Jesus Alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
And no one comes to the Father except through him
Near the end of his recent trip to Asia, Pope Francis made some extemporaneous remarks (based on a prepared text that was laid aside) about inter-religious dialogue, and those remarks caused confusion among many readers about the pope’s intent.
As was made clear by the explosions on social media, it seemed to not a few people that the pope was questioning the revealed truth that the Lord Jesus is the only savior of the entire human race by suggesting that all religions are essentially the same.
But the Successor of Saint Peter could never, of course, deny the saving truth proclaimed by Saint Peter himself that “there is salvation in no one else (than Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
That the pope did not intend to teach false doctrine about salvation is clearer from the prepared text that he did not read, but the simple fact of the ambiguity in his spoken words is a serious matter in itself. And this sort of uncertainty from ambiguity is unfortunately not an uncommon occurence in this pontificate.
To clear up the confusion raised by this kerfuffle, I suggest reading this excellent essay in First Things by Charles Chaput, OFM Cap, the Emertius Archbishop of Philadelphia:
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/09/the-pope-and-other-religions
Fr Jay Scott Newman