In a homily delivered on Tuesday of the fifth week of Lent, in Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis put a new spin on the episode of the bronze serpent in the desert mentioned in the Book of Numbers (21: 4–9). He said that Jesus was dirtied by sin, and implied that the serpent symbolizes our faults. Below is the exact text of the homily of the Pope in this regard:
The serpent is a symbol of sin. The serpent that kills but also a serpent that saves. And this is the Mystery of Christ. Paul, when speaking about this mystery, said that Jesus emptied himself, humiliated himself and destroyed himself in order to save us. And (what’s) even stronger, ‘he became sin’. Using this symbol, he became a serpent. This is the prophetic message of today’s reading. The Son of Man, who like a serpent, ‘became sin,’ is raised up to save us. […] the story of our redemption, this is the story of God’s love. If we want to know God’s love, let us look at the Cross, a man tortured, a God, emptied of his divinity, dirtied [stained] by sin…Sin is the work of Satan and Jesus defeats Satan by ‘becoming sin’ and from there he lifts up all of us.
Did Christ become stained in assuming our nature?
The Pope’s homily begs an important clarification, lest it be misunderstood: did become “dirtied by sin” when He assumed our nature?
The answer, according to Church teaching, is that He emptied himself and humbled himself, but was not stained: on the contrary, being innocent, He suffered for the sins of the human race to save it. Below are some quotes from various popes, saints and Sacred Scripture that unequivocally say that Christ was not stained by sin in any way:
- Saint Augustine of Hippo: “Christ loved us so much that, sinless himself, he suffered for us sinners the punishment we deserved for our sins.”
- Saint Maximus the Confessor: “God became perfect man, taking on everything that belongs to human nature except sin, and indeed sin is not part of human nature created by God.”
- St. John Paul II: “Taking the form of a slave, Christ made himself similar to men in everything but not sin.”
- Benedict XVI: “God himself wished to share in our human condition, but not in the corruption of sin.”
- Sacred Scripture: “Tested in every way, yet without sin”; “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin”; “Jesus committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
The Church’s teaching is clear: Sin is incompatible with the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ.
what good is all this preaching do, when the only thing should be preach from the pulpit is the stopping of abortions. we can’t change the past, just the present and future. 50 million abortions and counting.
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What a false message.
We are told from our first lessons in school that Jesus Christ took on human appearance in all ways…..EXCEPT SIN.
This was His Divinity.
A clear false message from the Biblical false prophet twisting the Gospel to lead souls astray.
Absolutely, I agree your opinion.
Good point, Richard…there is far more to ‘what is not being said’ in the pulpits~ including that the words of this pope so often lead to confusion. This sermon is yet another example of Pope Francis leading us away from the sweetness of God’s Truths. Pope Francis’ verbal twists often leave me begging for some viable explanation from the pulpit!
Does Pope Francis not abide by precepts of our faith as set by the Magisterium, Tradition and the Scripture? He muddles rather than teaches what is so important…God’s Law of Love!
In his defense, this year of Mercy has been a supernatural gift for so, so many, including me!
He is not a valid Pope.
The son of the serpent is bergolio. His detouring from the faith is not by accident nor error, but
rather an illwillful attemt to slowly but surely lead people away from the christian faith. There
shall come a great apostesy in the chutch, and it shall come from the top and the last pope
will come under the controll of satan……. Our lady of fatima.
I don’t understand how the Vatican is allowing the Pope to speak like this. I’m so glad I’m not catholic I would have left at the start of the popes reign. The more I hear it’s seems it’s trying to turn people away from Christ
From Day 1 of his papacy, Bergolio has preached heresy mixed in with Scripture – just as Satan did when tempting Jesus Christ, who by the way, was always and ever sinless. This pope of false humility is a member of the URI and his aim is to homogenize all “religions” into one, including Catholicism. The plan for our infiltrated Church is not to destroy it but to dilute it, twist Truth, and USE its great institutional organization for a “one-world church.” It is a direct tie-in to one world government. The “world” and libertine Catholics (both blinded by self-love and ignorance) love Bergolio, but the Faithful recognize a Heretic. Many Catholics in the pews were fertile ground for heresy because we have only rarely heard a sermon filled with the truth of Jesus’ Gospel and how it relates to our time. Rather, Bergolio wants the Church to morph into the times, the zeitgeist, rather than doing his ordained duty: to bring the spirit of this age into Father God’s fold. ” To whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Pray for his conversion, asap!
This is a time for constant prayer, ( esp. the Rosary) repentance, penance, and conversion. May God, in his Justice, have mercy on the world, but especially our USA who popularized and exported legalized abortion of innocent babies in their mothers’ wombs. This diabolical loss of reverence for LIFE has blinded God’s people to wrong-thinking, and brought us to worldwide chaos. Almighty God, forgive those who repent and help us to overcome this Evil.