THE POPE is not the Antichrist, the Church of Ireland has declared.In a statement released on Jan 23, the Church of Ireland distanced itself from comments made by an aide to Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds.
Mr Wallace Thompson, an advisor to the minister and secretary of the Evangelical Protestant Society, told RTE radio he opposed plans for a visit to Ulster by the Pope, who was a ‘man of sin and son of perdition.’
Asked for his comments about the sale of rosary beads at the gift shop of the Church of Ireland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Mr Thompson condemned the practice as a papistical innovation that was foreign to the Church of Ireland’s Protestant heritage.
Citing the Westminster Confession in support for his denunciation of the Pope and papistry, he added the doctrine of transubstantiation was ‘blasphemous,’ and also condemned the ‘priest craft’ of the Roman Catholic Church. “The Pope is the Anti-Christ... a lot of Protestants probably might not hold (that position) but it is still enshrined in the standards,” Mr Thompson told RTE.
The Church of Ireland responded that its ‘attention’ had been drawn to Mr Thompson’s remarks “suggesting that the views he expressed, in which the Pope is described as ‘the Antichrist’ does not conflict with the main teachings of the main Churches.
“The Church of Ireland wishes to point out that no such description of the Pope is contained in any of the formularies or the historic documents of the Church of Ireland,” the statement said.
Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds said his aide’s “comments were made in a personal capacity as secretary of the Evangelical Protestant Society. They were not made as a special adviser, nor do they represent the views of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.”
This defence was not good enough, the Belfast Telegraph said. The minister ‘must accept the damage that has been done by his appointee, to himself and his Department, and take urgent action.’
However, Mr Wallace responded that he had done nothing wrong. “I know the code of the civil service and I know what it states. It does not bind the conscience. I have made no political statement whatsoever,” he said.
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