Pope Francis: the door to salvation is narrow and open
August 22, 2016
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading (Lk. 13:22-30), Pope Francis emphasized during his Angelus address of August 21 that the door to salvation is narrow but open.
“Jesus himself is the door,” the Pope told the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “But why is this door narrow?”
“It is a narrow door not because it is oppressive - no, but because it asks us to restrict and limit our pride and our fear, to open ourselves with humble and trusting heart to Him, recognizing ourselves as sinners, in need of his forgiveness,” he explained. “For this, it is narrow: to contain our pride, which bloats us.”
Stating that “the door of God's mercy is narrow but always wide open,” the Pope told his listeners that Christ “waits for each of us, no matter what sin we have committed, no matter what, to embrace us, to offer us his forgiveness.”
Pope Francis warned that
this door is an opportunity that must not be wasted … But if God is good and loves us, why does he close the door - he will close the door at a certain point? Because our life is not a video game or a soap opera; our life is serious and the goal to achieve is important: eternal salvation.
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Further information:
- Angelus Domini 2016.08.21 (YouTube Vatican)
- Le parole del Papa alla recita dell’Angelus, 21.08.2016 (Holy See Press Office)
- Pope Francis: life is no video game, the goal of salvation is serious (Vatican Radio)
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Posted by: brenda22890 -
Aug. 23, 2016 9:38 AM ET USA
It is heartening to read that Pope Francis addresses sin and the pride that keeps us from admitting that we do sin; that God, though good and loving, will close "the door" finally if we continue to cling to our pride.
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Posted by: Father Fetus -
Aug. 22, 2016 6:06 PM ET USA
Perhaps it is narrow because we must enter it one at a time.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Aug. 22, 2016 11:53 AM ET USA
A necessary address by the Pope. He is clearly pointing out that ultimate judgment is God's, that every one of Christ's teachings is true and binding on souls. We as human beings are in no position to judge the ultimate end of another's soul because our faculties do not transcend those of another. But God as creator and sustainer is the end judge, the arbiter of paths: one to eternal life, the other to eternal dying apart from Him. Although He created the paths, it is we who must walk them.
