catholic world - and the world in general - wasn’t ready yet for this. Plus this was timed to coincide with the paganism of the Amazon Synod. The state of the world has descended considerably in the last couple years.
