Pop singer Katheryn Hudson, who goes by the stage name Katy Perry and is known for her lesbian experimentation song “I Kissed a Girl,” recently spoke on transcendental meditation alongside her mentor at the Vatican’s “Unite to Cure” conference. Her appearance, along with others, such as Deepak Chopra and Dr. Mehmet Oz, have raised concern about ongoing ecumenism at the Vatican in joining together all kinds of beliefs and practices under one banner.
“Bobby was able to teach me meditation in India,” Hudson told those gathered during the talk entitled “Impacting Children’s Health Through Meditation Globally.” “The stillness that I found is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.”
“It’s helped a lot with my anxiety. Instead of having to turn to [a] prescription, I’ve been able to turn to this,” she said. “It helps incredibly with jet lag … and for all the Italians, it helps with the hangovers.”
Hudson asserted during the talk that meditation is not a religion, but is simply “taking care of one’s temple.”
“I was raised in a Christian household,” Hudson outlined, noting that her parents, who identify as evangelists, were present at the talk. “I was raised around the idea that our body is a temple. And I think if our body is truly a temple, we have to take care of it mind, body and soul. And this takes care of your mind.”
“I notice when I meditate that my whole brain kind of opens up—it kind of feels like a halo is ignited above my head,” she continued. “And it’s like I’m clearing out the cobwebs of my neuropathways and finding new neuropathways to ignite.”
Hudson said that transcendental meditation has also helped her creativity as a musical artist, “especially when I come out of it.”
Her mentor, Bob Roth, praised Hudson, stating that “100 million people really trust” the pop singer, and said that she had helped others get into meditation because of her influence.
“600,000 young kids have learned to meditate, and a lot of it because of your words,” Roth stated. “No exaggeration, you have saved thousands and thousands of lives.”
“Words are very powerful,” Hudson replied. “God created the world with words.”
The pop singer also met Roman Catholic leader Jorge Bergoglio, known as Pope Francis, during her visit and tweeted, “Honored to be in the presence of His Holiness @franciscus’ compassionate heart and inclusivity.”
The event was billed as a global health care initiative and presented by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, the Stem for Life Foundation, the Cura Foundation and the STOQ Foundation. It featured a number of doctors and health care leaders, including New Age figure Deepak Chopra, and was moderated by CNN’s medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a Hindu; talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Muslim; CBS correspondent Max Gomez, and journalist Meredith Vieira.
View an outline of the conference here.
While the Vatican’s three-day conference was attended by priests, biotech representatives and celebrities alike, Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries told Christian News Network that he found both the allowance of a presentation on transcendental meditation and the ecumenical speakers’ list to be troubling.
“We can only wonder why Katy Perry was invited to a Vatican conference and an audience with the pope,” he said. “Perry pontificated about the benefits of TM from the very chair that Pope Francis often communicates his messages. In both cases, their ‘wisdom of this world is foolishness before God’ (1 Cor. 3:19).”
As previously reported, Hudson, a former Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) artist, spoke at a Human Rights Campaign gala in March 2017 and was presented with a homosexual advocacy award. She pointed to her 2008 hit song “I Kissed a Girl” during her speech as she told those gathered that “I did more than that.” Her remark generated both cheers and applause from attendees.
Hudson also made headlines in 2016 when she donated $10,000 to the abortion and contraception giant Planned Parenthood out of fear that the organization might be defunded by the Trump administration.
“Planned Parenthood educated me on my body and my reproductive health, so that I could focus on my dreams and using my voice until I knew the timing was right for me to make a plan to have a family,” she wrote on social media. “Without this education, I may have had a different life path.”
Gendron said that he believed that the allowance of Roth and Hudson’s talk on transcendental meditation, along with the other aforementioned speakers, further evidenced Bergoglio’s desire to unite all religions and beliefs.
“He is aggressively pursuing his ecumenical agenda for religious unity and not anything to stand in his way. Clearly part of his strategy for a global religion is to cast the net into all of society and unite the world through highly influential people,” he opined.
“What better way to suppress the doctrinal differences that divide religions than to promote the ungodly Hindu practice of TM. The practice is embraced by atheists, agnostics and people from a variety of religious affiliations,” Gendron stated. “The process opens the mind to the spiritual realm such that any thought can enter. God’s word gives a resolute warning to such devilish practices. We are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ so that we can destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:5).”
According to reports, transcendental meditation was first made popular in the 1950’s by Hindu guru Mahesh Prasad Varma, also known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He learned the technique from Indian Hindu leader Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, of whom he was a follower, and named his efforts the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. Secular artists such as the Beatles are stated to have been taught by Varma.
Gendron, a former Roman Catholic of 30 years who now teaches Christians how to share the gospel with Catholics, said that the Vatican’s universal embrace, as evidenced by the various speakers, is not biblical.
“As the self-proclaimed head of the Roman Catholic Church, the pope’s blueprint for building his ecumenical church is much different from the blueprint of the Lord’s exclusive church. The true church was never ordained to be driven by man’s schemes and methods, but to be made up of all who would repent and believe His Gospel (Mark 1:15),” he stated.
“It is my prayer that Catholics would search the Scriptures to determine a true prophet from a false prophet, the true church from the false church and the narrow way that leads to life from the wide road that leads to destruction (Mat. 7:13-15).”
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