CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY MAY 12, 2025
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS A NEW POPE. I’M NOT GOING TO COMMENT ON THE THEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM, WHICH HAVE EXISTED SINCE MARTIN LUTHER.
I WILL COMMENT ON THE NEW POPE’S EARTHLY AGENDA. HE APPEARS TO BE IN LINE WITH THE LATE POPE FRANCIS’ EMPHASIS ON THE SOCIAL GOSPEL. DURING HIS TIME IN PERU – WHERE HE BECAME A DUAL CITIZEN IN ADDITION TO HIS U.S. CITIZENSHIP, HIS EMPHASIS WAS ON HELPING THE POOR. HELPING THE POOR IS A BIBLICAL MANDATE, BUT SCRIPTURE IS CLEAR THAT ONE MUST BE BORN AGAIN TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. HELPING THE POOR – ESPECIALLY HELPING THEM TO BECOME UN-POOR – IS A SIGN THAT GOD CARES ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION. BUT THE ULTIMATE SIGN OF HIS CARING IS WHEN HE SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR OUR SINS AND THAT BY REPENTING AND INVITING JESUS INTO OUR LIVES WE ARE SAVED FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION.
THAT HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, OR FOR THAT MATTER TOO MANY PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.
WE’LL SOON SEE WHERE THIS NEW POPE – LEO THE 14TH – TAKES HIS CHURCH. WILL IT BE A CENTRAL MESSAGE OF SALVATION, OR WILL IT BE A FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD? I’M CAL THOMAS.
