Is the Church the only one to hold the truth?

Cyprian: I received the faith in my family and, since I was 18, I have been convinced that the Church holds the truth. My research in philosophy has confirmed this idea. Being heir to this treasure that is the love of Christ commits me: it is good news to share. The message of Jesus is: “Go and teach the nations.” Whenever I have the opportunity, I do evangelism. Of course, it is God who converts, not me. But I am still “charged with saying it”, to use the words of Saint Bernadette in Lourdes. A conviction inhabits me: everyone is a soul to be converted, we cannot let anyone ignore what Christ says.

Jean-François: For me, the Bible tells us everything about how God reveals himself. Jesus spends thirty years in Nazareth, as a period of incubation in humanity. Then, during the three years that his preaching lasted, it was systematically the path of dialogue and encounter that he chose. From there springs conversion. A few years ago, I was doing street evangelism: I was sure I had something to teach others, I even wrote arguments to prepare myself. In the end, it was me who learned, particularly in meetings with Muslims. God reveals himself in the encounter that he himself provoked, not in my certainty of having the truth. Charles de Foucauld, whom I greatly admire, lived his whole life among them: for him, these souls speak to him about God.

Cyprian: Muslims can state true propositions, for example affirming that God is one. But they will not put behind the word “unique” the meaning that we understand. God revealed himself to the Catholic Church through his Christ, and gave it the mission of transmitting him to the world. Therefore, what may resemble the truth in other religions or beliefs are only shadows, pale reflections of Christian truths.

Jean-François: However, the Church invites us to recognize in other beliefs what they say is true. John Paul II insists on the respect to be had towards the Holy Spirit who is already at work in the life of the person I meet, and towards his desire for truth.

Cyprian: Yes, because the heart of man aspires to join God, and the world is dying because it has not yet met him. Precisely, we who have had the chance to receive God, we must direct these people towards him. I can marvel at the fact that so-and-so, who has received nothing of faith, still has a desire for God. But it won’t teach me anything about who God is. The truths that he can state are human truths; they cannot be put on the same level as the truth of divine revelation.

Jean-François: When Charles de Foucauld left for Algeria, he aimed to learn the Tuareg language to translate the Bible and spread it. However, his life path turned out to be quite the opposite: he spent it translating what he received from the Tuaregs in order to contemplate God. Sick, he asked a Muslim woman to pray for him, but according to her faith. He recognizes the immense value of the faith of others. Without giving up announcing Christ, but doing so through his life. We don’t know what God is already doing in the other.

Cyprian: Quite. And indeed, it is not up to us to judge that. To us God says, “Go and preach.” Saint Charles de Foucauld means zero conversions. Saint Francis Xavier, missionary in Asia, is much more. He too became acculturated, but to announce the Gospel and transmit the truth of Christ.

Jean-François: I don’t believe that the mission is a matter of methods or numbers.

Cyprian: If vast movements of conversions took place in the world, it is because people went from city to city to proclaim Christ.

Jean-François: However, the Church has reappropriated what Charles de Foucauld experienced to renew its missionary approach. Everything that he matured, the Church subsequently affirmed, through the texts of Paul VI or John Paul II, notably in Nostra Aetatewhich sets out the Church’s view of Islam. Moreover, the text also mentions other religions: regarding the Jews, it affirms that they are our elder brothers in faith and that they remain faithful to the Alliance that God wanted.

Cyprian: These texts must be read in light of the previous teachings. However, previous texts of the magisterium affirm that we cannot put all religions on the same level.

Saint Irenaeus declares that “where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God. And Spirit is Truth.” Belonging to another religion is a brake on the Spirit.

Jean-François: I do not think that we should understand what is said by the Church in the light of previous encyclicals, but first of all in the light of Christ and the Gospel. The Church has evolved. Certainly, everything she says is a perpetual deepening of the Tradition inherited for centuries, but there are elements that she taught in the past that we can no longer keep today.

Cyprian: Perhaps that is the error. There is no permanent, linear progression: sometimes we make mistakes, especially in pastoral work. I have the impression that you are convinced that on the question of mission, the Church is necessarily moving towards the better over time.

Jean-François: Yes, indeed. The popes themselves recognized that there had been an error in the past in announcing at all costs, considering that the pagans had understood nothing. Yes, the mission is an urgent task. But Father Hamel, Christian de Chergé… the French martyrs of our time are saints who spent their lives contemplating God who comes to the other, without having the slightest inclination to change this other. In 1959, in Morocco, hundreds of Berbers gathered for the funeral of Father Albert Peyriguère, a great disciple of Charles de Foucauld. One of them, who had never heard the Gospel, read a text of homage: this priest had made the poor his family, had visited the sick, the prisoners… Through his life, Father Peyriguère gave Christ himself to be seen, felt and tasted. When they die, these Muslims will recognize Christ perhaps better than us!