"Pope Francis was recently speaking with a group of high school
students in Rome.
He was asked about dealing with atheists and people of other faiths.
His response was that Christians should never proselytize (usually defined as sharing one’s faith in the hope of converting others) and that those who do are “not a disciple of Jesus.”
After all, he reasoned, “we are not in the time of the crusades,” “we are all children of God,” and “the church does not grow by proselytism.” “Rather,” he says, it grows by “attraction, by testimony.”
So, let’s compare what the Pope seems to be saying here against the infallible, inerrant, unchanging Word of God:
He was asked about dealing with atheists and people of other faiths.
His response was that Christians should never proselytize (usually defined as sharing one’s faith in the hope of converting others) and that those who do are “not a disciple of Jesus.”
After all, he reasoned, “we are not in the time of the crusades,” “we are all children of God,” and “the church does not grow by proselytism.” “Rather,” he says, it grows by “attraction, by testimony.”
So, let’s compare what the Pope seems to be saying here against the infallible, inerrant, unchanging Word of God:
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15)KenHam
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)."
