Cardinal Cantara Mesa gave the first homily of Advent, reflecting on interfaith dialogue. Pope Francis was also present to listen.
(Vatican News Network) inter-religious dialogue is not in opposition to evangelization, but rather determines the means of evangelization. Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the Pope’s Palace, delivered the first homily of this year’s Advent to the heads of the ministries of the Holy in Paul VI Hall on December 2. Pope Francis was also present to listen. According to the Cardinal, Jesus sent the disciples “to make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), which undoubtedly retains its eternal validity but needs to be understood in its historical context.
The cardinal explained that “all nations” in the context of the time is an expression, showing that the message of Jesus is not only for Israel, but also for the whole world. The words of Jesus “are always valid for everyone, but for those who already practice other religions, they need to be treated with respect, patience and love”. St. understood Francis of Assisi this and put it into practice. In the “Regulations of the Council”, he proposed “two ways to contact the Arabs and other nations”. The first is not to argue, but to accept “everyone was created by the love of God” and declare yourself a Christian. Secondly, once “See the favor of the Lord, proclaim the Word and make them believe in the Almighty God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.
From this, the cardinal spoke of the practical significance of “going to make disciples of all nations”. He said, “If faith in Christ is the faith of salvation, what about those who do not have the opportunity to believe in him?” Today we live in a society where “religions are also many,” theology, Eastern and Western, Catholic and In fact Protestantism only developed in a world where Christianity existed. In the past “the existence of other religions was also known, but these religions were considered false from the beginning, or they were not taken seriously”. Apart from the different ways of understanding the church, all Christians strongly believe in the traditionally accepted truth that “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus) is a common belief.
“This is no longer the case,” the cardinal stressed. For some time now, there has been “dialogue between religions, in a spirit of mutual respect and recognition of the values inherent in all religions”. As for the Catholic Church, the Declaration of the Second Vatican Council “The Attitude of the Church towards Non-Christian Religions” became the starting point, and “such a policy is also the consensus of all Christian churches in history.” With this recognition, we express our “belief that people outside the church can be saved.”
Cardinal Cantara Mesa then asked, in this new vision, does the traditional axiom “no salvation outside the church” survive in the axiom “no salvation outside faith”? In some Christian contexts, he said, Christianity is actually “the dominant doctrine, and that becomes the motivation for missionary commitment.” However, in this way “salvation is limited in the beginning to a few”. This not only “distorts Christ first and takes most people away from him”.
We cannot, said the cardinal, believe that “Jesus is God and limit his visibility to narrow areas”. Quoting the Bible, the cardinal noted that those who do not know Christ, only act according to their conscience (cf. Romans 2:14-15) and do good to their neighbor (cf. Mt. In ” Acts of the Apostles”, Peter also said that “God is not respectful, and all who fear him and do justice are those who please him” (10:34-35).
Furthermore, generally speaking, people of other religions “believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (cf. Heb. assertion). This was particularly true about the Jewish brothers, who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same God that we Christians believe in, who “has ways of redemption beyond our imagination. He established his ‘ channels of grace, but he did not bind himself in them.” One of the excellent channels of salvation is “suffering”.
Suffering, in its own way, became the sacrament of universal salvation after Christ “took it upon himself and bought it”. “Suffering of all kinds, not only Christians, somehow wonderfully adds to what was lacking in Christ’s sufferings” (Colossians 1:24). Therefore, “the Church celebrates the martyrdom of the holy babies, even though they did not know that they were suffering for Christ!” Having said this, the cardinal said, “we believe that all who are saved are saved through the merits of Christ “. It is therefore “necessary” to continue to “preach the Gospel to all”.
Cardinal Cantara Mesa concludes that the motivation for evangelization “should change, but not the fact”. In this vision, we must “continue to proclaim Christ, but not for a negative reason, that is: if the Gospel is not preached, the world will be condemned; but for a positive reason, that is, for everyone, Jesus is unchangeable grace.”
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