THE Vatican is worried that many Catholics in the Philippines have already joined different religious sects, an emissary of Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday.Walter Cardinal Kasper, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said he was alarmed that Pentecost and charismatic groups were drawing Catholics away, the young in particular.
Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias agreed.
“They’re getting the Catholic faithful,” he said.
Kasper said he was sent to the Philippines to forge agreements with various religious sects toward Christian unity, adding there was much divisiveness among Christians despite ecumenism.
Tobias said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines was having difficulty convincing the Pentecostal group, which comprises of 600 million members, to sit down for a dialogue.
“This phenomenal Pentecostal movement is very recent,” he said, adding it was happening around the world including the United States.
“The right approach is to know what this movement is all about. It’s very difficult to respond without full knowledge.”
Tobias said he was taken aback by the Pentecost’s belief that the Catholic faithful are not Christians.
“So how do you dialog with a group that does not even consider you as a Christian? It’s not easy,” Tobias said.
“We ask ourselves, what do Catholics find in Pentecostal groups that they do not find in us? It might be an opportunity to purify ourselves.”
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