Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

The Papacy and God

What attitude of rivalry was the Papacy, represented by the little horn, to assume toward the Most High? BR-ASI9 141.6

“And he shall speak great words against the most High.” Daniel 7:25, first clause. BR-ASI9 141.7

How does Paul, speaking of the man of sin, describe this same power? BR-ASI9 141.8

“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 2:4. BR-ASI9 141.9

Note.—The following extracts from authoritative works, most of them by Roman Catholic writers, will indicate to what extent the Papacy has done this: BR-ASI9 141.10

“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.”—Robert Bellarmine, Disputationes de Controversiis, Tom. 2, “Controversia Prima,” Book 2 (“De Conciliorum Auctoritate” [On the Authority of Councils]), chap. 17 (1628 ed., vol. 1, p. 266), translated. BR-ASI9 141.11

“For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman; finally, thou art another God on earth.”—Christopher Marcellus’s Oration in the Fifth Lateran Council, 4th session, in J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum. . . . Collectio, vol. 32, col. 761, translated. BR-ASI9 144.1

“For not man, but God separates those whom the Roman Pontiff (who exercises the functions, not of mere man, but of the true God), having weighed the necessity or benefit of the churches, dissolves, not by human but rather by divine authority.”—“The Decretals of Gregory IX,” book 1, title 7, chap. 3, in Corpus Juris Canonici (1555-56 ed.), vol. 2, col. 203, translated. BR-ASI9 144.2

“The pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land. . . . He is the vicegerent of Christ, who is not only a Priest forever, but also King of kings and Lord of lords.”—La Civilta Cattolica, March 18, 1871, quoted in Leonard Woolsey Bacon, An Inside View of the Vatican Council (American Tract Society ed.), p. 229, n. BR-ASI9 144.3

“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 Canonici (1555-56 ed.), vol. 3, Extravagantes Communes, book 1, chap. 1, col. 29, translated from a gloss on the words Porro Subesse Romano Pontiff. BR-ASI9 144.4

“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, “Papa” (the Pope), art. 2 (1772-77 ed., vol. 6, p. 26), translated. BR-ASI9 144.5

“All the faithful of Christ must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff possesses the primacy over the whole world, and that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is true vicar of Christ, and head 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 (Pastor Aeternus, published in the fourth session of the Vatican Council, 1870), chap. 3, in Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons), vol. 2, p. 262. BR-ASI9 144.6

“We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.”—Ibid., chap. 4, pp. 269, 270. BR-ASI9 144.7

Among the twenty-seven propositions known as the “Dictates of Hildebrand,” who, under the name of Gregory VII, was Pope from 1073-87, occur the following:— BR-ASI9 145.1

“2. That the Roman pontiff alone is justly styled universal. BR-ASI9 145.2

“6. That no person . . . may live under the same roof with one excommunicated by the Pope. BR-ASI9 145.3

“9. That all princes should kiss his feet only. BR-ASI9 145.4

“12. That it is lawful for him to depose emperors. BR-ASI9 145.5

“18. That his sentence is not to be reviewed by any one; while he alone can review the decisions of all others. BR-ASI9 145.6

“19. That he can be judged by no one. BR-ASI9 146.1

“22. That the Roman Church never erred, nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err. BR-ASI9 146.2

“26. That no one is to be accounted a Catholic who does not harmonize with the Roman Church. BR-ASI9 146.3

“27. That he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous rulers.”—Cesare Baronius, Annales, year 1076, secs. 31-33, vol. 17 (1869 ed.), pp. 405, 406, translated. BR-ASI9 146.4