First read, THEN snipe. Make sure of your target and of what is behind it, as we say in the NRA.The pope in question says, through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. and I'm guessing he said so on purpose.
I guess the devil is in the details. While sounding orthodox to some extent, the unpacked meaning reveals details not quite biblical.
I was actually looking for a more theoretical personal repsonse to the Lord's question of why one should be let into heaven.
Yes, we think works are on the way to the perfection or consummation of Justification, Sanctification, Salvation, Redemption, etc.
But we also think the good works we may perform, to the extent that they are good (if any) are gifts. My good works (again, if any) are not mine, "... for God is at work in [me] both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
Further, as I read Paul, I can't even pray properly by myself, but the Holy Spirit prays in me.
The poverty of our monks, nuns, friars, etc. is not just an added discipline, it's making external what is internal in everyone in whom God acts. I have nothing to plead before God but the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Son. Not one thing, not even orthodoxy. THEREFORE I am Catholic.