Pope Francis: ‘No One Can Exclude Themselves from the Church’
ROME — Pope Francis raised eyebrows Wednesday by suggesting unrepentant blasphemers and apostates are part of the “communion of saints.”
The Church is “the community of saved sinners,” the pontiff told the crowds gathered in the Vatican Wednesday for his weekly general audience.
“No one can exclude themselves from the Church, we are all saved sinners,” he continued. “Our holiness is the fruit of God’s love manifested in Christ, who sanctifies us by loving us in our misery and saving us from it.”
We have been bound “and bound in a profound way and this bond is so strong that it cannot be broken even by death,” he stated.
“Let us consider, dear brothers and sisters, that in Christ no one can ever truly separate us from those we love because the bond is an existential bond, a strong bond that is in our very nature,” Francis asserted, “only the manner of being together with one another them changes, but nothing and no one can break this bond.”
What about “those who have denied the faith, who are apostates, who are the persecutors of the Church, who have denied their baptism: Are these also at home?” the pope asked. “Yes, these too. All of them. The blasphemers, all of them. We are brothers.”
“This is the communion of saints. The communion of saints holds together the community of believers on earth and in heaven, and on earth the saints, the sinners, all,” he declared.
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