"true self", from "who you think you are" to "who you are in God". Rohr's 2014 book Eager to Love explores the key themes of Franciscan spirituality, which he sees as a "third way" between traditional orthodoxy and heresy, a way of focusing on the Gospel, justice, and compassion. Rohr emphasizes "alternative orthodoxy", a term the Franciscan tradition has applied to itself, referring to a focus on "orthopraxis"—a belief that lifestyle and practice are much more important than mere verbal orthodoxy, which he feels is much overlooked in Catholic preaching today. According to Rohr's teachings, a person does not have to follow Jesus or practice any formal religion to come by salvation, but rather "fall in love with the divine presence, under whatever name". Rohr says people are disillusioned with conservative churches that teach that nonbelievers go to Hell. The Perennial Tradition, or Perennial Philosophy, forms the basis of much of his teaching; his work's essential message focuses on the union of divine reality with all things and the human potential and longing for this union. Rohr and other 21st-century spiritual leaders explore the Perennial Tradition in the Center for Action and Contemplation's issue of the publication Oneing. In his 2019 book The Universal Christ, Rohr says he is a panentheist. He goes on to state that panentheism is the true position of Jesus and Paul: Influences on Rohr outside of Christianity include Buddhism and Hinduism, Gandhi, Carl Jung, Spiral Dynamics, the Enneagram of Personality, and Ken Wilber's Integral Theory. On July 1, 2022, Pope Francis met with Rohr, who said that Francis expressed support for his work. Later that year, Rohr announced he would step back from public ministry following a lymphoma diagnosis. He was previously diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017, and suffered a severe heart attack in 2018. Commentary According to Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, Rohr draws on Eastern mysticism rather than biblical Christianity by preaching to find our "true self" instead of knowing a savior distinct from the self. Groothuis argues that Rohr's fundamental claims about the "universal Christ" and Pantheistic worldview subvert the "biblical worldview with most egregious errors" and that Rohr manipulates the scriptures to support his pantheistic or panentheistic worldview, rather than monotheism. Groothuis argues that Rohr contradicts the Christian doctrine that creation and the creator (God) are different entities with infinite separation. He further says that Rohr's writings