Pope Francis: Let the Word of God take root in your heart

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

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Vatican City, Oct 10, 2019 / 07:17 am (CNA).- A Vatican spokesman denied directly on Thursday the report of an Italian journalist who wrote that 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.”
 

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Vatican City, May 10, 2018 / 10:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, arrived in Rome earlier this week ahead of meetings with the pope and other Vatican officials – the first such visit in 10 years, and their first meeting with Francis since his election.

The delegation of seven bishops will meet with the pope next week for an ad limina visit – a customary meeting for diocesan bishops to give an update on the state of their dioceses – which typically takes place every five years.

The bishops of Taiwan last made an ad limina visit in December 2008 with Benedict XVI.

The bishops have brought two gifts for the pope: a painting by Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian missionary to China who served as a painter in the court of three emperors in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and a painting titled “Merciful Sun Shines on Taiwan,” by Tawanese artist Chia Shen-chen.

Before leaving for Rome, the bishops met with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, and with Vice President Chen Chien-jen – a devout Catholic who visited the Vatican for the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta in 2016 – who held a farewell dinner to express the government’s respect for the Church and the importance of Vatican-Taiwan relations.

The ad limina visit comes during a time of increased pressure from mainland China on Taiwan.

The Holy See has recognized the Republic of China since 1942, and does not have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, which consolidated control of the mainland at the conclusion of a civil war in 1949.

The People’s Republic insists that Taiwan is a rebel province, and place heavy pressure on countries not to recognize the island as a sovereign state. The Holy See is among the most prominent sovereign entities to do so.

Vatican journalist Francis Rocca reports in the Wall Street Journal that recent negotiations between the Holy See and mainland China may have stalled as the government has cracked down more severely on religious institutions, starting with the implementation of new regulations in February.

The Holy See has been in negotiations with the communist Chinese government in recent months that could eventually lead to Vatican recognition of seven illicitly ordained bishops aligned with Beijing, but which could end up sidelining the Church in Taiwan if an agreement leads to diplomatic ties being formed between the Holy See and Beijing.

Archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan of Taipei, speaking to Reuters in March, said the Church in Taiwan did not anticipate that the Holy See and mainland China would establish diplomatic relations, because to do so requires sharing “common values with each other.”

“The values the Vatican holds are different from those of the Chinese Communist Party. Building ties with the Vatican requires values including freedom and democracy,” Archbishop Hung said.

Taiwan has fewer than 300,000 Catholics – two percent of the population – and seven dioceses. There are seven active bishops, and six who are retired.

Bishop Bosco Lin Chi-nan of Tainan and Archbishop Hung are both close to turning 75, when they will be required to submit their retirement, potentially opening up two sees to new bishop appointments if Pope Francis accepts their resignations.

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