Pope Francis: Where Mary is, ‘the devil does not enter’

I came across this article last night from a Mass that Pope Francis spoke seen here, and video here.

Before I say anything, for my Roman Catholic friends/family this isn’t an attack on any of you personally. I’m not questioning your faith or salvation. I only ask that you lend me your ear/eyes for a few minutes. Feel free to rebuke my statements or correct any errors I may have made here.

In the Mass the Pope instructs us to turn to Mary for prayer, to protect us, to guard our faith, and without her we cannot be children of God. He is using Biblical language and verses but replacing Jesus with Mary. Allow me to demonstrate.

Pope Francis

At Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary Major Sunday, Pope Francis said that when we go through difficult times or have problems or worries, Mary is our shield, guarding our faith and protecting us from evil.

The Bible teaches us that the Lord is our shield and protection from evil. The Lord guards our faith.  The Lord is the reason we have faith in the first place since our faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8)

Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

Psalm 18:2

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Ephesians 6:10-18

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against [a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 [b]in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 [c]With all prayer and petition [d]pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, [e]be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

I urge you to pay close attention to the Ephesians verses here and what I underlined. We are turn to God in prayer in all things. There is no suggestion that praying to anyone else would also guard your faith and protect you from Evil. We are to put on the full armor of God. With it we will be able to extinguish ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one. All. How? We take the sword of the Spirit(Holy Spirit) which is the word of God (scriptures). With ALL prayer and petition (not some to God, and some to saints. ALL prayer and petition). Pray at all times in the Spirit (Holy Spirit).. All times. Not sometimes to God and sometimes to Mary or in the case of this article from what Pope Francis is saying that we should pray at all times to Mary.

Pope Francis:

“Where the Madonna is at home the devil does not enter; where there is the Mother disturbance does not prevail, fear does not win,” the Pope said Jan. 28.

If I’m not mistaken the Pope is saying if you have a picture or statue of the Madonna in your home evil wont enter. Psalm 31:6

6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the LORD.

Pope Francis cont..

“Who of us does not need this, who of us is not sometimes upset or restless? How often the heart is a stormy sea, where the waves of problems overlap, and the winds of worry do not cease to blow! Mary is the sure ark in the midst of the flood.

Isaiah 43:1-3

First, God protects us in stormy seas..

Who shaped you, O Israel? See, you have nothing to fear. I, who made you, will take you back. I have chosen you, named you as My own. 2 When you face stormy seas I will be there with you with endurance and calm; you will not be engulfed in raging rivers. If it seems like you’re walking through fire with flames licking at your limbs, keep going; you won’t be burned. 3 Because I, the Eternal One, am your God. I am the Holy One of Israel, and I will save you.

Also in Mark 4:35-41 we see Jesus calm the stormy seas.

When we are upset or restless we need to cast our worries and problems on Christ:

Pslam 55:22

22Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Mary is not the sure ark in the midst of the flood. Christ is our ark, our rock of salvation.

Hebrews 11:17

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Pope Francis:

In his homily, Pope Francis said that it is “a great danger to faith, to live without a mother, without protection, letting ourselves be carried away by life like leaves by the wind.”

Here the Pope is saying we wont have protection without Mary, and it is a ‘great danger to faith, to be without her.’ Without her our faith will be carried away by the world like leaves by the wind. It seems the Pope is quoting Isaiah and applying our faith to Mary.

Isaiah 64:6

6For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

We are saved by faith, and it is a gift from God. This doesn’t have anything to do with Mary. Mary doesn’t assist in our faith or salvation in any way shape or form. Christ is our salvation.

Isaiah 12:2

2″Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”

Pope Francis:

Just like persecuted people once took refuge under the cloak of the noble, high-ranking women of their village, in “turbulent moments” we must take shelter under the mantle of Mary, “the highest woman of mankind,” for our own protection.

“Her coat is always open to welcome us and gather us,” he said. “The Mother guards faith, protects relationships, saves in bad weather and preserves from evil.”

With all do respect we do not need to take shelter under Mary for our protection. Doing so misplaces our trust in Christ and focuses it on someone else. Mary doesn’t gather us, preserve us (preserve our faith) or save us. Christ gathers, preserves, and saves.

Isaiah 40:11

11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

John 10:14-16

14I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, 15just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Christ will gather His sheep guaranteed. It is Christ that calls us. It is Christ the enables us to believe. It is Christ that saves us. Mary does not play any role in this. She is a wonderful Christian who needed a savior just like us.

Christ is the only savior!! Isaiah 43:10-11

You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Pope Francis:

As Christians, we cannot be neutral or detached from our Mother, he continued. “Because without a Mother we cannot be children. And we are, first of all, children, beloved children, who have God for a Father and the Madonna for a Mother.”

Pope Francis is clearly saying we cannot be detached from Mary and without her we simply cannot be Children of God. But this is simply not true.

John 1:12

12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God

To all who receive who? Jesus. Not Mary. It is God who gives us the right to become children. Again, Mary plays no part or role in this.

Pope Francis:

“Here is the mother’s heart,” the Pope said. “She is not ashamed of the wounds, of the weaknesses of her children, but she wants (to take) them on herself.

I’m not sure where Pope Francis got this from. I’m uncertain if it’s written in some Catholic Church doctrine but no where in scripture does it indicate that Mary wishes to take on our sins. Even if she could, this would do absolutely nothing for us. She doesn’t pay the penalty for our sins. Christ did on the cross. It is finished. His work is completed. Jesus bore our sins, not Mary.

Peter 2:24

24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

Pope Francis:

And this is how it happens every time, he said. Whether we lack hope, or joy, or our strength is exhausted; whatever our problem, our Mother intervenes.

I’m not sure where or how he can give a 100% guarantee that Mary does all this things for us. Once again we see Pope Francis encouraging us to cast all our problems on Mary. This is the opposite of what scripture teaches.

Matthew 11:28-29

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Pope Francis:

“And she never, never despises our prayers; she does not let even one fall. She is a Mother, she is never ashamed of us, she only waits to be able to help her children.”

I know of not one scripture verse that supports the idea that Mary can hear all of the prayers of Catholics around the world all at the same time, and then answer those prayers by helping us. I know of not one shred of scripture that supports the idea that Mary doesn’t let a single prayer to her fall.

Pope Francis cont….

“Let’s make the Mother the guest of our daily life, the constant presence in our home, our safe haven,” he concluded. “Let’s entrust (ourselves) to her every day. Let’s invoke her in every turbulence. And let’s not forget to come back to her to thank her.”

As a professing Christian I’m deeply disturbed at this statement.  This isn’t a call to honor Mary in any way. This is a flat out call to worship Her. If she was here, she would tell you to stop, and point to Christ. She would tell you stop bowing to images and statues of her and that they don’t have any significance on protecting you from evil. In Mary’s own words in Luke 1:47My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

Yet in the Homily the Pope never once mentioned Christ at all. This was 100% focused on Mary. He is stating to entrust yourself to Mary, not Christ. He is instructing you to invoke her in EVERY turbulence and not Christ. Not just some turbulence. Every. And finally asking you to give her thanks and praise after.

(sigh) If I had the opportunity I would ask the Pope where is Christ in all this? Is the Bible wrong and in error and the new path to salvation and our entire Christian walk should be entrusted to Mary?

My dearest Catholic friends and family. I humbly implore you to reject this. The Bible is either God’s word or it is not. Without Christ we don’t have faith, we don’t have salvation. Our relationship is to be with Christ not Mary. Our trust should be FULLY in Christ, not Mary. We are to pray to God in ALL things not ‘invoke’ Mary when times are tough. We are not to thank Mary but to thank God in all things.

These are not my words. This is not my interpretation. This is overwhelmingly crystal clear in scripture. There is no basis to entrust ourselves in anything other than Christ. This Mary doctrine was developed much later, and many Catholics know this to be true. I’ve heard Roman Catholic apologists say that the Mary doctrine was a seed that grew over time.

Entrusting ourselves Mary in every turbulence is not the Gospel my friends. This is clearly another Gospel. If you don’t believe me I only ask you to read the scriptures for yourself. Pray the Holy Spirit to guide you to the truth. It is in Christ and Christ alone that we are made righteous. There is no other name which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

12Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

 

The scripture teaches us that all who believe in Him will be saved and raised on the last day. I humbly beg you to stop turning to Mary for anything and turn to Christ as the scriptures clearly teach. If you’ve never done this, or you don’t understand what it means to have a relationship with Christ I’d be happy to talk to you. Or if you want to rebuke something I said here I’m also open to talk. See our contact page.

References:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-where-mary-is-the-devil-does-not-enter-40315

https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God-Being-Our-Shield

https://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/31-6.html