The Dispatch: More from CWR...

Archbishop of Lima says Jesus died as a layman and without offering a sacrifice

Walter Sanchez Silva By Walter Sanchez Silva for CNA

Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru / ACI Prensa

Lima, Peru, Dec 26, 2021 / 00:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru, has yet to clarify remarks he made in a pre-Christmas Mass that contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church about Jesus’ death.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that Jesus is “the true priest” whose death is “a redemptive sacrifice.”

Speaking on Dec. 19, however, Castillo stated that Jesus died as “a layman,” and did so without offering a “sacrifice.”

“And Jesus doesn’t die offering the sacrifice of a holocaust, Jesus dies as a murdered layman, to which He decides not to respond with vengeance and who accepts the cross to give us a sign of life,” the archbishop said during Mass in the Lima cathedral.

“And he dies as a layman who gives hope to humanity, he dies as a human being like all of you who are present here, we too, because we can’t be priests without first being baptized lay people,” he said.

Castillo said that “lay person comes from laos, which means people. And God wanted to sanctify his people, and if we are here, it is to serve them.”

The prelate recalled that God had promised Israel that from his people “a shoot would come forth that would be the Savior.”

“The poor people of Israel, those who don’t count, took it to heart, while the priests felt they were to fulfill the promise,” who had to take up their role, but “they weren’t the ones who were going to represent salvation, but a layman, a layman like the kings who were laymen, from the tribe of Judah,” Castillo continued.

“I also say that for our fellow priests present here. We are servants of the People of God, so that from you (the people) someone emerges who is hope, just as Jesus is hope,” Castillo said.

What the Archbishop of Lima said about Jesus the “layman” who dies without “sacrifice” is contrary to Catholic doctrine.

The Letter to the Hebrews chapters 4-10 goes to great lengths to explain to the Jewish audience to whom the letter is addressed how Christ, known to be a member of the tribe of Judah, and not a descendant of Aaron of the tribe of Levi who alone were priests according to the Mosaic Law,  was in fact our great high priest who offered himself as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, once for all.

The Catechism of the Church published in 1992 during the pontificate of Pope Saint John Paul II articulates the Church’s teaching on Christ’s priesthood and His sacrifice.

The Catechism states in No. 1545 that “The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ; it is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood: ‘Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.’”

No. 1545 recalls what St.Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor of the Church, said in his commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, where he affirms: “And therefore only Christ is the true priest; the rest are his ministers.” A Doctor of the Church is that saint who, due to his erudition and importance, is an important teacher of the faith for the Catholic faithful of all times.

Also in the catechism, No. 1546 states that Christ is “Priest, Prophet and King.”

No. 1548 establishes that “in the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth.

In May 2014, when presiding at the ordination of 13 priests, Pope Francis said that they were “configured to Christ, High and Eternal Priest, that is, they will be consecrated as true priests of the New Testament.”

“And with this title that unites them to their bishop in the priesthood, they will be preachers of the Gospel, shepherds of the people of God and will preside at acts of worship, especially the celebration of the Lord’s sacrifice,” he added.

In April 2016, Pope Francis ordained 11 priests. He told them that “our High Priest, Jesus Christ, chose some disciples who in the Church would carry out, on his behalf, the priestly office for the good of men.”

“The Lord Jesus wanted to choose some in particular from among his disciples, so that, by publicly exercising in the Church in his name the priestly office for all men, they would continue his personal mission as teacher, priest and shepherd,” the pope added.

This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Catholic News Agency 12514 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

15 Comments

  1. As has been the trial of the Church, Archbishop MattaSoglio follows the many presbyters straining to make Christ relevant to laity succeeds in making Our Lord irrelevant.
    Christ’s sacrifice, the Cross of salvation is reduced to a Protestantized symbol of salvation, rather than the means by which the members of the Mystical Body laity and cleric are saved, called to enjoin with Christ the cleric in a manner unique to the priesthood.
    Quotes of Pope Francis on priestly ordination are good. Although, I would add that the general overemphasis on laity to the minimizing of holy orders in our world’s, including the Church’s trend toward egalitarianism is factor. Whereas in the past clericalism, understood as lording it over the laity has been vilified minimizing the priesthood has simultaneously minimized Christ.

  2. St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin de Porres, St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, pray for us, and for the people of Lima. Especially St. Turibius, whose successor as Archbishop of Lima is being a bad shepherd.

    • Amen Leslie.
      St. Rose of Lima’s my Confirmation saint. I suppose she, St. Turibius, & St. Martin saw much foolishness in their day also, but likely of a different flavor. No matter how corrupt colonial powers might have been, it’s unlikely they’d go this far off track on basic Christian teaching.

  3. Yes, cwr can report such heresy… But “follow the guidelines of vigorous debate” while the Church is being driven off the cliff with no guiderails from the papacy & these God-forsaken mitre’d’s

    • ….also learn primary catechism lessons and recant such heretical statements. No wonder pachmamas and pachpapas exist and subsist in such large numbers ignorant of basic knowledge of Christianity.Lacking in proper philosophy and theology training, Bishops are culled from the lot of half-baked priests who are more like glorified social workers than keepers of the Lord’s vineyard, who are set to devastate the Vineyard and destroy the faith of the people and gain cheap popularity.

  4. This is what happens when Liberation Theologians get appointed to positions of power; they spread heterodoxy. Hopefully the next Pope will pull the plug on this insidious movement.

  5. Heresy has unfortunately become ‘de rigeur’ in our post-Modern Catholic Church. Where are the prophets among the ranks of bishop who will prophetically speak out against this Archbishop?

  6. Another Archbishop, this time from South America, outright declares his disbelief in the saving death of Jesus. He joins the circle of Archbishop Robert Zollisch of Germany, who, in I believe it was 2009, on Holy Saturday, gave a TV interview where he also denied the Christian belief that Jesus died to atone for our sins.

    Note that Bishop Zollisch was not forced by then Pope Benedict XVI to recant his teaching of “material heresy,” he simply was allowed to get away with teaching it, and was not declared a heretic.

    Certainly, Archbishop Mattasoglio will not be forced by the Pontiff Francis to recant his heretical statement nor declared a heretic.

    Both Archbishops, however, met the standard of…well…there is no standard, apparently.

    But I suppose it’s too much to expect a Bishop etc to actually believe in Christianity. Let’s just make him a Cardinal, so he can join the higher echelon of the unbelieving non- Christians Pope-makers, led by Cardinal Kasper, who was made Bishop by Pope Paul VI, and made Cardinal by Pope John Paul II, despite having published his own material heresies in his book “Jesus the Christ” (1976), denying the miracles attributed to Jesus, and finishing by denying his bodily Resurrection.

    One might wonder if the Church hierarchy, from Pontiffs to Cardinals to Archbishops is really committed to the profession of the faith. Why not wonder, when the Pontiff Francis has already publicly orchestrated idolatry in Rome in 2019.

    Well, I guess we know what St. Athanasius must have felt like.

    Surely the “Synod on Synodality” will clarify everything about “the new religion.”

    • As a convert I cannot even begin to understand why Pope Francis is so bent on protestantizing the church!!!!! Just this week alone he has lambasted the Latin mass and now this heretic Cardinal from Lima as well as the German heretic cardinals are allowed to flourish and pollute the faith with their falsehoods!!!!!! GET THEM OUT THERE ARE MANY DENOMINATIONS THEY COULD BE. PART OF RATHER THAN CAUSE MORE CONTROVERSY IN THE Catholic Church!!!!!

      There may be some people who are extremely conservative that attend the Latin Mass but there are many many more including myself that has been drawn to convert to this HOLY faith and attend Latin mass! The beauty of it, the reverence of it and the mysteries of our faith, the chant, the incense I can go on and on!!!!!! It has totally 100% strengthened my hope, trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!!!! You will never find this beauty in any Protestant church for sure and this very liberal Pope who I don’t understand at all why he has such a problem with this! This was the way for centuries and now there is a problem!!! Those who don’t appreciate the Latin mass have many ordinary masses to choose from in their language if they don’t like following translations but to totally come against the Latin Mass with such force and deftness seems demonic me!!! We need to SERIOUSLY PRAY for our church and the leadership that God will give us GODLY leaders and that those who aren’t be removed!!!! That we can do!!!!!!!

      • A perplexed yet righteous indignation is typical of us who love Him but find His church in ruins.

        The Lord gives peace, found in Eucharistic adoration, in the traditional Latin liturgy, in the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, in the beauty of the love of His Sacred Heart and through His Blessed Mother. None of these are found in a person other than Him. Peace He has given and wished. May He bless you abundantly.

        Best wishes for a Blessed Christmas Season.

      • You must have by now realized that Post-Vatican II, the One Holy, Catholic Apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ upon the Rock of Peter has been eclipsed – and between 1965 and 1970 an ecclesial community called Conciliar church, controlled by the Galan mafia, teaching heterodox doctrines, evolved a new rite of mass (similar to the protestant worship of “active participation” to please the people in a babel of voices but not God) out of what was a glorious edifice for the worship and glory of God. Now it is a mere scaffolding put up after trying to pull down that monument. Fortunately the Remnant are the keepers of that Pearl of great price once again flashing that light on top of the bushel.

  7. One has to wonder what exactly this Archbishop is doing when he celebrates Mass if Christ’s crucifixion was not an expiatory sacrifice. If Christ is not ‘risen from the dead’ he’d be ‘turning over in his grave’ at the antics of far too many of our prelates.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*