Pope Francis says he felt ‘bitterness’ when introduced to Catholic converts in Africa

LifeSite News ^ | September 27, 2019 | Dorothy Cummings McLean

[ebb tide]

Pope Francis says he felt ‘bitterness’ when introduced to Catholic converts in Africa

VATICAN CITY, September 27, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― In a question-and-answer session with Jesuits in Mozambique, Pope Francis underscored his dislike of “proselytization” by condemning the actions of a Catholic woman he had met that day. 

The Argentinian pontiff’s September 5 remarks were published yesterday in the Holy See’s news website Vatican News.

“Today I felt a certain bitterness after a meeting with young people,” Pope Francis told the assembled Jesuits.  

“A woman approached me with a young man and a young woman. I was told they were part of a slightly fundamentalist movement,” he continued. 

“She said to me in perfect Spanish: ‘Your Holiness, I am from South Africa. This boy was a Hindu and converted to Catholicism. This girl was Anglican and converted to Catholicism.’ But she told me in a triumphant way, as though she was showing off a hunting trophy. I felt uncomfortable and said to her, ‘Madam, evangelization yes, proselytism no.’”

Pope Francis seemed to believe that the young people had been coerced in some way, for he told his listeners that whereas “evangelization is free,” “proselytism … makes you lose your freedom.” 

“Proselytism is incapable of creating a religious path in freedom,” he said. 

“It always sees people being subjugated in one way or another. In evangelization the protagonist is God, in proselytism it is the I.”

Pope Francis continued by saying that there were “many forms of proselytism’ and that “the one practiced by soccer teams, acquiring fans, is all right, obviously!”

“And then it is clear that there are those forms of proselytism for commerce and business, for political parties,” he added.  

“Proselytism is widespread, we know that. But it doesn’t have to be the case with us. We must evangelize, which is very different from proselytizing.”

The pontiff repeated the old story about St. Francis telling his friars to evangelize and “if necessary, use words, too.”   

“Evangelization is essentially witness,” Francis continued.  

“Proselytizing is convincing, but it is all about membership and takes your freedom away.”

He cited an address Benedict XVI gave at the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil during his visit in 2017. The German pontiff had said that the Church does not engage in proselytism.

“Instead, she grows by ‘attraction’: just as Christ ‘draws all to himself’ by the power of his love, culminating in the sacrifice of the Cross, so the Church fulfils her mission to the extent that, in union with Christ, she accomplishes every one of her works in spiritual and practical imitation of the love of her Lord,” Benedict continued. 

Catholics expressed their dismay about Francis’ rejection of the South African lady on social media. British Father Evan Julce contrasted Pope Francis’ approached with that of St. Padre Pio when an enthusiastic lady addressed him. 

“A woman excitedly told Padre Pio that there was a prophecy that a Franciscan would convert 1/3 of the world,” Julce recalled over Twitter. 

“The saintly Padre responded: ‘what would I want with only 1/3? I want everyone to come to Christ,’” he continued. 

“He didn’t spurn her. Her spurred her (and himself) to  work more.”

A Twitter user named Heather replied, “I feel so sad for this lady. She was probably just so excited for the Pope to meet her convert friends.”

[Wonder Warthog]

Islam proselytizes, Catholicism evangalizes. One is forced, the other is free choice.

[tom h]

I became an evangelical Christian 30 years ago. So, unfortunately, opposing Francis is not my fight.

It has been a long time since I called myself a Catholic, so I don’t know if a Pope can be impeached or otherwise removed from office against his will. Barring that, leaving the church might be one of the best ways to bring him down.

Or, perhaps all Catholics should pray that well-known prayer of Psalm 109:8.

It appears that Mother Miriam is one of Francis’ fiercest critics on her radio show. I led a men’s bible study recently and quoted her extensively. What a firebrand.

[Mrs. Don-o]

All this is interesting and I thank you for discussing it.

However, leaving the Church is the fastest way to help the lamentable Bergoglio achieve his goals.

[tom h]

What percentage of Catholics think Francis is a terribly flawed pope? Is it over 50%?

[Vision]

They know the Pope’s an antichrist. That’s the best he can expect to be treated. God’s judgment may not be so kind.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I actually don't know. Pew did a survey about it maybe a year and a half ago, and it showed Pope Francis' "popularity" among Catholics dropping steadily but not precipitously --- but what does that even mean?

NOT (!) that Pope Francis is anything like Trump, but it's like Trump's popularity scores: always hovering somewhere between 42 and 52 percent, sometimes up, sometimes down, no indication that the people responding to the poll have any idea what the real issues are, or what the hell is going on.

The serious Catholics I know all see Bergoglio as a bad pope, ranging from lamentable to disastrous --- but those are the circles I travel in. The number of Cardinals and Bishops who have seriously spoken out, are surely LESS than 5%.

The U.S. independent Catholic media (ranging from EWTN/CNA to the major bloggers) seem to be strongly tending toward "something is terribly wrong." But again, maybe that's the particular media bubble I live in.

I half expect a well-placed, well-timed meteor crash to sooner or later give an idea of what God thinks.

[tom h]

Well, since you have been a Catholic all your life, I expect you don’t know what the other half of Christianity says about Bergoglio, and what they have been saying about Catholicism for a century. I’m talking about the premilliennial Christians, which are about 25-35%.

Premillennials believe in a pretty literal interpretation of the Bible, and that interpretation says that the world is in for some rough times, not long from now. You know the words — Armageddon, End Times, Apocalypse, the Day of our Lord, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble — basically, the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Romans, Isaiah, plus Revelation. Seven years of really nasty times on earth before Jesus’ Second Coming. [Note that I just led an 8-week men’s Bible Study on this very topic recently.]

Anyway, two of the markers preceding this nasty time — if you believe it literally — are the establishment of a one-world government and a one-world religion. Does that sound a bit like Bergoglio’s push toward ecumenicalism? Bringing all religions together in the Vatican to pray together? Even if it’s for a good cause, like world peace, should Christians ever link arms with another religion (say Buddhism) and act like we’re praying to the same God?

Protestants have long believed that it would be the Catholic Church of Rome (not all Catholics, mind you, just the official religion) who would make the compromises that would usher in the one world religion.

So the talk on the evangelical side is that perhaps Bergoglio is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy himself. A pope who is taking the first step toward making that one world religion happen.

Anyway, I’m just telling you what the other side of Christendom is talking about, among those who have a brain, and watch this disaster of a man — a socialist pretending to be a pope — destroy a religion.

[Mrs. Don-o]

THank you for your point of view. These are surreal days.