In his recent column, he claims that Pope Francis denied the divinity of Christ during a discussion in the past. In other words, Pope Francis came out as believing in Arianism. In the October 9th publication of La Repubblica, Scalfari writes:
"Those who, as it has happened many times with me, have had the luck of meeting him and speaking to him with the greatest cultural intimacy, know that Pope Francis conceives Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, man, not God incarnate."
"Once incarnate, Jesus stops being a God and becomes a man until his death on the cross."
"When I had the chance of discussing these sentences, Pope Francis told me: 'They are the proven proof that Jesus of Nazareth, once having become a man, was, though a man of exceptional virtues, not at all a God.'"
Immediately, the Catholic blogosphere took to the keyboard to write all kinds of reactionary commentaries. Among them is the Catholic tabloid site Rorate Caeli which is bent on slandering the pope and creating narratives painting him to be a heretic of antipope. The blog writes:
"Now, obviously, as it has often happened with Francis' informal interviews with Eugenio Scalfari, some will try to deny the veracity of what Scalfari, a seasoned journalist, affirms.
Let us just recall, for the record of events, that there is no reason to doubt its general accuracy. We are way past the time of doubting the general accuracy of the Scalfari quotes."
Others chose to be charitable and tell the truth. Clerics who are known for their scholarship and orthodoxy defended the pope and showed how the alleged comments do not make sense in light of previous statements:
For those frazzled by an old Italian journalist’s claims of what @pontifex told him despite the Vatican clarification, everything @Pontifex says about Jesus presumes he’s Lord & God. But for those who need it here’s one place of many where he says it. 2013 Passion Sunday homily. pic.twitter.com/FO0tFhBJot— Fr. Thomas Petri, OP, STD (@PetriOP) October 9, 2019
It’s absurd to think that Pope Francis doesn’t believe in the divinity of Christ. Perhaps other particular issues can be discussed and debated, but not that. His life and his words have been a clear witness to his belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) October 9, 2019
Immediately, the Vatican denounced the words with a statement:
"As already stated on other occasions, the words that Dr. Eugenio Scalfari attributes in quotation marks to the Holy Father during talks with him cannot be considered a faithful account of what was actually said but represent a personal and free interpretation of what he heard, as appears completely evident from what is written today regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ.”
Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See’s press office, said in a statement. However, the statement failed to outright deny that the pope made the statement directly. In any event, we know from previous statements that the pope does not deny the divinity of Christ. Anyone who believes Scalfari is, for lack of a better word, a moron.
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Source:
https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/editoriale/2019/10/08/news/sinodo_francesco_e_lo_spirito_dell_amazzonia-238040628/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I235134168-C12-P1-S1.4-T1
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-dont-believe-scalfari-report-that-pope-francis-denied-christs-divinity-52026
https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/scalfari-pope-francis-told-me-jesus-incarnate-was-man-not-all-god
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2019/10/francis-to-favorite-journalist-jesus.html
https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/10/09/did-pope-francis-really-say-that-jesus-isnt-god/
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