Pope Francis was speaking in Singapore recently and made a remark that’s gone viral. He said: Tutte le religioni sono un cammino per arrivare a Dio. I interpret this to literally mean “All religions are ways to arrive at God.” Google Translate interprets it as “All religions are a path to God.

There are two big problems with this: 1) People can’t ever find God on their own, and 2) It was either Christ doing the job, or no one.

1. People have different takes on what the pope meant here, but even in the most generous light he is dead wrong. The generous view is that all religions are about people trying to reach God, the implication being if you try hard enough you’ll get there. Some religions may be closer to the mark than others but they still miss it.

There aren’t many religions in this world. There have only ever been two and they are diametrically opposed to one another. The first, which comes in many flavors, is Works. You achieve your goal – Heaven, Jannah, The Celestial Kingdom, Nirvana, Utopia, Reincarnation, etc., based on how you live your life and the things you do. It’s all about you.The second religion is Christianity – all our best works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) because of our sin and nothing we can do can make us clean. We have all bought Hell for ourselves but God, in the form of Jesus Christ, came to earth, lived a blameless life, died on a cross to pay for our sins and was resurrected from the dead. All who call upon his name will be saved. It’s what Jesus did that counts.

2. If there was any other route to salvation, Jesus would not have died. The very night he was betrayed, he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane with his disciples. According to Matthew’s gospel, in verse 26:39, he prayed:

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

A little later, in 26:42, he prayed:

“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”

Jesus is asking here if there is any other way for mankind to be saved apart from Him dying on the cross. The first time he prays, he’s asking for God to provide another way. The second time he is being obedient to whatever God wants him to do. God did not provide another way and so a few hours later Jesus was nailed to the cross. 

Do you see what this means? THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY. If there was, would God the Father have allowed His beloved son to be beaten, tortured, humiliated, and hung to die on a Roman cross? Why would Jesus have to die if you can get to Heaven by being a good Mormon, or Hindu, or Muslim, or Sikh, or whatever, and following the rules of your preferred religion? We can’t be a good anything because we’re all sinners. We need to be rescued. We need a savior. There is no other way. And no one can save us but God himself, which he did in the form of Jesus Christ.

Whatever his intentions may have been, the Pope’s statement could end up leading many people on the path to Hell, an eternity of being separated from God. He had an opportunity to share the true Gospel and he blew it. 

You have an opportunity right now to have your eternity secured. Romans 10:13 says “All who call upon the name of the Lord [Jesus] will be saved.” That’s it. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to God the Father apart from Christ. (John 14:6) All you have to do is believe, and call upon the name of Jesus. He already did all the work. You just have to either accept or reject Him.