WHO DOES THE POPE CLAIM TO BE?
The following is a brief outline of some of the claims of the Pope.
These are facts which should be studied and their implications thought
through very carefully indeed. There is no misrepresentation - Rome
speaks for herself.
1) "We the Archbishops and Bishops of
Ireland, prostrate at the feet of your Holiness, humbly offer you our
warmest congratulations on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of your
ordination to the priesthood… our thoughts go back to that great
event fifty years ago by which your Holiness was taken from amongst men
and appointed for men in the things that pertain to God, was made a
minister of Christ and a dispenser of His mysteries, received power
over the real and mystical body of our Saviour and became a mediator
between God and man - another Christ." Address to Pope Pius Xll in
1949:-
Note: Although we are including these offending words ("a mediator
between God and men - another Christ") in relation to the
Pope…if you read the address carefully, they actually refer to
him as a mere priest…and so is believed of every priest
including your local "Father" But they do but "set the scene" for
the blasphemies to come.
2) Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) wrote: "We
may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and
dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it
is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on
earth, not simply of a man but of the true God." (1 Book of Gregory 9
Decret. c.3)
3) The Lateran Council addressing Pope Julius II in an oration delivered by Marcellus said: "Take
care that we lose not that salvation, that life and breath which thou
hast given us, for thou art our shepherd, thou art our physician, thou
art our governor, thou art our husbandman, thou art finally another God
on earth." (Council Edition. Colm. Agrip. 1618)
4) Pope Nicholas said of himself: "I
am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God,
hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can
do…wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done
of man, but of God, what do you make of me but God? Again, if prelates
of the Church be called of Constantine for gods, I then being above all
prelates, seem by this reason to be above all gods. Wherefore, no
marvel, if it be in my power to dispense with all things, yea with the
precepts of Christ." (Decret. par. Distinct 96 ch. 7 edit. Lugo 1661)
5) The RC New York catechism states: "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."
6) The title "Lord God the Pope" - these words appeared in the Canon Law of Rome. "To
believe that our Lord God the Pope has not the power to decree as he is
decreed, is to be deemed heretical." (The Gloss extravagances of
Pope John XXII Cum. Inter, tit XIV Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium, Paris,
1685)
Father A. Pereira acknowledged: "It
is quite certain that Popes have never disapproved or rejected this
title "Lord God the Pope" for the passage in the gloss referred to
appears in the edition of the Canon Law published in Rome by Gregory
XIII."
Writers on 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 Bertanous, Pius V)
7) Pope Nicholas I declared that "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)
8) Speaking the name of the Pope (a rhetorical device) Cardinal Manning said: "I
acknowledge no civil superior, I am the subject of no prince, and I
claim more than this, I claim to be the supreme judge on earth and
director of the consciences of men, I am the last supreme judge of what
is right and wrong." (Sermon in the Pro Cathedral, Kensington,
Tablet Oct 9, 1864)
Two Scriptures come to mind as I read these various claims of the Pope.
[1] "…Simon…bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one…" (Acts 8:9)
[2] "That ye be not soon shaken in
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as
from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man
deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, shewing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4)
A WORD TO ROMAN CATHOLIC READERS:
We do not write these things in hatred of you or your co religionists.
All we have done is highlight the teaching of your church. The fact
that these things are not much talked about today does not render them
obsolete or untrue. Rome has her own reasons for keeping them back -
but they still constitute the claims which your church makes. If they
horrify you as they horrify me…then is it not time that
you considered your position? To remain inside is to endorse by your
presence these claims. God says: "Come out of her my people that ye be
not partaker of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4) We are not asking you
to become a Protestant i.e. to merely embrace a party name or to fight
a party war. Millions of sincere church going Protestants are damned
because they "lack one thing" - a personal, saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Many years ago, Cardinal Manning said: "The Catholic Church is either the masterpiece of Satan or the Kingdom of the Son of God."
Cardinal Newman acknowledged: "If not divinely appointed, it is doctrinally the essence of antichrist."
These two high ranking and noted Roman clerics have stripped back the
issue to the very wire. Read again and ponder the claims of the various
Popes and answer the issue for yourself.
God said: "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another…" (Isaiah 42:8)
THE END
Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland