The Catholic Magisterium

< How to Convince a Protestant of Papal Succession (by a Protestant)

Ephesians 2:19f-20 “…the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (NKJV)

Actually the office of pope, called the papacy, is not the longest-running office or institution. The Egyptian Pharaohs were called Pharaoh from 3150/3000 B.C. to 30 B.C. One could argue that there are leaders of Egypt today, though they are not titled Pharaohs. In China the Yellow Emperor ruled around 2696 B.C., and ruled in an unbroken chain (including Genghis Khan!), until the last Emperor abdicated in 1912 A.D. There are leaders of China today, though they are not titled Emperors. But the bishops of Rome were not known as popes either, until 314 A.D. But in all three cases, Popes, Pharaohs, and Chinese Emperors, there were bloody but successful revolts, succession by murder, conquest, and some rules were installed by foreign powers. At one point the office of Pope was sold, though we are not aware of the office of Pharaoh or Chinese Emperor being sold.

Furthermore, the having a “pope” in Rome is not even the longest running Christian office either. There was no pope for three years from 1268 to 1271, and two years from

1292 to 1294.

We have no evidence of a Roman bishop being called “pope” until the Council of Arles I in 314 A.D. Bishops of Alexandria were called popes in “pope” Heraclas in 232-249 A.D. At the Council of Nicea I in 325 A.D., there were four “metropolitans” who had equal power. They were the bishop of Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem.

The Holy Character of Popes in the Papal Succession

Since the pope is required (in many Roman Catholic minds), why is a pope required. One might jump to the conclusion that Roman Catholics think the pope is required as both a leader and an example of the faith and morals, or moral character and official teaching of the church. That is not actually what many Catholic apologists think though. For example, here is a quote from Karl Keating.

“It is commonplace that multiple popes have joked that the greatest proof of the divine establishment of the Church is the fact that it has persisted despite the caliber of the men occupying its lofty offices – and even its neighborhood rectories. Any purely human institution would have disappeared from history centuries ago. This is true of the Catholic Church as a whole and of the papacy in particular.” Karl Keating in The Francis Feud p.79

Now Karl Keating did not make up the idea that the proof of the genuineness of the papacy is its persistence despite the sorry character of some of the popes (not did he claim to). Keating is echoing what many other Catholics before him have said. Roman Catholic teachers have freely acknowledged that some popes are very likely in Hell. Later we will discuss briefly the torture, the massacres, prostitutes in the Vatican, giving key offices to close family members, selling church offices for money.

The Holy Teaching of Popes in the Papal Succession

What about heretical Roman bishops and popes; they were charged with heresy by later popes and bishops. What about the pope’s official pronouncements, call papal bulls that were later pronounced as full of bull, (i.e. officially annulled)? We will go into that in the show “Why Catholics Don’t Need a Pope.

So how would a Roman Catholic convince a Protestant that papal succession were true. Speaking as a Protestant, this is what they would have to adequately answer.

So what does papal succession mean?

1. How would papal succession, if true, have to work?

2. What things have to be ignored for papal succession?

3. What about the time when papal succession, if it existed, was (apparently) broken

1. For papal succession to be true the following should be true

1.1 Christ gave Peter authority over all the church.

1.2 Peter was in Rome. (1 Peter 5:13 (implied), Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus, Caius, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Peter of Alexandria, Lactantius, Eusebius)

1.3 Peter (or Christ) gave authority not to all the bishops Peter appointed, but only the one in Rome.

1.4 It does not matter that no one is aware of Peter appointing a pope before he died.

1.5 The successors other people appointed had to pass on authority over all the church.

1.1 Christ gave Peter authority over all the church

Peter and the rock Mt 16:18. All of the apostles are the foundation. Eph 2:20

Keys of the kingdom of Heaven Mt 16:19

Binding and loosing on earth and in heaven Mt 16:19. Forgiveness of sins. Jn 20:23

Get thee behind me Satan Mt 16:23

Keating brings up verses to infer that Peter was foremost of the apostles. C&F p.205

Keating claims in the Old Testament only God was called a rock. C&F p.205 (Actually not true. Isaiah 51:1-2 the Jews were cu from Abraham.)

Two Conclusions: Ultimately is it Jesus who is the head or cornerstone of the church. (Keating agrees in DC p.73) All of the apostles are the foundation on top of Christ.

But what if…

1.2 Peter was in Rome

Karl Keating says it does not matter, because Peter could have been a pope without being in Rome. Then he gives strong evidence that Peter was in Rome.

1 Peter 5:13 (implies Peter wrote from Rome)

Eusebius of Caesarea (323-339/340 A.D.) “And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: ‘The church that is a Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.’” Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History book 2 ch.15.2 p.116

Early Christians said Peter was in Rome (Dionysius of Corinth (c.170 A.D.), Irenaeus of Lyons (182-188 A.D.), Caius (190-217 A.D.), Clement of Alexandria (193-217/220 A.D.), Tertullian (198-220 A.D.), Hippolytus (222-235/236 A.D.), Cyprian of Carthage (c.246-258 A.D.), Peter of Alexandria (306-311 A.D.), Lactantius (c.321-c.325 A.D.), Eusebius of Caesarea. (I disagree with Keating that Ignatius proved Peter was in Rome, but the others are all valid.)

1.3 Peter (or Christ) gave authority not to all the bishops Peter appointed, but only the one in Rome.

(Repeat) Peter and the rock Mt 16:18. All of the apostles are the foundation. Eph 2:20

Keys of the kingdom of Heaven Mt 16:19

Binding and loosing on earth and in heaven Mt 16:19. Forgiveness of sins. Jn 20:23

Get thee behind me Satan Mt 16:23

1.4 It does not matter that no one is aware of Peter appointing a pope before he died.

Nothing to say here. There is total silence.

1.5 The successors other people appointed had to pass on authority over all the church.

Nothing to say here. There is total silence.

Except that the false decretals were invented. C&F p.213

2. For papal succession to be true the following would have to be irrelevant

2.1 Ex Cathedra, or sitting on “Peter’s chair” is not important, since the pope’s chair was not until the ninth century anyway.

2.2 The Pope did not have to be in Rome. He could be in Avignon instead

2.3 The title “pope” is not important, since we know of no bishop of Rome called a pope until 314 A.D..

2.3 The title “pope” is not important, since there is no record of a “pope” in Rome until 314 A.D..

2.4 Whether the whole church accepted the Roman Pope’s authority is not important, since churches in Greece and Egypt and eastward never accepted the Roman bishop as more important than Constantinople or Alexandria. During the times of multiple popes, much of the western church did not accept the “rightful” pope.

2.5 Evidence that papal succession (not just apostolic succession) was passed on is not important, as the false decretals that were the proof of there were determined to be fake.

2.6 Selling the office of pope is still compatible with papal succession.

Summary: The pope does not need a chair, have to be in Rome, have to be called pope, have to be accepted as top leader by the whole church, or have any evidence of being passed on,

Nothing that we can think of is incompatible with papal succession.

3. For papal succession to be unbroken, none of these could matter

3.1 The character of the man who is pope is irrelevant. Papal succession has no problem with papal prostitutes in the Vatican.

3.2 Ordering the persecution and killing of peaceful Jews and others is compatible with papal succession.

3.3 The character and moral examples of the popes is not important. A number of popes were highly detrimental.

3.4 A pope appointing bad cardinals, and nepotism would not break papal succession.

3.5 Being under control of political leaders is compatible with papal succession.

3.6 Sending people to burn at the stake, who 50 years later would be canonized as a saint, is OK with papal succession.

3.7 Official papal teaching promulgated in bulls is not important; some have been annulled by a pope after them.

Problem: Even if the Antichrist became a future pope, papal succession still be unbroken.

“I am a born Catholic. I have never stopped going to Mass, saying the rosary, studying the Gospels. I have never even considered leaving the church. I would lose my faith in God before losing my faith in it.” Garry Wills Why I am a Catholic p.13

“There have been popes elected by the people, deposed by councils, subjected to the control of corrupt families. Indeed, there was a whole millennium when the papacy had nothing like primacy later claimed for it. Popes were chosen or deposed by secular rulers; they themselves chose or deposed secular rulers; they let secular rulers choose bishops.

[As a Catholic] One is obliged to differ from the papacy. If that were not true, we would all have to honor papacies that persecuted, lapsed into heresy, or supported despotism. We would have to believe in the many frauds used in canon law to define the papacy – the Symmachan forgeries, the false Isadore, the Donation of Constantine. WE would still be believing that Jews are cursed and non-Catholics damned. It is not an honest ‘out’ to say that we must agree only with the papacy of our time, not straying onces of the past, since the claim of papalists is precisely that the institution defies time and change, that it spans the centuries with a single truth.” Catholic writer Garry Wills Why I am a Catholic p.285.

“Those who deny that the papacy has changed rely on two main dodges. First, they say that preceding changes were developments, all right, but they were development toward a single final concept of the papacy, a concept implicit in it from the outset…. I said there were two dodges used by papists to deny the changing nature of the papacy. The second one is to “Define infallibility down,” so narrowing it that every challengeable papal statement is excluded from its purview. But that just demonstrates that: The historical reality of papal teaching has little to do with infallibility. We are told by papists that the pope was infallible all through history; we just did not notice that fact because he did not exercise his gift, even where we might most expect it. What more appropriate time for using it than in condemning the heresy of Pelagius? But Zosimus failed to do that – he must have been saving up his infallibility for some other occasion. In the same way, Honorius did not use his gift of inerrancy to condemn Monothelitism – in fact, he advocated it and was called a heretic by a council and later popes. Boniface was not saved by his infallibility from saying that outside the church there is no salvation. … Popes, it turns out, can err over and over again on matters affecting eternal salvation – consigning people to hell for mortal sins like taking interest on loans, using contraceptives, remarrying, eating meat on Friday – without calling into question their inerrant power. They can release souls from purgatory or assure the entrance of saints into heaven – all without abusing (because never using) the gift of infallibility. Then what was the gift for? Apparently for two reasons only; the definition of Mary’s immaculate conception (in 1854) and of her bodily assumption into heaven (in 1950). This is a very odd gift of the Spirit, one not vital to the life of the church for most of the first two millennia of its existence.” Catholic writer Garry Wills Why I am a Catholic p.285-287.

Vigilius (537-555) Gothic pope Silverius deposed by the Byzantine general Belisarius, who then made Vigilius the pope

&&&1.6 Nothing can break papal succession. Not heresy, wicked examples, murder, conquest, multiple popes, deposed against their will, or anything else.

Problem: Nothing external can break papal succession; it is (almost) non-falsifiable.

Matthew 16:17-20 “Jesus answered and said to him [Simon Peter], ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (NKJV)

Disgrace The Scandal of Papal Succession

Letter of the Council of Arles I to Pope Silvester (Aug. 314 A.D.) p.389 mentions Pope Silvester and the one mother church. This is one year after Constantine legalized Christianity in the west.

Bad News for Pope Gregory I

Gregory I (pope 590-604 A.D.) said, “St. Peter is not called Universal Apostle; the whole church falls from its place when he [Christ] who is called Universal falls. But far from Christian hearts be that blasphemous name [of Universal Apostle]. I confidently affirm that who so calls himself, or desires to be called Universal Priest, in his pride goes before Antichrist (To the Emperor Maurice, Epistle 5:20-7:33).

Murdered popes

John VIII (872-882) Leo V (903) John X (914-928) John XII (955-964)

Benedict VI (973-974) John XIV (983-984)

If the popes are the spiritual successors to early popes, and if I were Roman Catholic, I might want to keep that scandal a secret.

Pope Boniface VIII 3012 papal bull Unum Sanctum.

“Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Both, therefore, are in the power of the Church, that is to say, the spiritual and the material sword, but the former is to be administered for the Church but the latter by the Church; the former in the hands of the priest; the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm (7/21/2019)

Egypt and the Popes

dishonor

What if you were told that papal succession was not as old as another succession: Pharonic succession in Egypt, or succession of the Pharaohs. It endured much longer than the papacy and is even still around today.

Papal Succession is Meaningless

Was Peter a “rock” upon which the church was built? Sure, all of the apostles were foundations upon which the church was built according to Ephesians 2:20a, but it is Jesus Christ who is the chief cornerstone in Ephesians 2:20b.

The Council of Constance was called in 1415 primarily to settle the division among the three simultaneous Popes, for all saw that this division, and even granting indulgences to those who participated in a crusade against a rival Pope, were harmful to the respect people had for the Catholic Church. At the Council the writings of John Wycliffe were condemned, and Jan Huss was burned to death.

December 5, 1484 Innocent VIII issued the papal Bull Summis desiderantes Bullarium Romanum (Taurinensis editio), sub, anno 1484. Innocent, bishop, servant of the servants of God, Ad futuram rei memoriam.
Desiring with supreme ardor, as pastoral solicitude requires, that the catholic faith in our days everywhere grow and flourish as much as possible, and that all heretical depravity be put far from the territories of the faithful, we freely declare and anew decree this by which our pious desire may be fulfilled, and, all errors being rooted out by our toil as with the hoe of a wise laborer, zeal and devotion to this faith may take deeper hold on the hearts of the faithful themselves.
It has recently come to our ears, not without great pain to us, that in some parts of upper Germany, as well as in the provinces, cities, territories, regions, and dioceses of Mainz, Ko1n, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith , give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges, offences, crimes, and misdeeds, ruin and cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth; that they afflict and torture with dire pains and anguish, both internal and external, these men, women, cattle, flocks, herds, and animals, and hinder men from begetting and women from conceiving, and prevent all consummation of marriage; that, moreover, they deny with sacrilegious lips the faith they received in holy baptism; and that, at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not fear to commit and perpetrate many other abominable offences and crimes, at the risk of their own souls, to the insult of the divine majesty and to the pernicious example and scandal of multitudes. And, although our beloved sons Henricus Institoris and Jacobus Sprenger, of the order of Friars Preachers, professors of theology, have been and still are deputed by our apostolic letters as inquisitors of heretical pravity, the former in the aforesaid parts of upper Germany, including the provinces, cities, territories, dioceses, and other places as above, and the latter throughout certain parts of the course of the Rhine; nevertheless certain of the clergy and of the laity of those parts, seeking to be wise above what is fitting, because in the said letter of deputation the aforesaid provinces, cities, dioceses, territories, and other places, and the persons and offences in question were not individually and specifically named, do not blush obstinately to assert that these are not at all included in the said parts and that therefore it is illicit for the aforesaid inquisitors to exercise their office of inquisition in the provinces, cities, dioceses, territories, and other places aforesaid, and that they ought not to be permitted to proceed to the punishment, imprisonment, and correction of the aforesaid persons for the offences and crimes above named. Wherefore in the provinces, cities, dioceses territories, and places aforesaid such offences and crimes, not without evident damage to their souls and risk of eternal salvation, go unpunished.
We therefore, desiring, as is our duty, to remove all impediments by which in any way the said inquisitors are hindered in the exercise of their office, and to prevent the taint of heretical depravity and of other like evils from spreading their infection to the ruin of others who are innocent, the zeal of religion especially impelling us, in order that the provinces, cities, dioceses, territories, and places aforesaid in the said parts of upper Germany may not be deprived of the office of inquisition which is their due, do hereby decree, by virtue of our apostolic authority, that it shall be permitted to the said inquisitors in these regions to exercise their office of inquisition and to proceed to the correction, imprisonment, and punishment of the aforesaid persons for their said offences and crimes, in all respects and altogether precisely as if the provinces, cities, territories, places, persons, and offences aforesaid were expressly named in the said letter. And, for the greater sureness, extending the said letter and deputation to the provinces, cities, dioceses, territories, places, persons, and crimes aforesaid, we grant to the said inquisitors that they or either of them joining with them our beloved son Johannes Gremper, cleric of the diocese of Constance, master of arts, their present notary, or any other notary public who by them or by either of them shall have been temporarily delegated in the provinces, cities, dioceses, territories, and places aforesaid, may exercise against all persons, of whatsoever condition and rank, the said office of inquisition, correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising, according to their deserts, those persons whom they shall find guilty as aforesaid.
And they shall also have full and entire liberty to propound and preach to the faithful word of God, as often as it shall seem to them fitting and proper, in each and all of the parish churches in the said provinces, and to do all things necessary and suitable under the aforesaid circumstances, and likewise freely and fully to carry them out.

And moreover we enjoin by apostolic writ on our venerable brother, the Bishop of Stratsburg, that, wither in his own person or through some other or others solemnly publishing the foregoing wherever, whenever, and how often soever he may deem expedient... he permit [these inquisitors] not to be molested or hindered in any manner whatsoever by any authority whatsoever in the manner of the aforesaid and present letter, threatening all opposers... they may be, with excommunication, suspension, interdict and still other more terrible sentences, censures, and penalties.

Let no man, therefore, dare to infringe this page of our declaration, extension, grant, and mandate, or with rich hardihood to contradict it. If any presume this, let him know that he incurs the wrath of almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's in the year of Our Lord's incarnation 1484, on the nones of December, in the first year of our pontificate

Council of Trent 1545-1564 A.D. condemned Martin Luther to Hell. It reconvened a number of times, because bubonic plague broke out in the cities where it was held.

An Augustinian poet, Luis de Leon was imprisoned from 1572-1576, and again denounced in 1580 and 1582. He was accused of lack of respect for the saints who validated the vulgate and believing the Jews had not corrupted the Bible. (p.146)

The Index of Forbidden Books

Index of forbidden books. Copernicus’ The Revolution of the Celestial Orbs was put on this list in 1616. Kepler’s Tome of the Astronomy of Copernicus was put on the list in 1619. (p.163)

The Inquisition issued a condemnation of Galileo on Feb. 24, 1616 Censura facta in S. Officio Urbis.” (p.170)

Gregory I (pope 590-604) said, “St. Peter is not called Universal Apostle; the whole church falls from its place when he [Christ] who is called Universal falls. But far from Christian hearts be that blasphemous name [of Universal Apostle]. I confidently affirm that who so calls himself, or desires to be called Universal Priest, in his pride goes before Antichrist (To the Emperor Maurice, Epistla 5:20-7:33).

1184 at the Synod of Verona the Pope issued a Bull called ab Abolendum condemning the Waldenses.

1197 The Council of Verona condemned the Waldenses to be burned to death.

Later 80 of them were burned to death in Strasbourg

1487-1488 Pope Innocent VIII called for a Crusade to exterminate the Waldenses in France.

Fourth Lateran Council started 11/1/1215. It authorized a Crusade in 1217, and in its third canon dealt with the suppression of heretics. Canon 3 said that heretics that were found guilty were to be handed over to the secular authority for [unspecified] punishment. This was called “animadversion debita” but in practice was burning at the stake. Feudal lords were to expel heretics from their land. The Inquisition: The Hammer of Heresy p.29.

Have You Heard of the False Decretals?

The false decretals are 100 letters establishing the authority of the Popes. In them, Peter says that he was given authority to head Christ’s church on earth. Peter passed this authority to the next Pope, etc..

Most false decretals are “Pseudo-Isidorian” Decretals, named after a man describing himself as “Isidore Mercator” who apparently wrote them in France and brought them to Metz, Germany between 847-859 A.D. They purport to be letters of Popes and church councils from 78-731 A.D. There are many plagiarized quotes, but overall the style is of one person.

Apparently the main motive behind the Decretals was to establish more independence for the local bishops by saying they were responsible not to the metropolitans, synods, or the state, but only the pope. The false Decretals had the profound effect of elevating the popes to a position greater than anybody else on this earth.

The Decretals were used at the Synods of Worms (868), Cologne (887), Metz (893), and Tribur (895). The Orthodox church never accepted them, and they were rejected as forgeries in the west ~1100 A.D. Two insurmountable problems are that nobody ever heard of them before 850 A.D., and they have many historical anachronisms, i.e. “how come Popes quoted people born after their death?”. Nevertheless, even in 1580 the Catholic Corpus Juris used the false decretals to prove Catholicism was correct. In 1628 it was still necessary for the Protestant David Blondel to refute the forgeries.

Character of Some of the Popes

Should we join Pope Julius II, (The Warring Pope, 1504-1513) in his army, capturing, murdering, and looting in Italian cities to add to “God’s Kingdom”, i.e. the Papal States?

How bad were some Popes? According to Austin’s Topical History of Christianity, p.148,

“Then [after 904] began the so-called “pornocracy,” during which Theodora and her two daughters, Theodora the Younger and Marozia, virtually controlled Rome and the church itself. Enticing harlots, these women had sold their bodies for positions, titles, and land, giving them widespread power. Marozia had an illicit affair with Pope Serius III, from which was born a son who later became Pope John XI. When Marozia sought to have herself crowned empress, her younger son Alberic kidnapped and imprisoned his mother, incarcerated his half brother, the pope, and became emperor himself. He reigned from 932 to 954, exercising absolute control over the papacy. After Alberic’s death, his son Octavian was elected as Pope John XII, and proved to be the most odious member of this depraved family.

b. The Otto Regimes. In 962, the wicked John XII crowned the German king Otto I as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Thinking he had an ally in depravity, John soon found the new emperor to be a man of character and devoted to restoring the papacy to decency and honor. When Otto assembled a synod to discuss deposing John, the pope threatened them all with excommunication, but they deposed him anyway. Three months later John called another synod which rescinded what Otto’s synod had done. Therefore Otto decided upon force to rid the papacy of its evil ruler.

... The next forty-two years [after 1004] of papal history were filled with intense rivalry, expedient mediocrity, spiritual impotence, vice, and corruption. It seemed to reach its lowest depth with the election of a degenerate twelve-year-old boy, Pope Benedict IX (1032-1045) who after shameful debauchery and erratic administration, sold the holy tiara (i.e. office of the Pope) to the highest bidder. He was known as Gregory VI (1045-1046)....

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm01_10a.htm

November 1, 1478 Papal Bull Exigit Sincere Devotionis by Pope Sixtus IV to start the Spanish Inquisition

In 1478 when, at the request of the Spanish sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella, Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) issued a papal bull allowing for the creation of the Spanish Inquisition. It lasted until it was "abolished" in 1834,

Quote from http://www.geocities.com/iberianinquisition/: To simply say that Catholics have sinned is to sidestep the most important aspect of these sins. What remains important about the Inquisition (and the forceable conversions of native peoples in the New World) is the involvement of the church's authority with these sins.

Isaiah 51:1-2 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.” (NIV)

The Jewish Midrash on Isaiah 51:1. “When God looked on Abraham who was to appear, he said, ‘Behold, I have found a rock on which I can build and base the world,’ therefore he called Abraham a rock” (SBK 1:733). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary vol.6 p.294. See also O. Cullmann, Peter, Disciple, Apostle, Martyr (London: SCM, 1953 p.193).

Jesus’ brothers In 1 Cor 9:5 and Mt 12:46-47; 13:55-56; Acts 1:14; Gal 1:19

Peter was in Rome

Ignatius of Lyons (100-107/116 A.D.) (partial, does not say they commanded from Rome) “I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man;…” Ignatius’ Epistle to the Romans (both Greek and Latin) ch.4.3 p.75

Dionysius of Corinth (c.170 A.D.) “Therefore you also have by such admonition joined in close union the churches that were planted by Peter and Paul, that of the Romans and that of the Corinthians: for both of them went to our Corinth, and taught us in the same way as they taught you when they went to Italy; and having taught you, they suffered martyrdom at the same time.” ch.3 p.765

Irenaeus of Lyons (180-188 A.D.) “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter.” Irenaeus Against Heresies book 3 ch.1.1 p.414

Caius (190-217 A.D.) ch.1 p.601 “For they say that all those of the first age, and the apostles themselves, both received and taught those things which these men now maintain; and that the truth of Gospel preaching was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop in Rome from Peter, and that from his successor Zephyrinus the truth was falsified. And perhaps what they allege might be credible, did not the Holy Scriptures, in the first place, contradict them. And then, besides, there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote against the heathen in defence of the truth, and against the heresies of their time: I mean Justin and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all which divinity is ascribed to Christ.”

Clement of Alexandria (193-217/220 A.D.) “He says that the Gospels containing the genealogies were written first, and that the Gospel according to Mark was composed in the following circumstances:-Peter having preached the word publicly at Rome, and by the Spirit proclaimed the Gospel, those who were present, who were numerous, entreated Mark, in as much as he had attended him from an early period, and remembered what had been said, to write down what had been spoken.” From Eusebius’ Eccleisastical History book 2 ch.2 p.&&&

Tertullian (198-220 A.D.) “Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves). How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! where Peter endures a passion like his Lord's! where Paul wins his crown in a death like John's where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile! See what she has learned, what taught, what fellowship has had with even (our) churches in Africa!” Prescription Against Heretics 36.1 p.&&&

Tertullian (198-220 A.D.) “For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.” Prescription Against Heretics ch.32 p.&&&

Hippolytus of Portus (225-235/236 A.D.) (implied) “But he afterwards abjured the faith, and attempted these (aforesaid practices). And journeying as far as Rome, he [Simon Magus] fell in with the Apostles; and to him, deceiving many by his sorceries, Peter offered repeated opposition.” Refutation of All Heresies book 6 ch.15 p.81

Cyprian of Carthage (c.246-258 A.D.) &&&

Peter of Alexandria (306-311 A.D.) “Thus James, in the second place, being of Herod apprehended, was beheaded with the sword. Thus Peter, the first of the apostles, having been often apprehended, and thrown into prison, and treated with igominy, was last of all crucified at Rome. Likewise also, the renowned Paul having been oftentimes delivered up and brought in peril of death, having endured many evils, and making his boast in his numerous persecutions and afflictions, in the same city was also himself beheaded; who, in the things in which he gloried, in these also ended his life;” Canonical Letter canon 9 p.273

Lactantius (c.321-c.325 A.D.) “And while Nero reigned, the Apostle Peter came to Rome, and, through the power of God committed unto him, wrought certain miracles, and, by turning many to the true religion, built up a faithful and stedfast temple unto the Lord. When Nero heard of those things, and observed that not only in Rome, but in every other place, a great multitude revolted daily from the worship of idols, and, condemning their old ways, went over to the new religion, he, an execrable and pernicious tyrant, sprung forward to raze the heavenly temple and destroy the true faith. He it was who first persecuted the servants of God; he crucified Peter, and slew Paul: nor did he escape with impunity; for God looked on the affliction of His people; and therefore the tyrant, bereaved of authority, and precipitated from the height of empire, suddenly disappeared, and even the burial-place of that noxious wild beast was nowhere to be seen.” The Manner in Which the Persecutors Died ch.2 p.301-302

Tertullian (198-220 A.D.) “Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called 'the rock on which the church should be built,' who also obtained 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' with the power of 'loosing and binding in heaven and on earth?'” Prescription Against Heretics ch.22 p.&&&

Jean Vianney “Without a priest, the death and passion of our Lord would be of no avail to us.” Bart Brewer is speaking. DC p.203

Cardinal Bellarmine said that the Bible is useful for the Church but not necessary. Bart Brewer is speaking. DC p.206

Karl Adam The Spirit of Catholicism “We Catholics edge, readily, without any shame, nay with pride, that Catholicism cannot be identified simply and wholly with primitive Christianity, nor even the Gospel of Christ.” Said by Bart Brewer in DC p.206

(sort of) Only what is official is infallible Humani Generis (1950) FF p.123

In twelve years of Catholic schooling , he never heard these things.

He never heard John 3:16

The Allure of the Papacy

One of the key parts of Roman Catholicism, brought up by those Catholic apologists, who try to persuade people to join the Catholic Church, is the popes, and their perceived essentialness. No merely human title, pope included, has ever ruled over all churches, including eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Anabaptist, or Coptic. But only the popes have (falsely) made the claim that they did so. Even non-Catholic historians can fall into the trap of thinking that Protestant and Roman Catholic churches are the only churches there are.

Roman Catholic apologist Karl Keating, speaking of the Roman Catholic Church, approvingly quotes a non-Catholic historian who says: “No other institution is left standing which carried the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheatre. The proudest royal houses are but of yesteryear, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains.” From Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) quoted by Karl Keating in The Francis Feud p.79-80.

“Usually, when the term “bad pope” is voiced, most people think about popes who notoriously broke the Sixth and Ninth Commandments during their pontificates; about half a dozen popes so qualify.” The Francis Feud p.137