Pope Tells Young Catholic Boy His Atheist Father is in Heaven
Pope Francis has made several controversial statements throughout the years, but perhaps none quite as controversial as the one in this video. You can watch it here.
I would define demonic as any false teaching that distorts the Gospel (Gal. 1:6-9) in a way that would lead people to hell (Eph. 2:1-3). Any preacher on any given Sunday may say things that are wrong, but that doesn’t make it demonic. When a preacher’s words cause the people who listen to trust in some other gospel, that is when it becomes demonic (Luke 17:1-2).
As I watched the video, I have found five different, serious errors that the Pope espoused that prove that he not only was teaching error but that he was doing so in order to lead the people who were present away from the true Gospel and into hell.
The Pope is concerned about popularity not with truth
The Pope is in a hard position here. He has a young boy standing before him. The young boy is sobbing uncontrollably. He barely has the strength or courage to approach the pope and to talk in his ear. He has a simple question: is my atheist dad in Heaven? He was a good man and had me and my siblings baptized. Is he in Heaven?
Now, I get that the Pope doesn’t understand the Gospel at all. He rejects faith alone (Eph. 2:8) as the means by which we are saved. So no one could expect him to answer this question correctly, but at the very least one could expect him to answer the question in a Catholic way. Every Catholic knows that only saints go straight to Heaven when they die, and even then they have to manufacture a couple of miracles to get them there. Pope John Paul II had a tough time getting to heaven himself. Here, in a couple minutes, the tears of a young child led the pope to ignore 500 years of Roman Catholic historical doctrine for a man who was an atheist, and who simply had his children baptized, something every Italian does automatically (some estimates say 96% of Italians). Simply said, the pope isn’t concerned about truth, he’s concerned about popularity (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
The Pope goes out of his way to teach the crowd
The pope’s false teaching would have been bad enough had he just whispered it in the child’s ear. But then, with the child’s permission, he decided to relay to the crowd the false teaching as well. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just lied to the child, and one could have said he buckled under pressure. But the moment the pope went out of his way to teach the crowd, was the moment that he went from being a coward to a tool of the devil.
He had an agenda here. He wanted the crowd to believe what he was saying (2 Peter 2:1-3). He took it to the next level when he had the crowd repeat after him. He was attempting to convince the crowd of his position. He wasn’t satisfied with having appeased the child, he wanted the whole crowd to believe in his works-based system of salvation.
The pope believes people are inherently good and children of God
Notice how the Pope assumes that God is the Father of the boy’s father. I wrote an article not too long ago about the fact that no one is born a child of God (John 1:12). Inherent in false religion is this belief that everyone is born good, and that everyone is born a child of God.
This video is simply another illustration of this false teaching. There is perhaps nothing sweeter than the doctrine of adoption (Eph. 1:5). God has taken his enemies and made them His friends. He has taken orphans and adopted them into his family (Rom. 8:16-17). Believing anything different goes directly against the Gospel. Ultimately it leads to universalism and renders Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as useless.
The pope has a works-based religion
The pope said something incredibly fascinating, I actually kind of agree with him. It is harder for an atheist to baptize his children than for a practicing Roman Catholic. Take that thought to the next level though. God, looking at that action by the father, then is somehow impressed with it, and allows the man to enter Heaven, based on this action. Imagine this dad standing before God. God looks at him and tells him that he is impressed with him. Says, “Well done my child! Thanks for baptizing your children even though you didn’t believe in me! Enter into Heaven!” That man would walk around Heaven for eternity patting himself on the back boasting incessantly (Eph. 2:9) for making it to Heaven. That man would be stealing glory from God.
The fact of the matter is that God can’t share His glory with people, and salvation isn’t earned through keeping rules–it is a free gift of grace through faith (Titus 3:5-8).
The pope tells the child to pray to his father
The pope ends his little speech with an encouragement for the child to pray to his father. Of course, it goes without saying that this is unbiblical. But it is important to note that when Jesus is belittled, the Father misunderstood, and the Holy Spirit is completely unknown, then praying to God becomes almost impossible. That’s where Mary, the saints, and an atheist father must become intercessors. People, we know and can relate to, but God is far too distant and impossible to understand. The devil’s goal is to distance people from God. His goal is to steal worship from God and the pope is assisting the devil in doing just that.
Videos like these are opportunities for us to see false religion for what it is. The devil loves to mask it and hide it but every once in a while it gets exposed. It’s tough to watch this video and somehow explain it away as a simple mistake. The pope is purposefully attempting to lead people astray. You need to come to grips with the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is a false religion, and the people caught in it are victims who must be rescued (2 Tim. 2:26). Whether you read about the “graceless” doors, “holy” stairs, or “sin-absolving” confessions booths, it's not too difficult to see that the Roman Catholic Church is not a true church and cannot lead people to salvation. Maybe you are reading this and have never trusted in Christ for your salvation, up to now you’ve believed that being a good person can get you to Heaven. I pray you understand why Jesus died on the cross and that when he did He completely satisfied the wrath of God for anyone who believes in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). You can be saved right now! (2 Cor. 6:1-2) Perhaps you are a believer who goes to a Catholic church. I implore you to come out of it! Perhaps you are a believer and have Catholic friends, but aren’t sure where they stand. I pray that you would get beyond the basics and ask them which Jesus they are trusting in for their salvation.
May videos like these, though painful to watch, be tools God uses to turn us into passionate evangelists who desperately love the lost.
