In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke about the danger of being persuaded by dominant ideas that “colonize” thinking and impede clear discernment.
The pope used the example of abortion, and he lamented that some have reduced it to just another problem.
POPE FRANCIS
“Ideological and cultural colonizations only look to the present; they deny the past, and do not look to the future. They live in the moment, not in time, and so they can't promise us anything. With this attitude of making everyone equal and cancelling out differences, they commit terrible blasphemy against God the Creator.”
Pope Francis assured the way of combatting the threat of ideological colonialism is each person leading by good example.
EXCERPTS FROM POPE FRANCIS' HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
“This is the path of cultural colonization that ends up persecuting believers too. But we do not have to go too far to see some examples: we think of the genocides of the last century, which was a new cultural thing: [Trying to make] everyone equal; [so that] there is no place for differences, there is no place for others, there is no place for God. It is the perverse root. Faced with this cultural colonization, which arises from the perversity of an ideological root, Eleazar himself has become [a contrary] root.
There is a need to discern 'the new things': Is this new thing from the Lord, does it come from the Holy Spirit, is it rooted in God? Or does this newness come from a perverse root? But before, [for example] yes, it was a sin to kill children; but today it is not a problem, it is a perverse novelty. Yesterday, the differences were clear, as God made it, creation was respected; but today [people say] we are a little modern... you act... you understand... things are not so different... and things are mixed together.
Ideological and cultural colonizations only look to the present; they deny the past, and do not look to the future. They live in the moment, not in time, and so they can't promise us anything. And with this attitude of making everyone equal and cancelling out differences, they commit terrible blasphemy against God the Creator. Every time a cultural and ideological colonization comes along, it sins against God the Creator because it wants to change Creation as it was made by Him. And against this fact that has occurred so often in history, there is only one medicine: bearing witness; that is, martyrdom.”
