Pope compares disobedient Catholics to Judas

The Pope had some uncompromising words for dissenters in a recent Vatican address. 

 

 Stoyan Zaimov

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Pope Benedict XVI delivered an address from the Vatican on Sunday in which he suggested that those who disagree with Catholic teachings or do not believe in Jesus Christ should leave the church rather than become betrayers like Judas.

“Judas,” Pope Benedict said, “could have left, as many of the disciples did; indeed, he would have left if he were honest. Instead he remained with Jesus. He did not remain because of faith, or because of love, but with the secret intention of taking vengeance on the Master.”

The leader of the Worldwide Roman Catholic Church added that Judas’ most serious crime was falsehood, which the pope described as “the mark of the devil.” He added that Catholics needed to always be sincere like St. Peter and believe in Jesus.

LifeSiteNews reported that Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, the Human Life International Rome Director, confirmed that the pope’s comments are very much related to the Catholic Church’s formal teachings in support of traditional marriage and pro-life views.

“For those Catholics who cannot bring themselves to believe the formal teachings of the Church on life and family matters it would be more honest to leave the Church rather than betraying Her,” Barreiro said.

“We regret very much that the person is so inclined and we wish they would have a conversion to truly believe,” he added.

Catholic organizations in the U.S. has been battling policy changes by President Barack Obama that require religious institutions to provide contraceptives in their employees’ insurance coverage, which goes against church teachings. Also, a host of countries around the world have been struggling over the issue of gay marriage – most recently, the Scottish Catholic Church has been urgently calling for support as their country prepares to become the first U.K. nation and one of the only ones in the world to legalize homosexual marriage.

Monsignor Barreiro noted that differences in opinion were not prohibited in the Catholic Church, but in some circumstances it was better to just obey the important teachings and “sacrifice your will.”