"There is no graver offense than heresy...and therefore it must be rooted out with fire and sword."
--The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, Vol. 14, p. 766-768.
"The Church has the right to require that the Catholic religion shall be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all others."
--Pope Pius IX.
"The unrestrained freedom of thinking and of openly making known one's thoughts is not inherent in the rights of citizens and is by no means to be reckoned worthy of favor and support."
--Pope Gregory XVI.
"...the final object of ecumenism, as Catholics conceive it, is unity in Faith, worship, and the acknowledgement of supreme spiritual authority of the Bishop of Rome."
--Priest J. Cornell
"All protestant clergy are thieves, murderers, and ministers of the Devil."
--The Douay (Catholic) Bible notes.
"The papacy--the accepted and cherished supremacy of one conscience over all other consciences, of one will over all other wills."
--Cardinal Mercier, Belgium
"For every human creature it is necessary for salvation to be subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff."
--The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, p. 126.
"The doctrines of the Catholic Church are entirely independent of Holy Scriptures."
--Familiar Explanations of Catholic Doctrine, by Priest Muller, p. 151.
"They (Protestants) conveniently forget that they separated from us, not we from them; and that it is for them to return to unity on Catholic terms, not for us to seek union with them, or to accept it, on their terms.... Protestantism is rebellion against the authority of Christ vested in His Church. It neither possesses authority, or has any desire to submit to authority.... Protestantism has really proved to be the ally of paganism.... All forms of Protestantism are unjustified. They should not exist."
--America (Catholic periodical), January 4, 1941, Vol. 64, page 343.
"We believe in the triumph of the Catholic Church over infidelity, heresy, schism, revolution, and despotism; over Judaism, Mohammedanism, and heathenism. The restoration of the Pope's temporal kingdom is necessary to this triumph, and therefore we believe it will be restored."
--The Catholic World, August 1877, Vol. XXV, page 620.
The Papacy is founded upon the theory that the state is the lawful and rightful servant of the church; that human laws should take cognizance of men's religious beliefs, and compel them to yield obedience to the dogmas and dictates of the church. It implies a union of the church with the state, with the state, not as an equal, but as servant of the church. This is the Papacy.
"But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done...
"Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and conscessions which papists themselves are surprised to see, and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism, and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people of our land need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty."
--The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, pages 381, 382, 1884 edition.
In 1545 Pope Paul III set up a council to establish laws for the Roman Catholic Institution to stop the spread of Protestant Christianity. The laws set forth in the Council of Trent established who was a heretic...and history shows how they legally slaughtered "heretics" to cleanse the land. As the Second Vatican Council commenced in 1963, Pope John XXIII declared, "I do accept entirely all that has been decided and declared at the Council of Trent."
According to the Council of Trent:
Paraphrased from The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent by Schroeder as follows: (1) Page 35, (2) Page 46, (3) Page 102, (4) Page 79, (5) Page 80. Imprimatur + Joannes J. Glennon, Archiepiscopus.
"The Catholic has some reason on his side when he calls for the temporal punishment of heretics, for he claims the true title of Christian for himself exclusively, and professes to be taught by the never-failing presence of the Spirit of God... It is not more 'morally' wrong to put a man to death for heresy than for murder,...[and] in many cases persecution for religious opinions is not only permissible, but highly advisable and necessary."
--"The Lawfulness of Persecution," in The Rambler, 4, June, 1849, pp. 119, 126 [Roman Catholic].
"You ask if he [the Roman Catholic] were lord in the land, and you were in a minority, if not in numbers yet in power, what would he do to you? That, we say, would entirely depend upon circumstances. If it would benefit the cause of Catholicism, he would tolerate you: If expedient, he would imprison you, banish you, fine you; possibly, he might even hang you. But be assured of one thing: He would never tolerate you for the sake of 'the glorious principles of civil and religious liberty'... Catholicism is the most intolerant of creeds. It is intolerance itself, for it is truth itself."
--"Civil and Religious Liberty," in The Rambler, 8, Sept., 1851, pp. 174, 178. [The Rambler was an English Roman Catholic journal published from 1848 to 1862.]
"That the church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history... It is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no powers of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings."
--W.E.H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, vol. 2, p. 32. 1910 edition.
(An excellent, though lengthy, article describing in detail the right of the Roman Catholic Church to do this, will be found in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12, p. 266.)
"From the birth of popery to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors--an average of more than 40,000 religious murders for every year of the existence of popery. Of course the average number of victims yearly, was vastly greater, during those gloomy ages when popery was in her glory and reigned despot of the world; and it has been much less since the power of the popes has diminished to tyrannize over the nations, and to compel the princes of the earth, by the terrors of excommunication, interdiction, and deposition, to butcher their heretical subjects."
--John Dowling, The History of Romanism, pp. 541-542.
"During the 2,000 years the [Roman Catholic] Church has been on this earth, she has warred with nearly every government in this world. The world is full of their ruins. Their thrones have toppled over and fallen, their dynasties have come to dust. And the governments of the world today will meet the same fate if they challenge the hostility of the church of God. She remains; she is today what she was 2,000 years ago; ...she is today what she was during the Middle Ages; she is today what she was during the times of Protestant persecution during and since the sixteenth century; she is the invincible church of God. God help the state that attacks her; God help the king that provokes her hostility."
--from a sermon by the Catholic priest D.S. Phelan on Sunday, Dec. 12, 1909, published in the Roman Catholic (St. Louis) periodical, The Western Watchman, Dec. 16, 1909.
On December 8, 1864, Pius IX issued the encyclical "Quanta Cura," and with it the now famous "Syllabus of Errors."...
In order that no violence may be done to the facts involved in this matter there will be here quoted a few of the "errors" which are set forth in the syllabus. And the reader must bear in mind that that which is set forth is the error to which the Vatican is opposed, and not the thing which the Vatican endorses:
Section 3:15. Every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall believe true, guided by the light of reason.
Section 3:16. Men may in any religion find the way of eternal salvation, and obtain eternal salvation.
Section 5:24. The church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect temporal power.
Section 5:27. The ministers of the church and the Roman pontiff, ought to be absolutely excluded from all charge and dominion over temporal affairs.
Section 6:39. The commonwealth is the origin and source of all rights, and possesses rights which are not circumscribed by any limits.
Section 6:55. The church ought to be separated from the state, and the state from the church.
(Excerpted from The Vatican and the War, © 1915 by Dr. Percy T. Magan.)
"Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
--Writings of George Washington, vol. 30, p. 321.
"The time for reflection and planning is past" in religious and moral fields, and the "time for action has arrived... The battle in religious and moral fields hinges on five points: Religious culture, the sanctifying of Sunday, the saving of the Christian family, social justice, and loyalty and truthfulness in dealings."
--Pope Pius XII on "September 7, 1947, quoted in Evening Star News (Washington, D.C.), Sept. 8, 1947.
"This organization proposes in every possible way to aid in preserving Sunday as a civil institution. Our national security requires the active support of all good citizens in the maintenance of our 'American Sabbath.' Sunday laws must be enacted and enforced."
--Quoted as "principles contained in the Constitution of the original organization" of The Lord's Day Alliance [formerly called the American Sabbath Union], in its Twenty-fifth Report, p. 6, 1913.
"All encroachments upon the claims and the sanctities of the Lord's Day should be stoutly resisted through the press, the Lord's Day associations and alliances, and by such legislation as may be secured to protect and preserve this bulwark of our American Christianity."
--Resolution passed in the first meeting of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, and published in its first Biennial Report, p. 103, 1908.
"All Catholics should exert their power to cause the constitution of states to be modeled after the principles of the Catholic Church."
--Pope Leo XIII, Papal Encyclical.
"The Church of Rome is one monarchy over all the kingdoms of the earth, and is, among temporal bodies, as the mind or the soul of the body of man, or as God in the world. Therefore the Church of Rome must not only have the spiritual power, but also the supreme temporal power."
--Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, 1879.
"There is no crime that the doting warrior [General Miles] charges against us to which we must plead guilty. He says that we are trying to make the United States a Catholic country. We most certainly are doing all in our power to accomplish it."
--The Catholic Register, Kansas City, April 16, 1914.
"Protestantism is just as wrong now as it was in 1517. It is the duty incumbent on us as Catholics to 'spread the word' and make America Catholic... Father Isaac Hecker founded the Paulist Fathers for the express purpose of making America Catholic. They are still at it and doing a fine job of it. It is the goal of every bishop, priest and religious order in the country. No Catholic can settle, with good conscience, for a policy of appeasement, or even mere co-existence with a non-Catholic community."
--Our Sunday Visitor, July 31, 1960 (quoted from Preparation for the Final Crisis by Fernando Chaij, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1966, p. 177).
Key factors in the Curia's vision of the U.S. Catholic Church are the following: a large, generous Church living in "an historically pluralist religious atmosphere" which presents special difficulties for Catholicism.
--National Catholic Register, 4-19-87. (Difficulties? Cannot use force.)
Pope John Paul II is preparing the church and mankind to make a decisive choice for the third millennium. He can speak plainly and prophetically and the Holy See's diplomatic service provides a valuable nuanced backup. His moral authority cannot be exercised in a vacuum.
--Our Sunday Visitor (Catholic), 11-30-86. (The decisive choice includes everybody, even non-Catholics.)
Twenty years ago, Father Joseph A. Ratzinger said the "methods and behavior" of the Holy Office--which descended from the medieval Inquisition--were "outdated [and]...a source of scandal to the world." Pope Paul VI renamed it the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Today Cardinal Ratzinger heads the organization and has shaped the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into a powerful weapon against dissent. The church and society once saw eye-to-eye, Ratzinger said, but society has pulled away from that consensus and the church must reassert its teachings.
--Los Angeles Times, 11-7-86.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
--Revelation Chapter 17.
"The Romish Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christ-like garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of popery that existed in ages past exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The popery that Protestants are now so ready to embrace and honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the peril of their lives to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty, and slew the saints of the Most High.
"Popery is just what prophecy declared that she would be,--the apostasy of the latter times. It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon, she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. "We are not bound to keep faith and promises to heretics," she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ?"
"The Saviour's heart overflowed with love. The nearer man approaches to moral perfection, the keener are his sensibilities, the more acute is his perception of sin, and the deeper his sympathy for the afflicted. The pope claims to be the vicar of Christ. How does his character bear comparison with that of our Saviour? Was Christ ever known to consign men to the prison or the rack because they did not pay Him homage as the King of Heaven? Was His voice heard condemning to death those who did not accept Him? When He was slighted by the people of a Samaritan village, the apostle John was filled with indignation, and inquired, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" Jesus looked with pity upon his disciple, and rebuked his harsh spirit, saying, "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Luke 9:54, 56. How different from the spirit manifested by Christ is that of his professed vicar."
--The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, pages 387, 388, 1884 edition.
We are on the verge of the second and final Dark Ages of religious-political despotism and anarchy. Conditions are developing which will bring the world's greatest persecution. In Christ we will be found steadfast. Man today is trading freedom for security. He will end up with neither.
"Our land is in jeopardy. The time is drawing on when its legislators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism as to give countenance to Romish apostasy. The people for whom God has so marvelously wrought, strengthening them to throw off the galling yoke of popery, will by a national act give vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, and thus arouse the tyranny which only waits for a touch to start again into cruelty and despotism. With rapid steps are we already approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall seek the support of the secular power, thus following the example of that apostate church, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will there be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin."
--The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White, page 410, 1884 edition.
