Budapest, Hungary: Once Again Pope Francis Tells Religious Leaders to Enter into Full Communion and Forget the Past

Pope Francis is busy fulfilling his prophetic role. The call to unite Catholics and Protestants that the Pope shared in Slovakia [1] has also reached Hungary. Once again, he is calling on church leaders to come together in “full communion” and “unity.” On September 12, 2021, Pope Francis told an ecumenical group of Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and Jews in Budapest, Hungary, that he was happy to see them sitting “side by side.” He called the gathering a “sign of a great desire for unity.” The Pope looked at them and said, “My brothers and fellow Christians, I bless your continuing journey towards full communion … this is the most concrete route to full unity.” [2]

Pope Francis also said during the meeting with the representatives of the different churches that we must “commit ourselves to fostering together an education in fraternity, so that the outbursts of hatred that would destroy that fraternity will never prevail.” Part of the new “education” includes forgetting the past “moments, misunderstandings and persecutions.” By forgetting the past and by thinking differently, the Pope continued, this “can enable us, together, to build a different future.” [2]

He spoke of becoming a “chain bridge” connecting “two halves.” “That is how it should be with us too,” the Pope reiterated. “A bridge unites” he continued, “We can no longer live apart.” Pope Francis concluded by saying that God wants “individuals and communities to be bridges.” The Pope said that this was the “only” way to “reach the top.” He thanked the different faith leaders for attending and “encouraged” them to “persevere” in this “journey together.” [2]

Protestantism is falling away from the truth it once held with all this smooth talk from Rome. We have strayed from the historical, theological and classical principles of the Protestant Reformation. Protestants are not guilty of ignorance, far from it: we are guilty of rejecting the Protestant faith, our Protestant heritage, Protestant history, Protestant doctrine and our Protestant forefathers who gave their lives and fortunes for the Reformation. And for what purpose? So that we can be part of Rome’s universal fraternity. What happened to the Protestant Reformers and their mission to rescue and restore God’s word from the mountains of tradition and false doctrine?

Today we are on the path to full communion and unity with the Catholic Church; a church that has not changed any of her doctrines nor repudiated any of her errors. It is Protestantism that is making all the concessions! We should be calling for full communion and unity with the word of God because the Pope still claims universal authority over the entire Christian world. He still claims infallibility. He claims to be the final authority on religious matters, thus placing himself above the Word of God. The Pope still claims to be the Vicar (representative) of Christ. According to the Bible (John 14:16) the Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, not a mere man. Rome still claims to forgive sins and they still believe they have the authority to change God’s law. They still command their members to worship and pray to idols, Mary and all the dead saints. They still believe in purgatory, indulgences and tradition.

The doctrinal questions raised by Martin Luther have not been resolved. Without hesitation, Luther upheld the clear teachings of Scripture above the church and the encyclicals of the Pope. He was excommunicated and lived under the threat of martyrdom for the rest of his life. That was how the Reformation began. How can we just ignore this reality? Where are the Reformers who used to protest heretical teachings and aberrations of Scripture? There’s hardly any left. Sadly, we are heading right back into the Dark Ages because the heirs of the Reformers are rejecting the principles of the Reformation. Whenever a people is divorced from their own heritage and belief system, they will not stand long.

Indeed, Protestants will continue to be subjugated by Rome. They will continue to embrace every wind of doctrine found in today’s popular culture – gay clergy, same-sex marriage, women’s ordination, abortion, and a list of other issues because of their rejection of the Scriptures. This is opening the door to confusion, religious relativism, pluralism, spiritualism, the dilution of Bible doctrine and is leading us back into the arms of Rome.

It is Protestantism that desperately needs to be reformed by the Word of God, and not by the smooth words of sinful men. We have forgotten that the Reformation was about going back to the Scriptures. We used to be a movement that elevated truth above all else. Today we are promoting a “brotherhood” and a “unity” that is based on deception and not on the truth of God. The Protestant Reformation used to call people to return their obedience and allegiance to the Bible, not to Babylon. If we really want to continue the life and work of the Protestant Reformation, we cannot sacrifice the truth or forget the past in order to join with Rome.

“The history of the Reformation teaches us that the church of Christ is never to come to a standstill and cease reforming … The past history of the advancement of truth amid error and darkness shows us that sacred truth is not cherished and sought after by the majority. Those who have advanced in reform, obeying the voice of God— ‘Go forward’ —have been subject to opposition, torture, and death; and in the face of gaping prisons and threatened torture and death, they deemed the truth for their time of sufficient importance to hold tenaciously, yielding their life rather than to sacrifice their faith. They counted not their life dear unto them if sacrificed for the truth of God. The truth in our day is as important as it was in the days of the martyrs. We should cherish the principles of truth just as sacredly as they cherished the truth in their day, in face of the world and every species of opposition.” (Letter 35a, 1877).

Sources

[1] http://adventmessenger.org/pope-francis-calls-for-full-communion-between-the-churches-in-an-ecumenical-meeting-during-his-visit-to-slovakia/

[2] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/09/12/210912c.html