Old Line Elephant Maryland Conservative Blog

Is the Pope Promoting Universalism? EDIT: Nope.

So, I read a piece today from First Things about a recent homily from Pope Francis. In the homily, the Pope appears to promote universalism. Here's the quote:

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy...The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

Emphasis mine.

In this homily the Pope make the excellent point that yes, all people should be doing good in the world and are able of doing good in the world. The truth of the Lord is written on our hearts as noted in Jeremiah when he describes the new covenant:

"Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days"--the LORD's declaration. "I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people."
Jeremiah 31:33

Immediately after this, however, his homily appears to sound like universalism. "All are redeemed..." Mentioning of doing good works and "...we will meet one another there..." Is that a reference to Heaven or a reference to just where the good works are being completed? It's unclear to me.

All the Catholics I know are not universalists. Which is what makes the quote all the more confusing. If the Pope is preaching universalism, I hope he is rebuked. If he is not and the translation was poorly selected words, then I feel clarification is in order. Please, clarify below if you take the above quote differently. The writer at First Things seemed to imply this was a reference to non-believers gaining access to Heaven and referenced Pope Benedict XVI's thoughts on the topic. Again, I hope this is an incorrect understanding.

I have rallied against universalism a few times on this blog. Here are some examples:

• A Piece Where I Rebuke Billy Graham
  
• Only Halfway There

So, I ask you, my readers - is the Pope embracing universalism? Is this a poor translation of the Pope's words? Or is he getting at something else entirely which the people at First Things and myself misunderstood? Leave your thoughts below.

EDIT 5/24/2013 - David Perry from the Atlantic has reviewed the homily in Italian and English and came to the conclusion that the Pope did not call for universalism. You can read more here.