Pope:
No to ecclesial elites who privatize the faith
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says ecclesial elites who
form cliques and scorn others are privatizing the faith and not following the
way of Jesus. His words came during his homily at morning Mass on
Thursday (29th January) celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.
The Pope’s homily was
a reflection on the need for Christians to follow Jesus in the way that He
wants and not to follow incorrect models such as privatizing our faith.
“It’s true, Jesus has
saved us all, but not in a general fashion. All of us, each one with
their name and surname. And this is our personal salvation. I am
truly saved, the Lord looked at me, gave his life for me, opened this door, this
new life for me and each of us can say ‘For me.’ But there’s a danger of
forgetting that He saved us individually but at the same time as part of his
people or community. His people. The Lord always saves his
people. From the moment he calls Abraham and promises to make them his
people. And the Lord saves us as part of this community.
That’s why the writer of this Letter (to the Hebrews) tells us: ‘Let us be
concerned for each other.’ There is no salvation solely for me. If
that’s the way I understand salvation, I’m mistaken and going along the wrong
path. The privatization of salvation is the wrong path.”
Pope Francis explained
that there are three criteria for not privatizing salvation: ‘faith in Jesus
who purifies us,’ hope that ‘stirs us to look at his promises and go
forward’ and charity: namely taking care of each other, to encourage us all to
practice charity and good works.’
“And when I’m in a
parish, in a community -- or whatever it is – I am there, I can privatize
salvation and be there only on a small social level. But in order not to
privatize salvation, I need to ask myself if I speak and communicate the faith,
speak and communicate hope, speak, practice and communicate charity. If
within a particular community there is no communication between people and no
encouragement is given to everybody to practice these three virtues, the
members of that community have privatized their faith. Each of them is
looking for his or her personal salvation, not the salvation of everybody, the
salvation of their people. And Jesus saved all of us but as part of his
people, within a Church.”
The Pope pointed out
that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews gave some very important practical
advice: ‘Do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do.’ He
said this happens when we’re at such assemblies, in the parish or community and
we judge the others, when there’s this kind of scorn towards the others.
This, Pope Francis stressed, is not the new and living way of Jesus.
“They scorn the others,
they stay away from the community as a whole, they stay away from the people of
God, they have privatized salvation: salvation is for me and my small group,
but not for all the people of God. And this is a very serious
mistake. It’s what we see and call: ‘the ecclesial elites.’ When
these small groups are created within the community of God’s people, these
people believe they are being good Christians and also are acting in good faith
maybe, but they are small groups who have privatized salvation.”
Reiterating that God
saves us as part of a people, not as part of an elite group, Pope Francis
concluded his homily by urging us to consider whether we have a tendency to
privatize our faith in this way instead of being close to the people of God and
practicing the three virtues of faith, hope and charity.
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