THE MAN OF SIN: THE PAPAL CLAIM TO DIVINITY
As ecumenical dialogue sweeps the planet and the Protestant denominations return to their mother, as Revelation 17 prophesied, we wish to remind the remaining Protestants on the fence of the history of the Reformation: please remember your history, and who you are thinking of going back to.
At the heart of the Reformation, is the issue of sola scriptura. The Bible is the Word of God. It is the sole rule of faith. The Papacy has always put itself above the Word of God. Like the serpent of old, it says, “hath God said?”, and insinuates itself between man and God.
The Pope “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:4
Nothing has changed in the Papacy. The change is in Protestantism. Please consider where you are going before it is forever too late.
“The Pope is of so great dignity, and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God. and the vicar of God.” (Ferraris Ecclesiastical dictionary)
“All names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the Pope.” (On the Authority of the Councils, book 2, chapter 17)
“The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, “Cities Petrus Bertanous”.”…the Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.”
Lucius Ferraris, in “Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica”, Volume V, article on “Papa, Article II”, titled “Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility”, (#1, 5, 13-15, 18, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.)
“The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth…by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.” (Quoted in the New York Catechism)
These words are written in the Roman Canon Law 1685: “To believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is decreed, is to be deemed heretical.”
Writers on the Canon Law say, “The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in heaven and earth.”(Barclay Cap. XXVII, p. 218. Cities Petrus Bertrandus, Pius V. – Cardinal Cusa supports his statement)
Pope Nicholas I declared: “the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who, being God, cannot be judged by man.” (Labb IX Dist.: 96 Can. 7, Satis evidentur, Decret Gratian Primer Para)
“The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man …. he is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.” (Lucius Ferraris, «Prompta Bibliotheca», 1763, Volume VI, ‘Papa II’, pp.25-29)
“The supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires… complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself.”
(Leo VIII, «On the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens», Encyclical letter, 1890)
“God separates those whom the Roman Pontiff, who exercises the functions, not of mere man, but of the true God…dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority.” (Decretals of Gregory IX», Book 1, Chapter 7.3)
“Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions (infernorum).” (Lucius Ferraris, «Prompta Bibliotheca», 1763, Volume VI, ‘Papa II’, p.26)
“Innocent III has written: “Indeed, it is not top much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priests are so many gods.” (The dignity of the priesthood by Liguori p, 36)
“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of flesh.” (Catholic National July 1895)
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty” (Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter of June 20, 1894)
“For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman, finally thou art another God on earth.”
(Labbe and Cossart’s “History of the Councils.” Vol. XIV, col. 109)
Roman Catholic Canon Law stipulates through Pope Innocent III that the Roman pontiff is
“the vicegerent upon earth, not a mere man, but of a very God;” and in a gloss on the passage it is explained that this is because he is the vicegerent of Christ, who is “very God and very man.” Decretales Domini Gregorii translatione (Episcoporum, [on the transference of Bishops], title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; [Paris, 1612], tom. 2, Devretales, col. 205)
“The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land… He is the vicegerent (replacement) of Christ, who is not only a Priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords.”
(La Civilia Cattolica, March 18, 1871, quoted in Leonard Woosely Bacaon, An inside view of the Vatican Council [American Tract Society ed.], p.229)
“Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff;… but all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ;… therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this power.”
(Corpus Juris chap. 1 column 29, translated from a gloss on the words Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff)
“The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land . . . He is the vicegerent of Christ, and is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords” (La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871)
“All the faithful must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff [the Pope] possesses the primacy over the whole world, and the Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is true vicar of Christ, and heed of the whole church, and father and teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him in blessed Peter to rule, feed, and govern the universal Church by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, “Eternal Pastor,” published in the fourth session of the Vatican Council, 1870, chap. 3, in Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom. vol. 2, p. 262)
“The Pope’s authority is unlimited, incalculable; it can strike, as Innocent III says, wherever sin is; it can punish every one; it allows no appeal and is itself Sovereign Caprice; for the Pope carries, according to the expression of Boniface VIII, all rights in the Shrine of his breast. As he has now become infallible, he can by the use of the little word, “orbi,” (which means that he turns himself round to the whole Church) make every rule, every doctrine, every demand, into a certain and incontestable article of Faith. No right can stand against him, no personal or corporate liberty; or as the [Roman Catholic] Canonists put it—“The tribunal of God and of the pope is one and the same.” Ignaz von Dollinger, “A Letter Addressed to the Archbishop of Munich” 1871; as quoted in MacDougall,
“The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth.”
(Pope John XXIII in his homily to the Bishops and faithful assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958)
“This is our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God’s commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate.”
(Pope Leo XIII, Allocution for the 25th anniversary of his election, February 20, 1903; Papal Teachings: The Church, Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, page 653)
“Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors.”
(Pope Pius XI, Encyclical, Mortalium animos, January 6, 1928, The Papal Encyclicals, Claudia Carlen, I.H.M., McGrath Publishing Co., 1981, pp. 317, 318)
“We define that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world.”
(A Decree of the Council of Trent, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, “The Most Holy Councils,” col. 1167)
“But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the Apostolic See, and of the universal Church, and the same is confirmed by Holy Writ, you refuse to follow them; for, though your fathers were holy, do you think that their small number, in a corner of the remotest island, is to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout the world? And if that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he was Christ’s servant), was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles to whom Our Lord said ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’?” When Wilfrid had spoken thus, the king said, “Is it true Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by Our Lord?” He answered, “It is true, O king!” Then says he, “Can you show any such power given to your Columba?” Colman answered, “None.” Then added the king, “Do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by Our Lord?” They both answered. “We do.” Then the king concluded, “And I also say unto you, that he is the door-keeper, whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able, in all things obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the gates of the kingdom of heaven, there should be none to open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have the keys.”
(St. Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, quoted in Readings from Church History, Volume I, edited by Fr. Colman Barry, O.S.B., The Newman Press, Westminster, MD, 1966, p. 273.)
