Pope to Waldensians: “I ask forgiveness”

Francis has become the first Pope to visit a Waldensian temple, a Protestant denomination which was excommunicated and persecuted by the Catholic church in the past, even before other Reformed denominations were labelled as heretics.

Francis begged forgiveness for the persecution which Waldensian Christians suffered in the Middle-age. Some 1,700 Waldensians were killed in 1655 by Catholic forces commanded by the Duke of Savoy.

“On behalf of the Catholic Church, I ask forgiveness for the un-Christian and even inhumane positions and actions taken against you historically”, the Pope said. “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!”

Francis visited the Waldensian temple on the second day of a trip to Italy's northern Piedmont region, the center of the Waldensian Church, which has about 45,000 followers in Italy, Argentina and Uruguay.

In the visit, Francis called the Waldensians “brothers” in the Christian faith and argued that the “unity of the Holy Spirit does not mean uniformity.” He said Christian denominations should understand they are “brethren” and not fight but “understand our differences.”

AN OLD PERSECUTED CHURCH

The Waldensian church was founded in the 12th century by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant from Lyon, France, who gave up his belongings to preach a Gospel of simplicity and poverty that condemned papal excesses.

Later, they joined the Martin Luther’s Reformation.

WALDESIANS: “WE ARE CHURCH; NOT AN ECCLESIAL COMMUNITY”

Waldesian pastors in Turin Eugenio Bernardini, Sergio Velluto and Paolo Ribet welcomed the Pope.

But the evangelical ministers were surprised that the Pope referred to the Waldesians as an “ecclesiastic community”.

“The Vatican has defined us as an ecclesiastic community. In fact, we have not clearly understood what this does mean”, they said. Evangelicals and concretely the Waldesians are “Church”, they said.

WHAT IS THE POPE’S AGENDA?

Only last week, the Pope also repented in the name of the Church for the death of Prague’s preacher and Reformer Jan Hus.

“Francis is open to all, be they Christians or non-Christians, religious or secular people. Evangelicals are just one piece in his vision”, commented Vatican expert and evangelical pastor in Rome Leonardo de Chirico in a recent interview with Evangelical Focus (read full interview with Chirico).

“What he has in mind is a unity like a polyhedron: different ways to relate to the Catholic Church, but all connected to her maintaining central stage”.

Therefore, “dialogue is important in the awareness though that the Catholic Church is not just like any other Christian denomination. It has at its centre a political state, the Vatican; it still has an ‘imperial’ structure with global claims and financial power; it has dogmas which are not based on the Bible alone; it legitimises practices embedded in idolatry.”
 

SAME TRIP: POPE SUPPORTS VENERATION OF RELICS

The Pope offered an example of this “legitimization of idolatry” on Sunday, one day before visiting the Waldensian temple. Francis reinforced nowadays’ Catholic relic veneration by stopping to pray in front of Turin’s Shrug, a piece of cloth supposedly bearing the face of crucified man.