John Paul II: Baptized Non-Catholics Are In The Church, Justified & Have The Holy Spirit (Sept. 1990)

On Sept. 9, 1990, John Paul II gave a speech to non-Catholics that expresses a manifestly heretical and false ecclesiology.

John Paul II, To Representatives of Non-Catholic Communities and Other Religions of Rwanda, Sept. 9, 1990: “I address you, my Christian friends, first.  You know in what way John the Evangelist lets us learn the new relationship which Jesus established between himself and the apostles whom he had chosen: ‘I no longer speak of you as slaves, instead I call you friends’ (Jn. 15:15).  We who have received the heritage handed down by the apostles are together friends of Christ because he has taught all of us what he learned from his Father (cf. Jn. 15:15).  The friendship which our Lord has for each of us was definitively sealed on the day of our Baptism when we were incorporated into him.  Thus there exists a communion among us, one which is still incomplete certainly, but a real and deep one, thanks to the sacramental bond of Baptism.  Our friendship, therefore, is something much more than an expression of goodwill; it is the result of the very love of God ‘which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (Rom. 5:5).”

Addressing Protestants and baptized non-Catholics, John Paul II teaches that they “have received the heritage handed down by the apostles”.  That contradicts Catholic teaching, for non-Catholics reject the apostolic faith.  He then teaches that, despite not being Catholics, they are the “friends of Christ”.  That means that they are justified, for James 2:23 explicitly connects the possession of righteousness with being the “friend of God”. 

James 2:23: “Abraham put his faith in God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.”

John Paul II then teaches that the non-Catholics’ friendship with Christ was “definitively sealed” on the day of their Baptism when they were “incorporated into him”.  That’s heresy because people who deny Catholic teaching are not incorporated into Christ or justified when they are baptized.  His statement even sounds like the Protestant heresy of “once saved, always saved”.  Baptized non-Catholics can only be incorporated into Christ and receive justification when they remove the impediment of their heresy and schism.  That’s Catholic teaching. 

John Paul II then cites Romans 5:5 to teach that the non-Catholics have the love of God which has been poured forth by the Holy Spirit.  The Council of Trent directly connects Romans 5:5 with those who are in the state of grace. 

Council of Trent, Decree on Justification, Sess. 6, Chap. 7: “… the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of those who are justified and inheres in them [Rom. 5:5]…”

John Paul II’s statement means that all the baptized non-Catholics are in the state of grace. 

So, in summary: in this short message John Paul II tells the baptized non-Catholics (including Protestants) that they have the apostolic faith; that they are friends of Christ and therefore justified; that they are incorporated into Christ despite rejecting the Papacy and Catholic dogmas; that their justification/friendship with Christ was definitively sealed when they were baptized; and that they have the charity of God that has been poured forth by the Holy Spirit, which is only possessed by those in the state of grace.

This message (by itself) proves again that John Paul II was a notorious heretic and an antipope.  He endorsed Protestantism and taught a blatantly false doctrine about the Church.