“The privileged place to meet Christ is sin”
A) The text of the speech by J.M.Bergoglio:
“«The privileged place to meet Christ is our sins». To a careless ear, this “could seem almost a heresy but also St. Paul said so» in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (12, 9) when he claimed to boast «only about two things: his sins and the Resurrected Christ, that saved him»” (Morning meditation in the chapel of the DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE, September 8, 2014)
B) References to Scriptures:
“But he has answered me, ‘My grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.’ It is, then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me; and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong” (2Co 12:9-10)
C) Comment:
To affirm that “our sins are the privileged place to meet Christ”, manipulating the words and the original meaning of what was said by Paul the Apostle, is a heresy and in contradiction with the Scripture.
St. Paul affirms to be proud of his “weaknesses”, that are quite different from “sin”. In fact, the Apostle clearly explicates these “weaknesses”: “illness”, “outrages”, “necessity”, “persecutions”, “anguishes suffered for Christ”.
Then, St. Paul says to “boast about his weaknesses” so that the power of Christ may dwell in him; Bergoglio, distorting the words of St. Paul, speaks of “boasting about sin” because sin is the privileged place to meet Christ.
This statement of Bergoglio, is very grave and unprecedented and cannot be diminished by speeches in which the same Bergoglio, once understood his error, would want now to withdraw or cancel.
