"There is only one road for man and it is Christ"

Back in 1997, Pope John Paul II met the singer Bob Dylan. After Dylan performed a few songs for him, the Holy Father got up and preached a sermon based on Bob Dylan's song, Blowin' in the Wind. The pope wanted to highlight the song's themes of peace and social justice. Pope John Paul II also saw an opportunity to teach about Jesus as the only way to God the Father.

He knew that while the Church is dedicated to advancing the common good and promoting justice everywhere for all people she never makes the central claim of indifferentism- that all roads lead to salvation.

Based on the mandate in Matthew ch. 28 to 'baptize ALL nations', the Church never cedes that ground. But some, in an effort to be incusive and not to offend, have given up on the missionary effort to lead others to salvation and the fullness of truth through the One Mediator Jesus Christ. 

In order to address this error called syncretism that many of Bob Dklan's fans had accepted, the Pope went to the microphone before the big gathering of 300,000 young Catholic pilgrims and Italian youth. He began by quoting the first line of Dylan’s song. 

He said, "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?" He paused and then declared in his booming , Polish voice, "There is one road for man, and it is the road of Jesus Christ. It is Christ, who said: 'I am the way'.