THE TRUTH ABOUT YOGA

THE TRUTH ABOUT YOGA

“Undoubtedly, many good things can be learned from oriental religions, things related to the human realm.

But we cannot accept things that contradict our Christian faith and values. Those who have contact with 

non-Christian religious ideas and practices should guard against false conceptions of the spiritual realm... 

One area in which spiritual discernment is particularly needed today is the influence of Hinduism. 

There has been a large influx of ideas and techniques recently in Western nations from oriental religions- 

a way of filling the vacuum left by the materialism of our society. It has taken the form of cult groups such as 

Hare Krishna and practices such as yoga.” Fr. John Dreher, Fraternity of Priests, Which Spirit Are You 

Following? NEW COVENANT, February 1984.    

“Personally, I’ve found nothing of use- and a great deal of potential spiritual harm- in the technique of 

yoga… I advise Catholics not to use these techniques…  Furthermore, I believe that anyone who has yielded his 

life to Jesus Christ and is in an intimate relationship with him through the Holy Spirit has no need for techniques 

rooted in non-Christian religions.”  Fr. John Bertolucci, Is Yoga Any Good ? NEW COVENANT, October 1991.                                                                    

He elaborates, “A letter issued two years ago [Vatican Document, ‘Letter to the Bishops…’, 15th October 

1989*] by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith specifically addresses some aspects of Christian 

meditation. It affirms that Catholics can take ‘what is useful from other religions so long as the Christian conception 

of prayer, its logic and requirements are never obscured ’. [n 16]. But, it also reminds us: ‘Genuine Christian
mysticism has nothing to do with technique. It is always a gift of God.’ [n23].” 

The Letter to the Bishops cited above expresses grave apprehensions about “forms of meditation associated 

with Eastern religions and their particular methods of prayer… The expression ‘Eastern methods’ is used to refer 

to methods which are inspired by Hinduism or Buddhism such as Zen, Transcendental Meditation or Yoga’. [n 2].

*Under the headline “VATICAN WARNS OF YOGA’S DANGERS” the secular press 

[The Independent / The Telegraph, Monday 18 December, 1989] reported that this Document had  

“the full approval of the Pope”.

“Father Lucio da Veiga Coutinho, deputy secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of 

India, is former editor of the Indian Catholic weekly The New Leader. A member of the UCA News Board of 

Directors, Father Coutinho wrote the following commentary which appears in the Feb. 10 issue of ASIA FOCUS: 

The Times of India, a prestigious daily, recently commented that ‘the Vatican has issued a lengthy encyclical 

virtually excommunicating yoga.’

The views of other Catholic priests are reproduced in detail in Section VI of this report.