Origen…

…judges Francis’ idea on Judas being a poor, penitent man

• Judas did not seek repentance, but received a more abundant sorrow supplied to him by the Devil, who sought to swallow him up

But when the Devil leave any one, he watches his time for return, and having taken it, he leads him into a second sin, and then watches for opportunity for a third deceit. So the man who had married his father’s wife afterwards repented him of this sin, (1 Cor 5:1) but again the Devil resolved so to augment this very sorrow of repentance, that his sorrow being made too abundant might swallow up the sorrower. Something like this took place in Judas, who after his repentance did not preserve his own heart, but received that more abundant sorrow supplied to him by the Devil, who sought to swallow him up, as it follows, ‘And he went out, and hanged himself.’ But had he desired and looked for place and time for repentance, he would perhaps have found Him who has said, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.’ (Ezek 33:11) (Origen quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Catena Aurea in Mt 27:1–5)

…judges Francis’ idea on the role of women in the Church

• The prophetesses did not speak in the assemblies

Philip the evangelist, had four virgin daughters and they prophesized (cf. Acts 21:8-9). If they prophesized, what is wrong about our prophetesses (ours, as they say) also prophesying? If the daughters of Philip prophesied, at least they did not speak in the assemblies; for we do not find this fact in evidence in the Acts of the Apostles. Much less in the Old Testament. It is said that Deborah was a prophetess (Judg 4:4). There is no evidence that Deborah delivered speeches to the people, as did Jeremiah and Isaiah. Huldah, who was a prophetess (cf. 2Kgs 22:14; 2Chron 34: 22), did not speak to the people, but only to a man, who consulted her at home. (Origen. Fragments of the First Letter to the Corinthians, English translation in ‘The Ministry of Women in the Early Church’, by Roger Gryson; tr. Jean Laporte and Mary Louise Hall (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1976))

…judges Francis’ idea on conversion of the papacy

• The rock and the Church are one and the same

‘What is the it?’ (writes Origen). ‘Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church or the Church? The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same. I indeed think that this is so, and that neither against the rock upon which Christ builds His Church nor against the Church shall the gates of Hell prevail’ (Origenes, Comment. in Matt., tom. XII., n.2). (Origen. Commentary on Matthew 13, no. 2, quoted by Leo XIII in the Encyclical Satis cognitum, no. 12, September 29, 1896)

…judges Francis’ idea on Christians and Muslims sharing the same points

• The inspiration of Sacred Scripture has been revealed and confirmed since the advent of Christ

These points now being briefly established, viz., regarding the deity of Christ, and the fulfilment of all that was prophesied respecting Him, I think that this position also has been made good, viz., that the Scriptures themselves, which contained these predictions, were divinely inspired — those, namely, which had either foretold His advent, or the power of His doctrine, or the bringing over of all nations (to His obedience). To which this remark must be added, that the divinity and inspiration both of the predictions of the prophets and of the law of Moses have been clearly revealed and confirmed, especially since the advent of Christ into the world. For before the fulfilment of those events which were predicted by them, they could not, although true and inspired by God, be shown to be so, because they were as yet unfulfilled. But the coming of Christ was a declaration that their statements were true and divinely inspired, although it was certainly doubtful before that whether there would be an accomplishment of those things which had been foretold. (Origen. De Principiis, Book IV, no. 6)

• The books of Sacred Scripture are of a style that is divine

If anyone, moreover, consider the words of the prophets with all the zeal and reverence which they deserve, it is certain that, in the perusal and careful examination thus given them, he will feel his mind and senses touched by a divine breath, and will acknowledge that the words which he reads were no human utterances, but the language of God; and from his own emotions he will feel that these books were the composition of no human skill, nor of any mortal eloquence, but, so to speak, of a style that is divine. The splendor of Christ’s advent, therefore, illuminating the law of Moses by the light of truth, has taken away that veil which had been placed over the letter (of the law), and has unsealed, for everyone who believes upon Him, all the blessings which were concealed by the covering of the word. (Origen. De Principiis, Book IV, no. 6)

…judges Francis’ idea on proclaiming the Gospel only with gentleness

• Our object is to reform the human race: either by the threats of punishments or by promises

In the next place, Celsus, as is his custom, having neither proved nor established anything, proceeds to say, as if we talked of God in a manner that was neither holy nor pious, that ‘it is perfectly manifest that they babble about God in a way that is neither holy nor reverential;’ and he imagines that we do these things to excite the astonishment of the ignorant, and that we do not speak the truth regarding the necessity of punishments for those who have sinned. And accordingly he likens us to those who ‘in the Bacchic mysteries introduce phantoms and objects of terror.’ With respect to the mysteries of Bacchus, whether there is any trustworthy account of them, or none that is such, let the Greeks tell, and let Celsus and his boon-companions listen. But we defend our own procedure, when we say that our object is to reform the human race, either by the threats of punishments which we are persuaded are necessary for the whole world, and which perhaps are not without use to those who are to endure them; or by the promises made to those who have lived virtuous lives, and in which are contained the statements regarding the blessed termination which is to be found in the kingdom of God, reserved for those who are worthy of becoming His subjects. (Origen. Contra Celsus, Book IV, no. 1)

…judges Francis’ idea on proclaiming the Gospel

• The enemies of truth wish to destroy the walls of the Gospel

When the Holy of Holies was in building – that is, when the faith of Christ and the mysteries of his saints were in the process of establishment, the enemies of truth and the opponents of the faith, who are the wise of this world, seeing the walls of the Gospel rising without literary art or philosophical skill, say scornfully that these things can easily be destroyed by the cunning of words, through crafty falsehoods and the arguments of dialectic. (Origen. Commentary on the Song of Songs, Book IV)

…judges Francis’ idea that Jesus is only mercy

• It is heretical to divide the justice and goodness of God

Now, since this consideration has weight with some, that the leaders of that heresy (of which we have been speaking) think they have established a kind of division, according to which they have declared that justice is one thing and goodness another, and have applied this division even to divine things, maintaining that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed a good God, but not a just one, whereas the God of the law and the prophets is just, but not good; […] And they gather together instances of this, Wherever they find a history in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, relating, e.g., the punishment of the deluge, or the fate of those who are described as perishing in it, or the, destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by a shower of fire and brimstone, or the falling of all the people in the wilderness on account of their sins, so that none of those who had left Egypt were found to have entered the promised land, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. Whereas from the New Testament they gather together words of compassion and piety, through which the disciples are trained by the Saviour, and by which it seems to be declared that no one is good save God the Father only; and by this means they have ventured to style the Father of the Saviour Jesus Christ a good God, but to say that the God of the world is a different one, whom they are pleased to term just, but not also good. […] Will they say that He who at one time was just has been made good? Or will they rather be of opinion that He is even now just, but is patiently enduring human offences, while that then He was not even just, inasmuch as He exterminated innocent and sucking children along with cruel and ungodly giants? (Origen. De principis, Book II, Ch. V, no. 1-2)

…judges Francis’ idea that Koran is a book of peace

• Where Jesus is not, there are strifes and fightings

Where Jesus is not, there are strifes and fightings; where He is, there is peace and all good things. (Origen quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Catena Aurea in Mt 27:15 – 26)

• Even if some points of doctrine in the Scriptures are found among pagans, they do not possess the power of grace

‘And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God’ (1Cor 2:4-5). For the word of God declares that the preaching (although in itself true and most worthy of belief) is not sufficient to reach the human heart, unless a certain power be imparted to the speaker from God, and a grace appear upon his words; and it is only by the divine agency that this takes place in those who speak effectually. The prophet says in the sixty-seventh Psalm, that ‘the Lord will give a word with great power to them who preach.’ (Such is the reading of the Septuagint version. The Masoretic text has: ‘The Lord gave a word; of them who published it there was a great host’ (Cf. Ps 68:11). If, then, it should be granted with respect to certain points, that the same doctrines are found among the Greeks as in our own Scriptures, yet they do not possess the same power of attracting and disposing the souls of men to follow them. And therefore the disciples of Jesus, men ignorant so far as regards Grecian philosophy, yet traversed many countries of the world, impressing, agreeably to the desire of the Logos, each one of their hearers according to his deserts, so that they received a moral ameliorationin proportion to the inclination of their will to accept of that which is good. (Origen. Origen Against Cesus, Book VII, Ch. 2)

…judges Francis’ idea on human suffering

• Jesus exhibits no less power in expelling the merchants than in His other miracles

Should it appear something out of the order of things, that the Son of God should make a scourge of small cords, to drive them out of the temple? We have one answer in which some take refuge, viz. the divine power of Jesus, Who, when He pleased, could extinguish the wrath of His enemies however innumerable, and quiet the tumult of their minds: The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nought. This act indeed exhibits no less power, than His more positive miracles; nay rather, more than the miracle by which water was converted into wine: in that there the subject-matter was inanimate, here, the minds of so many thousands of men are overcome. (Origen quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Catena Aurea in Jn 2:14-17)

…judges Francis’ idea on the words of Jesus Christ upon the Cross

• You must not imagine that the Savior said this after the manner of men; He said it that the people who were honored by the Father may receive the things that deserved

When He saw darkness over the whole land of Judaea He said this, Father, ‘why hast thou forsaken me?’ meaning, Why hast thou given Me over exhausted to such sufferings? that the people who were honoured by Thee may receive the things that they have dared against Me, and should be deprived of the light of Thy countenance. Also, Thou hast forsaken Me for the salvation of the Gentiles. But what good have they of the Gentiles who have believed done, that I should deliver them from the evil one by shedding My precious blood on the ground for them? Or will they, for whom I suffer these things, ever do aught worthy of them? Or foreseeing the sins of those for whom He suffered, He said, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ that I should become ‘as one that gathereth stubble in the harvest, and gleanings in the vintage’ (Mic 9:1). But you must not imagine that the Saviour said this after the manner of men by reason of the misery which encompassed Him on the cross; for if you take it so you will not hear His ‘loud voice’ and mighty words which point to something great hidden. (Origen. Commentary on Matthew 27:46, quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea)