NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (CNS)—Awaiting the arrival of Pope Francis, a bishop who continuously criticizes Pope Francis told reporters that speaking up when he disagrees with the pope is an expression of “collegiality.”
For instance, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, told reporters Pope Francis’ participation within the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions — the principal reason the pope traveled to Kazakhstan — was “dangerous” since it could “undermine the individuality and absoluteness of Jesus Christ as savior and of our mission to evangelise to all nations, to all religions, Jesus Christ.”
The bishop made his comments Sept. 15 while awaiting Pope Francis’ arrival at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Nur-Sultan for a gathering with bishops, priests, religious, laity and seminarians.
Bishop Schneider said the congress could give the impression that the pope supports “a supermarket of religions” that individuals could select freely from.
Bishop Schneider said the congress could give the impression that the pope supports “a supermarket of religions” that individuals could select freely from.
“This will not be correct because there is simply one true religion, which is the Catholic Church, founded by God himself, but commanded to all men, to all religions, to imagine and accept his son Jesus Christ, the one savior,” the bishop said.
Especially for the reason that Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has professed its respect for other religions and for the sincere efforts of other believers to hunt God, even though it continues to profess its belief that the fullness of truth and the surest path to salvation is in Christianity. The Catholic Church supports and engages in interreligious dialogue to advertise peace, mutual respect and non secular freedom.
Although he has been critical of the pope, especially regarding the pope’s efforts to advertise celebrations of the Latin-rite Mass only in keeping with the reforms of Vatican II, Bishop Schneider told the reporters that if he expresses disagreement with the pope, he does so “with respect, fraternally.”
What would the Catholic Church be if no bishop can “say something to the pope. That is collegiality, that is fraternity,” he said. “I attempt to all the time do it through respect, through brotherly love, not through adulation.”
