Before the September 16 Angelus, Pope Francis delivered a counterfactual exegesis of the Gospel passage where Christ asks his disciples who he is and first wants to know what the people think of him (Mk 8,27-35).
Francis commented, “In reality, he isn’t interested in people’s opinion polls and gossip.” But if he is not interested, why does he ask?
Francis went on, “He isn’t interested either in His disciples responding to His questions with ready-made formulas”. Again, why then does he praise the “ready-made formula” of Saint Peter “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16,16)?
Instead of “ready-made formulas”, Francis proposes a “personal relationship” with Christ. Nice. But how can one have a personal relationship with Christ without taking his words seriously? Francis adds that the profession of faith “can’t stop at words”. But did anybody claim this?
It is an old trick of the modernists to attack “formulas” because, for the sake of deception, they avoid a direct attack …More