Mexican cardinal warns against false prophets and self-proclaimed messiahs

Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 18, 2006 / 22:00 pm

During his homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City, exhorted Catholics to be on guard against “false prophets, human messiahs” who “preach doctrines that are not of Jesus.”

“There are many false prophets and human messiahs who seek to redeem man and assist him in his fall.  They preach doctrines that are not of Jesus, and in the name of Christ they invent gospels and doctrines that never came from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth,” the cardinal said.

“The word of God brings salvation, but without deformity and accommodation,” the cardinal explained.  “The simplification of the gospel does nothing, and those who act thus expose themselves to illnesses of the soul. These are the lukewarm Christians,” he stated.

Cardinal Rivera said he hoped the Corpus Christi procession would be a great blessing for the city, and he called on the faithful to pray for “children who live on the street, children who are abused, marriages under the grip of misery and love grown cold, for the sick and the handicapped, for those who sleep on the streets of our city.”

Before the Corpus Christi procession, a prayer service in honor of the 475th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe was held, in which various indigenous communities participated.