For Francis however, these considerations are no more than semantics. “All of us together: Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Copts, Evangelical. But [we are] brothers, children of the same God” he said on Holy Thursday.[4] There were reports that “[a] number of the migrants whose feet were washed by the pope had tears streaming down their faces.”[5] One wonders if such an emotional moment has led any of the non-Catholics who have had their feet washed in the past three years to convert. Probably not. Even if it had, based on past statements by the pope, one wonders if this is something that he would even have approved of.[6]
Arguably, Catholics, Copts, and Evangelical Christians are brothers, children of the same God because of baptism. But the claim that we are all "children" in so far as we are created by the same God? While "children of God" has been used in that sense in the West, is the same true of the East? And even if it is the case that that usage has some legitimacy because of the past, is it a good idea to continue it, since the first meaning is more important, and one does not want to create the misunderstanding that Christianity is superfluous or foster indifferentism?
This way of speaking of all of humanity as being sons or children of God is practically equivalent to statements about human dignity, which must be correctly understood as referring to human nature not just in itself but in its being ordered to friendship with God. Otherwise the affirmation of human dignity can be problematic if it is intellectually separated from God and His will for us.
This year, Pope Francis chose to celebrate Our Lord’s Supper with the traditional washing of the feet at a temporary...
Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Friday, March 25, 2016
Pope Francis celebrated the Missa in coena Domini on Holy Thursday evening, at the CARA Welcome and Hospitality Centre...
Posted by Vatican Radio - English Section on Friday, March 25, 2016
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