Pope Francis called attention to the thought of the late Father
Teilhard de Chardin - saying that the controversial Jesuit theorist was
“often misunderstood”- during his homily at Sunday Mass in Mongolia on
September 3.
Teilhard de Chardin was a French author whose odd mixture of eugenics and evolutionary theory
drew several cautions from the Vatican during the pontificates of Pius
XII and John XXIII.
More recently his work has drawn interest from
exponents of New Age spirituality.
As he celebrated Mass in Monglia, the Pope said that his thoughts turned to one of the French Jesuit’s observations:
Father Teilhard de Chardin was engaged in geological research. He fervently desired to celebrate Holy Mass, but lacked bread and wine. So he composed his “Mass on the World”, expressing his oblation in these words: “Receive, O Lord, this all-embracing host, which your whole creation, moved by your magnetism, offers you at the dawn of this new day.”