The CDF is concerned with a kind of spiritual narcissism, “a model of salvation that is merely interior, closed off in its own subjectivism. The CDF points to a general spiritual yearning ambivalent about the body, while the Pope has in mind a colder intellectual vice deep inside the Church. The issue of Gnosticism is particularly interesting, since we find two different interpretations at work. He is interested in the spiritual health of the Church itself. Pope Francis deals with the dangers of Gnosticism and Pelagianism without alluding to the culture in general, or religions in general. But Placuit Deo sets the tone by indicating that these temptations have to do with modern weaknesses, not ancient heresies, weaknesses that thought to be pervasive in modern culture.

I was intrigued a few weeks ago - sorry to be getting to this only now, when so much has already been written - to hear about and then read a pair documents coming from Rome: Pope Francis’ own apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), “on the call to holiness in today’s world,” and, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Placuit Deo (It Pleased God), “on certain aspects of Christian salvation.” Neither has much to say about religions, my special interest, but reports all mentioned the critique of Gnosticism (a path of higher knowledge, for the elite, that frees the soul from this world) and Pelagianism (a path of salvation traveled by what one achieves on one's own), both in the past linked to pagan religions, and in modern Church teachings, seen as 'un-Christian' tendencies.

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