FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
MODERNISM
(Part 34)
PAPAL TEACHINGS
December 18, 2021
Popes, as seen in the history of our Church, can be in error. Today there are more errors in the teachings of hierarchs, as modernism has swept into our Church. What are the teachings of St John Paul II and St Paul VI, which are in direct contradiction with modernist teachings today?
From Redemptoris Missio, Pope St. John Paul II
#46. The proclamation of the Word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and his Gospel through faith.
MODERNIST ERROR: Modernists no longer seek conversion for peoples, but to just be good persons and even be comfortable in their respective faiths.
#55 … “I recently wrote to the bishops of Asia: “Although the Church gladly acknowledges whatever is true and holy in the religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam as a reflection of that truth which enlightens all people, this does not lessen her duty and resolve to proclaim without fail Jesus Christ who is ‘the way, and the truth and the life.’…The fact that the followers of other religions can receive God’s grace and be saved by Christ apart from the ordinary means which he has established does not thereby cancel the call to faith and baptism which God wills for all people.”
MODERNIST ERROR: Indifferentism, which claims that differences in religious belief are of no importance.
#57. But one of the most serious reasons for the lack of interest in the missionary task is a widespread indifferentism, which, sad to say, is found also among Christians. It is based on incorrect theological perspectives and is characterized by a religious relativism which leads to the belief that “one religion is as good as another.”
MODERNIST ERROR: All religions are ways to the divine.
Nowadays the call to conversion which missionaries address to non-Christians is put into question or passed over in silence. It is seen as an act of “proselytizing“; it is claimed that it is enough to help people to become more human or more faithful to their own religion, that it is enough to build communities capable of working for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity. What is overlooked is that every person has the right to hear the “Good News” of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or her proper calling.
MODERNIST ERROR: It is wrong to proselytize (which actually means making converts).
MODERNIST ERROR: Just be a good person. Be a social justice warrior.
#100. Indeed Christ himself “while expressly insisting on the need for faith and baptism, at the same time confirmed the need for the Church, into which people enter through Baptism as through a door.”
MODERNIST ERROR: God wills a diversity of religions.
#101. Dialogue should be conducted and implemented with the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation.”
MODERNIST ERROR: All religions are valid and are ways to the divine.
From Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope St. Paul VI
#80. Thus one too frequently hears it said, in various terms, that to impose a truth, be it that of the Gospel, or to impose a way, be it that of salvation, cannot but be a violation of religious liberty. Besides, it is added, why proclaim the Gospel when the whole world is saved by uprightness of heart?
MODERNIST ERROR: All men have a reasonable hope of being saved. There is no hell. If there is, there is no one in hell.
#133. The respectful presentation of Christ and His kingdom is more than the evangelizer’s right; it is his duty. It is likewise the right of his fellow men to receive from him the proclamation of the Good News of salvation.
MODERNIST ERROR: Focus on social justice issues rather than being missionary.
