Tag: pope

Chapter 8: The Development of Papacy

 Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates

“The Papacy grew up in silence and obscurity. The names of the early Bishops of Rome are known only by barren lists, spurious decrees and epistles inscribed centuries later with their names. After the embellishment , if not the invention of St Peter’s pontificate, his conflict with Simon Magus in the presence of the Emperor and the circumstances of his martyrdom, it was content with raising the successive Bishops to the rank of martyrs without any particular richness or fullness of legend.” 
“For some considerable part of the first three centuries, the Church of Rome and most, if not all the Churches of the West were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies.” Africa, not Rome, gave Birth to Latin Christianity.”
Historians History of the World vol 8 pp 519-522

The word “Pope” means Supreme Pontiff or Pontifex Maximus and was first used in the third century A.D. by Tertullian when he referred to Callixtus (217- 222 AD) as having assuming too much unilateral authority in his capacity as leader of the Christian Church. In fact, the title Pontifex Maximus had been used long before this time by the Pagans as their title of the highest position within the Roman Republic’s Religion. No scripture in the Bible makes any reference to such an office, and Peter and all other apostles certainly never made any reference to such a person holding power over all Christians. 

It is astonishing to believe that the sarcastically intended label would eventually become a title that instantly evoked fear and terror throughout the civilized world. The truth is, the development of the Papacy, as it was later called, was the result of political conquest, political aid and outright fraud perpetrated by the Roman Church on itself and by itself.

A review of the historical facts discloses that the concept of a superior Bishop, especially in Rome, that held jurisdiction over the entire Church in the West prior to the fifth century, is entirely fictional. So far as Rome holding any such jurisdiction over the Eastern Church, it too is fictional as Rome never at any time, held any such authority. 

In the early Church, under the Apostles, the Church was organized from the top down. Christ was at it head. A Presidency of three apostles had authority over the rest of the quorum of twelve apostles. They had the authority to call Bishops who were sustained by the people through a show of hands. 

After the death of the apostles, the Church was organized from the bottom up. The clergy called the Bishop and the people approved or disapproved by vote. Over time, the church organization began to resemble the Roman Imperial organization with the Bishops becoming Metropolitans. Branches resembled small communities which were under the Bishops’ jurisdiction. He had the authority to call councils. With no ground rules or limitations on their authority, there were widespread abuses. Bishops, irritated by the squabbling members whose votes were necessary for the appointment of other clergy, soon lobbied and got the members’ right to vote abolished.

Metropolitans themselves became competitive. Many of the Bishops were ambitious, specifically those in Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. It was for that very purpose that Constantine intervened hoping to solve the constant feuding among these Bishops and to bring peace and harmony to the Church. Constantine called the Nicaea Council which approved doctrine and gave legal recognition to Metropolitans by defining their jurisdictions.

The Bishop of Rome, of course, was one of those Metropolitans and had no universal authority granted to him above and beyond that which was also was given to all the other Bishops. Later claims to the line of authority from Peter being passed to Bishop Linus of Rome are bogus. Peter never was the Bishop of Rome or of any other Metropolitan. There was no transfer of apostolic authority to Linus or any other Bishop. The same applies to universal authority in jurisdiction or authority to the interpretation of policy, doctrine or the receiving of revelation for the entire Church.

In the First Council of Constantinople, called to settle Doctrinal disputes, Rome was not even present. It had no administrative function outside Italy and its islands. The term “Catholic Church,” meaning “Universal Church,” was really meant to signify “Universal Unity in Faith.” 

In the primitive Church, no one volunteered for the office of Bishop. It carried too great a risk to life and limb. However, with the change of recognition of Bishops, or Metropolitans, by the imperial authority, such an office became a coveted opportunity for wealth and power. Presents were showered upon the Bishops, and bribes were made in the hopes of future favours to the donors and parties for those held. The Churches formed by Paul and other missionaries were almost all in the capital cities rather than in outlying towns and villages. That’s where most people were and where the highest rate of conversions could be expected to come from. Just as today, one can see how easily the smaller branches, being weaker, would of necessity look to the more mature branches for leadership. This of course is exactly what happened. Disagreements or transgressions were referred to the larger centers to be resolved. Again, as the Church grew from the bottom up, the lack of any central figure or divine authority at the top to unify them, administration, common standards, guidelines or rules where made up on the spot and much confusion and abuse resulted.

Meanwhile, with the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria in the East, and Rome in the West, all vying for superiority because of their claim to Peter as their Founder, competition and friction among the Bishops was rampant. When Constantinople became the “Second Rome” it did not hesitate to claim its Superiority as well. Couple that problem with the inability of the Bishops to come to a common consensus among themselves regarding doctrine, a common creed, orthodoxy or acceptable scriptures, the need for the Holy Ghost was never greater. As expected, only bickering, fighting and discord resulted. The battle lines drawn up between these factions formed a spiritual as well as a geographical fault line running between East and West. Eventually, that fault line would become a permanent split, a division of Christianity that, when it came, proved to be simultaneously catastrophic, calamitous and crippling. The Church was beyond repair and the greatest tragedy was, it was preventable. 

The fact that the Bishop of Rome began to acquire more recognition than his rival Bishops was due to his location, greed and political timing. Rome was located at the historical seat of the Empire. Having the ear and the cooperation of the Emperor was no small advantage. He, no doubt, used this advantage often. 

Another was an event which at first seemed innocuous and of little consequence. It started when the Council of Constantinople gave a designation of a purely religious Honorarium to the Bishop of Jerusalem called “Patriarchate”. This was an ancient title and tradition, which, because it was not the real title, significantly, fell short of satisfying the ambitious Bishops of Jerusalem. They were hoping for the official title of Patriarch.

At the Conference at Nicaea, they were finally given their coveted title along with jurisdiction and supremacy over Phoenicia and Arabia. Palestine had already been given to them by Emperor Theodosius. But the rank of Patriarch was a coveted position that had been considered for many years but not as yet officially instituted. The Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria also received their title 50 years after the council of Nicaea. How is it that Rome had been left out? Obviously at that time, Rome, as the only Western Metropolitan, was not considered that important. Even the preference of the new seat of power at Constantinople, resulted in the Bishop there obtaining the title of Patriarch. That was years before Rome’s Bishop was finally granted his Patriarch title in 451.A.D.

Now, all five Patriarchs occupied a superior position when compared to the other Bishops. These were the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Constantinople, Antioch, Rome and Alexandria. All of them however continued to act independently because they could not exercise authority beyond their own diocese. They couldn’t even form a quorum when they were asked to call an ecumenical council by the Emperor.

The first evidence of seismic trouble was felt when the Emperor decreed, because of their location, (one in the old Capital and the other in the New), the two Patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople, would be given “pre-eminence” above the other three. This served to emphasize that their locations gave them no-small preferential advantage. This political favouritism was not received well by the other Bishops. As feared, at the Council of Constantinople 381A.D., the Bishops gave the first priority to Constantinople.

The second seismic tremor was felt when a statement regarding the status of superiority of Rome above all other Bishops was made by Bishop Damasus ( 366-384 AD). Being emboldened by the newly granted favouritism by Emperor Theodosius the Great, and taking the statement made by Christ to Peter as his justification, he pronounced that:
“The Holy Roman Church is raised above all others not by decrees of councils, but by the words of our Lord who said, “Thou art Peter and on this rock will I build my Church.” 

He went on to explain,  “By the presence and victory of Peter, Rome was raised above all other cities. The Eastern patriarchates are next in line and owe their origin to their relation to Peter the Apostle. The second see was consecrated at Alexandria in the name of Peter by his disciple Mark. It is also on account of the blessed apostle Peter that the third see, that of Antioch, must be honoured because Peter sojourned there before coming to Rome.”

Bishop Siricius (384-399 AD) issued what is called The First Decretal saying, “Peter Speaks through Sericius.” Leo, Bishop of Rome (440 – 461 AD) also sent a doctrinal letter to Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, in which he stated, “Peter has spoken through Leo.” These consecutive assertions were followed up by a further attempt to establish Rome as superior at the next Council.

At the council of Nicaea, Alexandria had been the most prominent. But now at the council of Constantinople, some 56 years later, Rome made its bid for first place. They supported the claim by a falsified version of the 6th cannon of the council of Nicaea.

The council saw it quite differently. They judged that Constantinople and Rome were of an equal political level and therefor they reasoned, the two should be on equal ecclesiastical levels as well. Rome, sensing that a rival in Constantinople with equal prerogatives was dangerous, protested against this action. It again quoted the sixth cannon of the council of Nicaea in which there had been interpolated, the words “Rome has always held the primacy.” 

As far as is known, the first use of this statement was at the council of Chalcedon by representatives of Leo the Great. After the falsified cannon was read, the cannon was again read in its original form, this time without the addition. When the council reconvened with its verdict, it went against the motion from Rome, in spite of its protests, and gave Constantinople equal status with Rome.

What is to be noted here is that it was the council that held a superior authority over the Bishops. It also reconfirms that Rome enjoyed no special status or superiority over the other Patriarchs in spite of their several attempts to have such.

This episode reveals the lengths to which the Patriarchs were willing to go to establish their superiority. If anyone held authority over all other Patriarchs, it was the State through the councils. Therein is evidence that Rome had no special power of jurisdiction over any of the other Bishops or Patriarchs. But this was the date when the earth began to shift in that direction.

The Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D.

The wars and strife continued unabated after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Germanic tribes, the Barbarians, Huns, Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Angles, Jutes and Saxons each extracted their toll. Most of these tribes had been converted to Arian Christianity and not bound by the Roman Church. Then Clovis, an ambitious King of the Franks, began taking over Gaul and some of the German tribes. When Clovis converted to Christianity, those under his rule were forced to accept the Roman Pope and Church upon threat of death.

Meanwhile, the Roman senate in Constantinople, no longer supported by a distant weak Emperor, began to crumble. People began to look at the church as the only instrument of authority that had not been beaten down and could be relied upon. This greatly boosted the recognition of the Patriarch of Rome and in turn, rekindled his desire for Western Empire domination. Rome as an Empire, had always looked upon the Church as a means to control both the lives and religion of its people to advance the unity of the Empire.

That, as it turns out, was also the dream of Gregory the Great who was Bishop of Rome (590 – 604A.D.). His goal was to expand Christianity beyond the Borders of the Empire and unite all Christians, binding (subjecting) them to the Church in Rome ecclesiastically, just as they had been united to the Empire politically.

By the time of Pope Leo III (795 to 816 AD), the church had managed to get some extra resources, thanks to a forged document known as the Donation of Constantine. With this boost of military might, all Leo III needed was a like-minded Commander to lead the troops. Charlemagne, King of the Franks fit that profile exactly. 

Charlemagne set out to reclaim all the territories the Church had lost, and he succeeded. They were restored to the Western Empire through Charlemagne’s successful campaigns and then placed under the rule of the Bishop of Rome.

Step by step, country after country, as Charlemagne invaded, he first persuaded, and when that failed, secured conversions through force. In this manner, the Roman ecclesiastic power was extended to Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Africa. 

For the first time, the Bishop of Rome had an army big enough to match his ambitions. Charlemagne had saved Leo III from the Lombards and given Leo III unprecedented power. In recognition, on Christmas day 800 A.D. Leo III placed the crown of gold on the head of Charlemagne and proclaimed him Emperor. Leo II had now created what he had always envisioned, A Holy Roman Empire working hand in hand with the Holy Catholic Church. Each would have world-wide dominion, each advancing the interests of the other, and each supreme in their own domain. The Church and the Empire. The Emperor and the Pope, each looking at the world with the goal of total domination.  

In the minds of ambitious men, there is never room for the word “sufficient.” There can never be enough to satisfy greed, power or the need for possessions. The beautiful arrangement spoke by words of the mouth was doomed the moment they spoke them because the men who were bound by it never had accepted its limitations as a condition in their hearts.

While the Pope had the right to crown the Emperor and to govern all the affairs of the Western Universal Christian Church of Rome, it was not long before Charlemagne began to resort to his old familiar tactic of force to exercise his superiority over the Church. He began by appointing and deposing Bishops. He made them vassals of the State, swearing them by allegiance to the Empire, not the Church. It was he who called the councils and it was upon his own authority decisions were made regarding doctrine and dogma.

As the church became more and more to resemble their civic counterparts, a movement broke out among the Bishops, eager to strengthen the hand of the Pope whose reason for existence had been removed, and of course to free themselves from the oaths that bound them to the State. 

In the middle of the ninth century, there appeared a document known as the “Isidorian Decretals”. Citing ancient cannon laws, the Bishops claimed that the Roman Church had received revenues, large tracts of lands and endowments from Constantine. This, they claimed proved that:

1/ The temporal power of the Pope was in existence before Charlemagne made his offering to the Church. 

2/ The spiritual power of the Pope is infinitely superior to the secular powers held by the Emperor and Princesses. (The Pope had given him the crown and the powers vested in it.)

3/ The Bishops stand in the same relationship to the Pope as the apostles stood in relation to Peter.

4/ Provincial Synods (meeting of Bishops) cannot be held unless summoned by the Pope.

5/ The conclusions reached by the Synods can only be valid if recognized as such by the Pope.

6/ None of the clergy can be summoned before a secular tribunal. A layman cannot accuse a Priest.  (It requires 72 trustworthy witnesses to substantiate a charge against a Bishop.)

It was brilliant, it was effective enough to convince the Emperor to back off.

There was only one problem with these Decretals: they were, all of them, to the very last, forgeries.

Throughout the middle ages, the decretals were held to be genuine. By the time they were found to be otherwise, the sixteenth century had arrived and so many other things were going on, including the Protestant Reformation, that this affair mattered little. There was already an abundance of evidence to bring a solid case of corruption against the Church by the reformers.

Upon the death of Charlemagne in 843, his empire was divided among his three grandsons. One formed modern Germany, one modern France and the third, a zone between the two.

Before too long they had broken into smaller kingdoms or fiefdoms. This left Europe without any leadership. The most wealthy or powerful of the nobility and landowners gathered the dispossessed peasants around them for mutual protection. Man’s god ruled without opposition. His word was sacrosanct, and the mighty hand of the kings’ forces were there to see they were obeyed. And thus, the age of Feudalism had begun. 

Chapter 9: Under the Control of Evil Families

 Part 1: From Apostles to Apostates

With the loss of any superior Empirical power to check the aggressive aristocracy, the Papacy was totally without a protector. That exposed it to the forces and dictates of rich, corrupt and ruthless Italian, French and German families. For the next century (870 AD to 970 AD) unholy princes and princesses bought, sold and totally controlled the office of Pope.

With the loss of any superior Empirical power to check the aggressive aristocracy, the Papacy was totally without a protector. That exposed it to the forces and dictates of rich, corrupt and ruthless Italian, French and German families. For the next century (870 AD to 970 AD) unholy princes and princesses bought, sold and totally controlled the office of Pope.

The family of Counts of Tusculum and the Family of the Theophylact imposed the candidates of their choice upon clergy and people alike. These they elected only from the ranks of the nobility. Included are:
Pope John X, Pope John XI, Pope John XII, Benedict VIII, Benedict IX, Benedict X

Wars of conquest and retaliation were waged constantly between the rival warlords. Meanwhile Otto I had succeeded at getting himself crowned King of the German tribes. His ambition was to rebuild the Empire of Charlemagne. Pope John XII felt threatened by both the Romans and the Lombards (one of the powerful Italian families), so he called upon Otto of Germany to come to his rescue. Otto, assuming the crown of Italy, proudly marched into Rome on Feb 2, 962 AD. While he was at it, he also accepted for his pretentious services the title of “Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire”. It was definitely not holy, and it certainly was no longer Roman. Far from protecting the Church, Otto oppressed it. 

Pope Leo XII realized too late that he had exchanged a terrible fate for a deadly one. After quarrelling, Otto I chose a new Pope, Leo VIII, and Pope John XII fled. Within a year John XII was dead.

The Roman Italian families elected another Pope, Benedict. Otto of Germany threatened to besiege Rome unless Benedict was delivered to him and Leo VIII reinstated. The Romans had no choice but to surrender. This showdown gave Otto total power over the Papal seat and brought a temporary end to the control and domination of the Italian families.

Otto I strengthened his Empire by strengthening his hold on the Church. He appointed Bishops and made them Princes of the Realm. They swore allegiance to him before they were invested as Bishops. The custom of conferring a ring and a crosier (ornamental staff) upon Bishops, as a sign of episcopal dignity, can be traced back to this very ceremony. This combined office of Bishop and Prince now became very lucrative to the incumbent, and the basest of practices of simony and corruption developed. The power of the offices was sold, bought, rented, given as dowries and even in some cases, included their entire parish. The clergy no longer even made an attempt to keep up the visible charade of trustworthiness or honesty. 

After Otto’s death, Otto III, who was only four years old, became Emperor. Under the influence of the corrupt and ambitious Cresentius Family a number of Popes were killed while they plotted to install a grand total of three of their own family members in their place.

When Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, visited Rome in 1048 he found three rival Popes each claiming the coveted position: The Northern Italian city-states, divided by the Guelph and Ghibe lines had each appointed their own candidate because of the unprecedented, unbecoming behaviour of Benedict IX. Henry deposed all three and installed his own preference, Pope Clement II. The history of the Popes between 1048 and 1257 is replete with soiled and gangrenous incumbents followed by their tainted and corrupt replacements. The struggle for ultimate control for power between Emperor and Pope continued unabated.

Into this cesspool of infamy, Hildebrand, a monk from Cluny, appeared in Rome with an unbridled passion for reform. Fired up by the reform movement of the monasteries who were forced to return to the rules of St. Benedict and discontented with the complete corruption of everything to do with religion in Rome, he was imbued with a spirit for change. The manner of choosing Popes by the Emperor for instance, must cease. In 1059 a new Papal decree was issued demanding that the Pope must be chosen by the College of Cardinals, which consisted of Elders and Deacons of the Italian Churches in Rome. Hildebrand, was adviser to five succeeding Popes and eventually became Pope himself in 1073, taking the name of Gregory VII. More than everything else, he was obsessed with the idea of Papal World Supremacy. His conception of the Office was expressed in his own words:

“The Roman Church was founded by God alone. The Roman Pope alone can with right be called universal; he alone may use the Imperial Insignia, his feet only shall be kissed by all the Princes. He may depose the Emperors; he himself may be judged by no one, the Roman Church has never erred, nor will it ever err in all eternity.”

In 1075 Hildebrand, now Pope Gregory VII, issued a decree prohibiting Princes from ordaining Bishops. Still, the German King would not give up his right. The Germans had the bigger army, but the Pope held the more effective weapons. The Pope Gregory VII had five weapons at his command. Each were deadly. And they all hung on an incorrect principle of doctrine.

Weapon 1: That belief was that there was no salvation outside the Roman Church and of course, the Pope held all the keys to that door. 
Weapon 2: The Pope could call Kings and release them.
Weapon 3: The Pope could excommunicate anyone he pleased. By a decree of excommunication, princes and all other such people, could not be provided with food or shelter as long as they lived, and a Christian burial would be denied to them when they died. Anybody helping an excommunicated person, would suffer the same fate.
Weapon 4: Sacrament was essential to Salvation. Excommunicated persons would be deprived of the sacrament. That meant they would be cut off from all rights provided by the Church. A Mass could not even be held in their presence. If it was a king, no services would be held in his kingdom. No funeral would be held. And no one would hear a prayer or a bell ring. Church buildings would be closed. Extreme unction applied.
Weapon 5: In the case of an errant king, the Pope could release the king’s subjects from their oath of allegiance to him. The king would then be without power, purse or pity. With this power, the Pope did not hesitate to both threaten and apply his total weight on all peoples, kings, rulers and subjects, with impunity. The horrors of facing hell had been taught since Augustine’s false interpretation of the teachings of Christ. Now, it successfully silenced all who would dare challenge the Pope. While Gregory did not see the fulfillment of his goal to raise the Papacy to ultimate superiority over all the Western World in his lifetime, it did reach that epitome under his successors, Urban II (1088 – 1099) and Innocent III (1179- 1180). This is also the point at which the Eastern and Western Ecclesiastical authorities, chose to excommunicate each other. 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses and all the Kings men,
Couldn’t put Humpty together again
 -English Nursery Rhyme

Often, when we think things cannot get worse, it proves to be the very point at which they do. Pope Urban II, the consummate warlord of Europe, having obtained what other Popes could only dream of, possessed complete power to enforce anything he wanted or imagined, in the name of the God. Looking around from this most enviable position, he decided that what was most needed was something or some cause to unite his people.

There are those who think the motivation for Pope Urban II’s solution to this problem was much more sinister. Perhaps it was a diversion to involve, and even cull out, many young heirs to thrones who were thirsty to make their name known in battle. Restless for fame or notoriety, these youth left to their own devises might cause great harm to the realm. Whatever his real reason might have been, the answer he came up with for forging unity would have been absolutely brilliant if it were not for its total lack of foresight and planning. Maybe that was the appeal and beauty of it. The plan was not impeded by facts and its gross stupidity was rationalized by the equally gross ignorance of those who were called upon to participate in its fulfillment. There is almost no other explanation for what was to have faultlessly become the most mind boggling, colossal failure of the middle ages. We are referring to, of course, the Crusades. 

At the Council of Clermont in 1095 AD, Pope Urban II issued his infamous first rally call. He asked for a mighty army to repossess the Holy Lands then in the hands of the infidels. 

What instantly emerged from the streets, jails, asylums, convents and slums of Europe, were the desperate and the destitute, almost to a person. Over half-a-million naive, poorly informed and unprepared men, women and children, rushed headlong onto the roadways to begin walking to The Holy Land. With their wholehearted acceptance and approval, they chanted and sang as they threw what little sanity they possessed to the winds and rushed blindly into hell.

As mentioned, the Pope had become the highest-ranking position of power in the Western World. The Pope, not the Emperor was the great warlord of Europe. Now he had opened a new front in his campaign. The First Crusade’s initial goal was simply to move in a mass against the infidels in the Holy Land. To ensure sufficient manpower, he issued indulgences to all who would go, the most enticing being the forgiveness of sins past and sins not as yet committed. Next he opened the doors of the prisons in Europe for the worst of criminals to join under the same generous conditions. A monstrous hoard of hundreds of thousands of people, of all ages and stages, lacking health, wealth or wisdom, obliviously worked their way like a vast lava flow directly aimed to the most inhospitable and hostile place in the world. 

Exempted from any spiritual consequence regarding their immoral actions, they were instructed to find their own food and lodgings along the way. Can you imagine what those in the path of this hoard must have thought as they learned of its impending arrival in their community? It would be a worse fear than of a descending plague of the entire forces of Atilla the Hun. Pestilence, famine, destruction of crops and loss of property would have followed every footstep of the way. There would be nothing left to eat, drink or sleep under for those who survived after the “Pilgrims” had passed through. By the time they arrived to liberate Jerusalem, there were only 40,000 pilgrims left. The Islam forces, of course, attacked and killed most of those that were still alive. It was a total and complete annihilation, serving only to embolden the infidels.

There were ten crusades in all, each ending in failure like the first.

The second crusade had over a million, two hundred thousand soldiers. Sickness, heat, contaminated water and lack of food constantly reduced their force to impotency.

The third crusade involved Richard the Lion-Hearted of England. He fought, lost and left ignobly.

The fourth crusade of roughly the same proportions and objectives were terribly massacred.

The fifth crusade was aimed at Constantinople but achieved no military advantage. It only served to create a further alienation between the Eastern and Western Churches.

The six, seventh, eighth and ninth crusade were repeats.

The Children’s Crusade was led by a boy who vanished. Thousands were captured and sold into slavery.

All failed miserably. Most of the pilgrims carried no weapons of defense against Arab armies or other hostile forces, such as the many robbers, pirates, thieves and scoundrels who lay waiting in great anticipation of their arrival. All they brought was enthusiasm, and that, as everyone discovered, was woefully inadequate.

Hoping to reverse their failures, the next Pope, Innocent II started a crusade against heretics and Jews in France instead. But the Bishops of France did not participate with enough enthusiasm against their own people. The Crusade began to falter. Sensing another fiasco, Innocent II turned the episcopal inquiry over to the Mendicant orders and the Dominican and Franciscan Monks who had sworn allegiance to only the Pope himself. This action was called the Papal Inquisition. The efficiency and barbarity of the methods used against even the innocent, who were tortured to obtain confessions, and the despotic actions of the Pope, eventually led to a call for reform.

Pope Boniface VIII, an arrogant, delusional man, attempted to enforce his edicts by quelling the rebellious German King Phillip who had initiated the reform. But the time when those bullying tactics worked had passed. Phillip cut off vast resources which were generating tremendous revenue to the Pope by disallowing their removal to Italy. Included in King Phillip’s reforms were a call to cease:

1/ The shedding of blood.
2/ The widespread simony (or money charged for ecclesiastical services).
3/ Nepotism (or favouring relatives).
4/ Unethical means of securing money, such as the selling of priesthood offices to the highest bidder.
5/ Selling indulgences.
6/ The immoral and luxurious lifestyles of Pope and Papal staff.
7/ The uncontrolled tyranny of the Popes.

The Pope issued a Bull or edict which made extravagant claims regarding the authority of the Pope. 

“The gospel informs us that there are in the Church and in the power of the Church, two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. Both swords, therefore the spiritual and the temporal are in the power of the Church, but the latter must be drawn for the Church and the former by the Church.
The first by the hand of the Priest and the second by the hand of Kings and Soldiers, but always with the consent and the will of the Priest. 
As a consequence, we state, declare and define that all creatures must be subject to the sovereign Pontiff in order to be saved.”

Phillip reacted by calling together the heads of states of the realm, including the ecclesiastical leaders, and accused Boniface of crimes. Phillip’s accusations were brought before the General Council.

Following Phillip’s lead, Germany, England and Bohemia revolted from Papal authority. These countries were followed by the Italian Provinces under Austrian control. In 1849, an assembly elected by the people, striped the Pope of his temporal power and confiscated all his Ecclesiastical property. Under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel and military support from Garibaldi, all Italy was brought under one single government. Rome was made its capital. Thus, the career of Pius IX saw the grasp of temporal world power ripped from him. Since 1866, all that was left was the Vatican, which the Pope was allowed to occupy, as a virtual prisoner, until the end of his life.

We see through a review of historical evidence that the office of Pope never did have a continual link from Peter to itself. Peter was never a Bishop anywhere, let alone in Rome, where he died. The office was foreign and in complete contrast to the nature of the Bishops in the first and second centuries. If there is a continual link of any description that binds the Pope of the Roman church to its past, it has to be the link of continual fighting and quarreling about doctrine (with its bloody enforcement by torture and excommunications) and the continual destructive warring between Church and State for control over people, subjects, dominions and principalities. 

Rome, as a center for the church, came to prominence through intrigue, fraud, manipulation, self-assertion and the process of elimination.

After the fall of the Eastern Church in Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch, Rome in the West was the only Patriarch left standing. There was no one else left to challenge what the Roman Patriarch did or said, so he ruled by default. The original church doctrines and scriptural messages were so completely missing and misunderstood by the Greek philosophers and apologists that all understanding of the nature of God and our relationship to him was completely skewed and lost by the fourth Century.

The long slow evolution of the church from apostles to apostates was complete by the end of the first millennium, transforming the Church of Jesus Christ into a politically powerful Empire, with absolute control over the spiritual and temporal affairs of all its subjects. It was enforced with blood, sweat and tears upon the entire Western civilized world until the middle of the nineteenth century, when its power was finally wrestled to the ground.

The “Times of the Gentiles” was coming to its inevitable end.