Audacious Papal Claims:
The Pope as Christ

The Pope as “Christ on earth”, the Criterion of Salvation,
the Definition of the Faith, the Ruler of the World.

Quotations from Roman Catholic Popes, Councils, ‘Saints’, ‘Doctors’, etc.

******************************************

Has the Orthodox Church been justified in rejecting the Church of Rome? Is She still justified in rejecting her? Without a doubt, yes. Even if her doctrine of the Pope were her only error, that one blasphemous teaching by itself would be sufficiently compelling reason to stand apart from her. We trust that the reader of this webpage will not fail to agree. Now, through this selection of quotations, the Papacy herself will be made to speak on our behalf. Let us note, however, before going on that according to the Papacy, every word of the Popes is indisputably binding on Roman Catholics, something which was clarified for the world by Pius XII:

“It is not to be thought that matters proposed in [Papal] Encyclical Letters do not in themselves command assent because (in Encyclicals) the pontiffs do not exercise their supreme power of their magisterium. For these things are taught by the magisterium, to which also the words apply, ‘He who hears you, hears Me’.”

Pope Pius XII, Humani generis, 1950

******************************************

“What monstrous idea is this, my dear brother? So little does the Roman Church stand alone, as you think, that in the whole world any nation that in its pride dissents from her is in no way a Church, but a council of heretics, a conventicle of schismatics, and a synogogue of Satan.”

Pope ‘St.’ Leo IX, the author of the Schism, Epistle to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Keroularios, 1050 A.D.; cf. Eberhardt, Catholic History, Vol. I, pp. 494-495.]

“By passing a preceding judgment on the great See, concerning which it is not permitted any man to pass judgment, you have received anathema from all the Fathers of all the venerable Councils...As the hinge while remaining immovable opens and closes the door, so Peter and his successors have free judgment over all the Church, since no one should remove their status because “the highest See is judged by no one.”

“The Catholic Church, mother and immaculate virgin, although destined to fill the whole world with her members, has nevertheless but one head, which must be venerated by all. Whoever dishonours that head claims in vain to be one of her members. That head is the Church of Rome, whose power the great Constantine recognizes in his Donation. Now, as Bishop of Rome, the Pope is the Vicar of God charged with the care of the churches.”

Pope ‘St.’ Leo IX, ibid.

ABOVE: Pope Gregory IX (XXXXX) issuing the Roman Catholic Canon Law, which included the Dictatus Papae.

“Only the Roman Pontiff is rightly called universal; the Pope can be judged by no one; no one can be regarded as a catholic who does not agree with the Roman church; the Roman Church has never erred and never will err till the end of time; the Roman Church was founded by Christ alone; the Pope alone can depose and restore bishops; he alone can make new laws, set up new bishoprics, and divide old ones; he alone can translate bishops to another see; he alone can call general councils and authorize canon law; he alone can revise his own judgements; his sentence cannot be repealed by anyone and he alone can review the judgements of all; he alone can use the imperial insignia; he can depose emperors; he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to impious rulers; the Pope is the only man to whom all princes bend the knee; all princes should kiss his feet; his legates, even those in inferior orders, have precedence over all bishops; an appeal to the papal court inhibits judgement by all inferior courts; a duly ordained pope is undoubtedly made a saint by the merits of St. Peter.” Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand), the intimate disciple of Pope Leo IX, Dictatus Papae (decreed in 1074 and reiterated at the 1st Latern Council (one of twenty R.C. ‘Ecumenical Councils’); Latin text in Karl Hofmann, Der Dictatus Papae Gregors VII (Paderborn [Germany]: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1933), p. 11.

“The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God...Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions...As to papal authority, the Pope is as it were God on earth, Sole sovereign of all the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having a plentitude of unbroken power, entrusted by the omnipotent God to govern the earthly and heavenly kingdoms...The Pope is of so great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws.”

From a Papally-endorsed encyclopedia: Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica (“Handy Canonical, Juridical, Moral, Theological, Ascetical, Polemical, Rubrical, Historical Library”), vol. 5, “Papa (Pope)” article 2 [see also J. P. Migne, 1858 edition, column 1823, Latin] (#1, 13, 18, & 30).

“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 [Substitute] of Christ.... 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”... [The Pope proceeds to also say that he cannot be judged by anyone and that he has God’s authority over mankind in both civil and ecclesiastical spheres, the civil being utterly subordinate to the ecclesiastical.]...Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias...: “Behold today I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms and the rest”...This authority, however,...is not human but rather Divine, granted to Peter by a Divine word..., 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)....Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, November 18, 1302

“The pope, as the Vicar of Christ on earth, possesses the same full power of jurisdicton that Christ Himself possessed during His human life.”

Pope Clement VI., Acta Clementis, c. 1350; cited in the Roman Catholic publication: Granfield, Patrick, The Limits of the Papacy, NY: Crossroad, 1987; p.36.

“The pope can do all things God can do.”

Nicolaus de Tudeschis [1386-1445],
famous Benedictine canonist and abbot,
in “Commentaria” (lvi, 34)

“Though unworthy, We take the place of God on earth”

Pope Benedict XIV, Ubi Primum, Dec. 3, 1740.

“It was said to me in the prophet: “I have set you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy, and to overthrow, to build and to plant”(Jer. 1:10)...Others were called to the role of caring, but only St. Peter was invested with the fullness of power [plenitudo potestatis]. See then what manner of servant this is, appointed over the household; he is indeed the vicar of Jesus Christ, the successor of St. Peter, the Christ of the Lord, the God of Pharaoh...the midpoint between God and man... who can judge all things and is judged by no one.” “Every cleric must obey the pope, even if he commands what is evil; for no one may judge the pope.” Innocent III, Consecration Sermon, c. 1200, see Rome Has Spoken; Granfield, Patrick, The Limits of the Papacy:Authority and Autonomy in the Church, NY:Crossroad, 1987; p. 32.

“The Pope is Christ in office, Christ in jurisdiction and power...We bow down before thy voice, O Holy Father, as we would before Christ Himself.”

Vatican I, the Pope’s recent ‘Ecumenical Council’,
“Official Proclamation” [Jan. 9, 1870]

“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” “...it came to pass in the secret design of God’s providence that We were chosen to fill this Chair of St. Peter and to take the place of the Person of Christ Himself in the Church...”

Pope Leo XIII, “Reunion of Chrisendom”, June 20, 1894; Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII: Benziger Brothers, p. 304); On the Rosary [September 8, 1892].]

“He who will be disobedient to Christ on earth, who stands in the stead of Christ in heaven, will not share in the fruit of the blood of the Son of God.’ ‘Even if he [the Pope] were an incarnate devil we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom.’”

Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic ‘Saint’ and ‘Doctor’ of the Faith [Note: a Doctor of the Faith’s teachings are considered only a step below Papal definitions]; quoted in Catholic Insight, April 2001, St. Catherine of Siena, by Mary Hansen, 3rd Order of the Carmelites, Barne, ON.

“If the Pope errs by commanding vices or forbidding virtues, then the Church must believe that vices are good and virtues bad, unless one wants to sin against conscience”

Cardinal ‘St.’ Robert Bellarmine (a saint to Roman Catholics, and one of the Counter-Reformation leaders), De Summo Pontifice, bk. 4, ch. 5.

“We ought ever to hold as a fixed principle that what is white that I see I will believe to be black if the superior authorities in Rome define it so”

Ignatius Loyola (R.C. ‘doctor’ and ‘saint’,
and founder of ‘Society of Jesus’ (Jesuits) which
staffs the Vatican), “Spiritual Exercises”, Rule 13).

The Pope is “God on earth”“Jesus has placed the pope higher than the prophets, than John the Baptist, and than all the angels”“Jesus has put the Pope on the same level as God Himself!”

John Bosco [1815-1888], considered a great
modern saint and doctor by the Papacy,
Meditazioni, Vol. 1: 2nd ed., pp. 89-90.

“Witnesses of Tradition? There is only one; that’s me. *I* am Tradition.”

Response of Pope Pius IX to a RC bishop’s assertion that his pronouncements could not be deemed infallible without the consent of the bishops as “witnesses of Tradition”, recorded in the bishop’s diary; (cf. [RC] Fr. August Bernhard Hasler, How the Pope Became Infallible:Pius IX and the Politics of Persuasion, p.9; Dr. Derek Holmes, The Triumph of the Holy See, p. 157; Butler, The Vatican Council, Vol. II, page 355]

‘The pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under the veil of the flesh. Does the pope speak? It is Jesus Christ who speaks. Does the pope accord a favour or pronounce an anathema? It is Jesus Christ who accords the favour or pronounces that anathema. So that when the pope speaks we have no business to examine.’

Pope ‘St.’ Pius X, when he was ‘Patriarch’ of Venice; quoted in the July 13, 1895 issue of “The Catholic National (Catholique Nationale)”, Paris, France, Benziger Brothers Publishing.

[T]he overruling hand of God placed and fixed the See of His Vicar on earth...in Rome, which had been the capital of that marvelous, yet limited empire, thus making it capital of the entire world. For thus it became the seat of a sovereignty that extends over all national and political boundaries, that embraces all men and all peoples, like the sovereignty of Christ Himself, whom it represents and whose office it fills. Pope Pius XII, Dec. 23, 1929, On His Sacerdotal Jubilee

“But we must not think that He [Christ] rules only in a hidden[59] or extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Divine Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth...He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth. After His glorious Ascension into heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam;(61) and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it...the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff...Above all, it is absolutely necessary that the Supreme Head, that is, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, be visible to the eyes of all, since it is He who gives effective direction to the work which all do in common in a mutually helpful way towards the attainment of the proposed end. As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name[138] should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community...There can, then, be no real opposition or conflict between the invisible mission of the Holy Spirit and the juridical commission of Ruler and Teacher received from Christ, since they mutually complement and perfect each other-as do the body and soul in man-and proceed from our one Redeemer who not only said as He breathed on the Apostles “Receive ye the Holy Spirit,”(127) but also clearly commanded: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you”;(128) and again: “He that heareth you heareth me.”(129) “...We must earnestly desire that this united prayer may embrace in the same ardent charity both those who, not yet enlightened by the truth of the Gospel, are still without the fold of the Church, and those who, on account of regrettable schism, are separated from Us, who though unworthy, represent the person of Jesus Christ on earth. Let us then reecho that divine prayer of our Savior to the heavenly Father: “That they all may be one, as thou Father in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

Pope Pius XII, MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI
(On the Mystical Body of Christ), June 29, 1943

One can judge how abominable the cult of “papolatry” is, for instance, by the most well known book of Bishop of Laval, Professor Grand Seminaire, (Mgr. Bougaud). In this book which went through seven editions (one of the last editions came out in 1922) and which was used as a textbook by practically all seminarians before the Second World War and for some time after, the author goes as far as to maintain: “If Christ is indeed present in the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, is His presence there complete?.. Apparently not He is present, but He is mute... Blessed be God for leaving us not with His dead, so to say, presence, but the living, active one... This other “half” of Christ is the one I am looking for in vain in the mute tabernacle... and what “half”!.. I almost said the most indispensable... After all, if the one whole “half” of Jesus Christ is not present in the Holy Eucharist, this means that it must be somewhere; it is in the Vatican, it is in the Pope!.. Here it is, the mystery of Christianity, this is the miracle of the REAL presence of the eternal Incarnation under two shrouds!.. That which Jesus Christ did not place under one of these shrouds He placed under the other; and one may have Him completely only if one knows how, in a fiery transport of heart, to move from the Eucharist to the Pope, and from the Pope to the Eucharist. Outside these two mysteries, which actually form one mystery, we have only the HUMBLED Jesus Christ (as He Himself has established), Who is inadequate for the needs of both the individual souls as well as society as a whole, Who is not in a position even to defend Himself... If one should eliminate the Pope, Jesus Christ will be incomplete in the Eucharist... Therefore the Church which is more sensitive to the things Divine than we are, does not even know how to speak of the Pope! No words seem to be too powerful to define the mutual penetration as a result of which its head is formed from both Jesus Christ and the Pope, and which is both visible and invisible at the same time... Oh sweet feelings one experiences before the tabernacle and at the feet of the Pope!..” Bougaud (Smile, eveque de Laval [Bishop of Laval]), Le christianisme et les temps presents [Christianity and the Present Times]. Tome IV “L’Eglise”, Paris, Lib. Poussielgue freres, 1882; pp. 506-516 and ff.

Leo XIII: “‘We hold upon this earth the place of God almighty’ ‘We... take the place of Christ Himself in the Church.’” The Papal coinage minted under Leo XIII has the image of the Pope upon a heavenly throne surrounded by the inscription: “The nation which will not serve thee shall perish.”

Such, in brief, is the teaching of the Roman Pontiffs. But have not the “Vatican II” popes renounced this? Certainly not.

“The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar [substitute] of Christ and His personal representative on earth.” Pope John XXIII, homily to the Bishops and faithful assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958, Papal Teachings: The Church, Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, Boston, St. Paul Editions, 1962, par. 1556.

“The successor of Peter”is “‘the sweet Christ on earth’ to whom is owed filial love and obedience, because ‘He who will be disobedient to Christ on earth, who stands in the stead of Christ in heaven, will not share in the fruit of the blood of the Son of God [i.e., salvation]...for he is the Head and Priniciple of our Faith’”

Pope Paul VI, Homily given in the Vatican Basilica at the Proclamation of Catherine of Sienna as “Doctor of the Church” (October 1, 1970); reprinted in “Catholic Dossier”, March/April 1999, Vol. 5, No. 2, Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1999.

“[T]he Pope is...the man on earth who represents the Son of God, who ‘takes the place’ of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity.”

Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3

In a recent general audience, Pope John Paul II addressed the faithful to reaffirm his own infallibilty “by virtue of his office as pastor and master of all Christians.”

“He continued: ‘In virtue of the “supreme apostolic authority,” the papal magisterium [judicial-legislative authority] is exercised when a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals, explicitly or implicitly revealed, is defined...[T]he Councils expound the conditions for the exercise of papal infallible magisterium... whose manifestations are irreformable... that is to say, for them to be valid [i.e., binding dogma] they do not need the bishops’ consensus nor are they submitted to another judgment.’”

[cited in Supreme Pastor, 3/31/93 Denver Catholic Register
(This was printed in preparation for his visit to Denver for World Youth Day.) ]

In more blunt language, the Pope, as “pastor and master of all Christians”, is infallible and omnipotent in his decrees, which no human being or assembly of men, other bishops or whoever they may be, can judge or attempt to overturn. The phrasing is more polite, but the message is the same as that of a Boniface VIII or Innocent III.

THE DOCUMENTS OF VATICAN II, Abbott, p. 49. “[R]eligious submission of will and of mind must be shown in a special way to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra.”

______________________

As can be seen from the aforegoing selection of Papal statements over the last millenium, the Popes have since the time of Leo IX seen themselves as Christ on earth, Christ in office, Christ in jurisdiction, Christ in power, or even as literally having ‘the mind or soul of Christ’, as one 20th century papally-endorsed catechism describes it. And as indeed we can see, even the 20th century Popes down to the present day have upheld this horrible blasphemy as doctrine and dogma. But, since we have so far not often quoted others besides the Popes themselves, let the reader see from the few further selections below that this heretical opinion is far from being held only by the Popes themselves (although that is certainly sufficient and makes it the de facto creed of all Roman Catholics), but is part of the common spirituality of even modern Roman Catholics.

 

“The Holy Father is the true successor of Christ on earth.”

Cardinal John O’Connor of New York
(Sermon, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, March 1987)

 

At the 1994 Synod on Religious, JPII ate dinner with the female religious including Mother Christine Born of the St. Cecillia Domican Sisters, who has led the sisters since 1988. Concerning a dinner with the Pontiff there, one of the nuns relates, “At the meal’s end, Mother Christine thanked the Pontiff for all that he has done for religious and religious life. The Pope replied, “It is Christ, it is Christ.”To that, Mother Christine said what any Dominican would consider an “ultimate”statement. She looked at him and said, “Yes, Holy Father, it is Christ. But as our sister, St. Catherine, has said, ‘You are Sweet Christ on Earth.’”To that the Pope nodded.”

Mother Christine Born, St. Cecillia Domican Sisters
[Dominican Sisters of St. Cecillia Congregation, Congregation History: Part III: From the 2nd Vatican Council to the Great Jubilee, p. 5 of 8; available online: www.nashvilledominican.org/html/hist3.htm, 6/8/01; the website says it has adapted its history from the chapter “Renewal after Vatican Council II”in The Nashville Dominicans: A History of the Congregation “written by Sister Rose Marie on the occasion of the Community’s jubilee celebration of 125 years”.]

 

“You are the sweet Christ on earth who walks in our midst, and we love you and follow you. Twenty years ago you stole our heart and today we offer it to you.” I greeted the Pope with these words just before Mass....

Father Gerard McCarthy, greeted the Pope with these words at a Mass in a local Irish parish.
Source: With the Pope in the Magliana neighborhood, (Nov. 8, 1998).

 

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos:

In Catholic News Service’s report on the Papal Mass celebrating Pope John Paul II’s 80th birthday:

... In a greeting before the Mass, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, told the pope that those gathered prayed that God might let him “still guide us for a long time.”

“We feel that we are led by a man of God, who has won love and respect beyond every human barrier,...

“Thank you, sweet Christ on earth, for those white hairs, for the suffering which has made you even more dear in our eyes, for your steps, as spiritually intrepid as physically tired,” he said....

Source: John Norton for the Catholic News Service, May-18-2000

· The same article at CatholicHerald.com

· The same author May 24, 2000, Denver Catholic Register, “On 80th, Pope celebrates Mass with 8,000 priests”, John Norton, available online: www.archden.org/dcr/archive/20000524/2000052418wh.htm]

 

“We recognize and accept the authority of the Church as we do that of Christ himself. Our Holy Father the Pope is our dear sweet Christ on earth, as St. Catherine called him, even when she was pointing out with the liberty of a saint, how wrong he was at the time, in his conduct of temporal affairs.

Dorothy Day, writer for The Catholic Worker, December 1949,
Source: “The Case of Father Duffy”, By Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker, December 1949, I, 4.

 

Tell us we are Catholics first and Americans or Englishmen afterwards; of course we are. Tell us, in the conflict between the church and the civil government we take the side of the church; of course we do. Why, if the government of the United States were at war with the church, we would say tomorrow, to hell with the government of the United States; and if the church and all the governments of the world were at war, we would say, to hell with all the governments of the world. * * * Why is it that in this country where we have only seven per cent of the population, the Catholic church is so much feared? She is loved by all her children and feared by everybody. Why is it the Pope has such tremendous power? Why, the Pope is the ruler of the world. All the emperors, all the kings, all the princes, all the presidents of the world are as these altar boys of mine. The Pope is the ruler of the world.

Roman Catholic Newspaper: The Western Watchman,
a paper published in St. Louis by Father D. S. Phelan, June 27th, 1912.

____________________________

So, without any doubt, dear reader, the Orthodox Church and any who value even the name of Christian ought to have nothing whatsoever to do with Roman Catholicism, and its many blasphemies, not in the least of which is the equation of the Pope with God. After all such a one, as the Popes are, is, according to the words of St. Gregory the Great, the “imitator of Lucifer” and the “forerunner of Antichrist”, and what relationship of prayer or anything else can a Christian have with one whose blasphemies are not even surpassed by the devil himself?

Vatican Statue of St. Peter as Pope

---

Archbishop Gregory Dormition Skete P.O. Box 3177 Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177 USA	Contact: Archbishop Gregory In a New Window.
		Copyright 2005 All rights reserved.