Salvation is individual, but not a private affair, Pope says in homily
January 29, 2015
Salvation is an individual matter, but anyone who is interested only in his personal salvation is “going along the wrong path,” Pope Francis said in a homily at daily Mass on June 29.
Jesus does not save people “in a general fashion,” but one by one—“each one with his name and surname,” the Pope said. However, he continued, “there’s a danger of forgetting that He saved us individually but at the same time as part of his people or community: his people.”
Christians must be concerned about each other and about the entire community, the Pope said. “The privatization of salvation is the wrong path.”
Pope Francis criticized Catholics who are aloof from the parish community, concerning themselves only with their own spiritual lives. He also objected to small groups—“ecclesial elites,” as he called them—that set themselves apart from the rest of the parish.
The faithful have a duty to the community, he said. If the faithful are not encouraging others in their parish, they are neglecting that moral responsibility.
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