Benedict’s claims to the contrary, the Roman Church is not Christ’s church nor is it the only way to heaven and it is asinine, arrogant, and audacious to suggest otherwise.He bases his claim on apostolic succession; however, he is reaching for straws.
There are many problems with his theory but the big problem is that Roman Bishops and Popes cannot be linked back to the Apostles so there is no apostolic succession and no authority—and no legitimate church!
Pope Stephen VII (896-897) had Pope Formosus (the former Pope) dug up, dressed him in regal papal vestments, propped him upon a throne, tried him and found him guilty!
He was mutilated and his corpse thrown to a howling mob who dragged him to the river and pitched him in.
But Pope Stephen was not finished because he had all Formosus’ ordinations declared invalid.
Evidently, Pope Stephen didn’t realize the problem he was making for hundreds of priests, Bishops, and future Popes.
To them, he had broken the link with the Apostles!
Pope Steve had ordained numerous priests and Bishops who in turn ordained many others, who ordained many others so the line was further corrupted and any church official living today who was ordained by a protégé of Pope Steve is an imposter.
It is interesting that both Pope Stephen and Pope Formosus are Popes-in-good-standing down at the Vatican.
What a mess!
The Catholic “bloodline” or apostolic succession from the Apostle Peter (who was never a Pope) has been corrupted, really corrupted, hundreds of times. It is disingenuous, deceptive, and dishonest for Benedict to claim as a fact that which is falsehood and fraud. Evidently Ben has no shame.
Moreover, Christ did not tell Peter he was the foundation for the Catholic Church as Rome teaches. It was Peter’s confession that was to be the foundation.
Catholics don’t like to admit that Augustine, one of their “saints,” backed off believing in Peter being the Church’s foundation.
He later confessed that Christ’s church was based upon Peter’s confession: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Peter was neither a pope nor the foundation for any church. Christ was and is.Of course, there was a succession of Bishops (pastors) in the church at Rome but they were not Popes until hundreds of years after Christ ascended into Heaven, and the “succession” was not unbroken.
Slowly the early church was polluted with false doctrine and wicked, influential pastors grabbed power from less influential pastors.
As the Roman Empire decayed, the Christian church in Rome advanced toward hierarchical control of the other churches in the empire.
A point that must be emphasized: even if Peter (a married man) had been the first pastor at Rome, that does not prove apostolic succession nor does it provide a foundation for popery!
Roman priests and bishops are not raising the dead and giving sight to the blind! Nor do they say, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6)
They are obscenely wealthy but have no power to heal the lame.
Jesuit John McKenzie, when professor of theology at Notre Dame, wrote: “Historical evidence does not exist for the entire chain of succession of church authority.” The Roman Catholic Church (New York, 1969), p. 4.
Moreover, the New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “. . . the scarcity of documents leaves much that is obscure about the early development of the episcopate . . .” (1967), Vol. I, p. 696.
So honest Catholics admit the lack of historical foundation for apostolic succession.
The early Christian churches started to splinter not long after the Apostle John died.
Historian, Will Durant states: “Celsus [second-century opponent of Christianity] himself had sarcastically observed that Christians were ‘split up into ever so many factions, each individual desiring to have his own party.’ About 187 (A.D.)
Irenaeus listed twenty varieties of Christianity; about 384 (A.D.) Epiphanius counted eighty.”—The Story of Civilization: Part III—Caesar and Christ. p. 616.
All this simply proves that men are often self-serving sinners and conferring ordination on them does not change anything.
The Roman Catholic Church faction simply came out on top with the money, churches, leadership, political contacts, etc.
However, true New Testament Churches were still in existence and because they resisted the heretical innovations of the early power grabbers, the genuine Christians were identified as heretics when it was the bejeweled pontiffs who were the heretics.
Yes, churches, one of them being the church at Rome, had succeeding pastors but none with apostolic authority since to be an apostle one had to have seen the risen Lord.
Yes, there is one faith that has been preserved from the apostles until now, but it is not the apostate Roman Catholic Church which in reality is a cult—a corrupted offshoot of a Bible-preaching church established by Christ.
The errors and heresies of Rome include papal infallibility, apostolic succession, worship of idols, praying to saints, purgatory, limbo, confession to priests, absolution, indulgences, penance, Mary worship, celibacy, the mass, works for salvation, and on and on and on.
What a pity.
The Roman Catholic Church is the con job of all time.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce