Claims of the Papal Priesthood by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 11, 1910

Claims of the Papal Priesthood

By F. M. W.

Reference was made last week to the assumptions of the Roman Catholic Church in claiming, for the Pope and its priests, attributes which belong only to the Deity. Further proof of these claims is strikingly illustrated in a book entitled “Dignity and Duty of the Priests,” by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, a doctor of the Roman Church. On page 31 of this publication, according to the August Missionary Review of the World, is this statement with reference to the power of the Roman priests:—

The power of the priest surpasses that of the blest Virgin Mary; for, although this divine mother can pray for us, and by her prayers obtain whatever she wishes, yet she can not absolve a Christian from even the smallest sin. “The blest Virgin was eminently more perfect than the apostles,” says Innocent III; “it was, however, not to her, but only to the apostles, that the Lord entrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Not only is the priest of Rome said to be equal to God in that he possesses one of God’s highest attributes; namely, the power of creation; but his power is even exalted above the power of God. For the priest of Rome, it is claimed, actually creates God himself. The writer quoted says further:—

The priest may, in a certain manner, be called the creator of his Creator, since by saying the words of consecration, he creates, as it were, Jesus in the sacrament, by giving him a sacramental existence, and produces him as a victim to be offered to the eternal Father. As in creating the world it was sufficient for God to have said, “Let it be made,” and it was created,—“He spoke, and they were made,”—so it is sufficient for the priest to say, “Hoc est corpus meum” [this is my body], and, behold, the bread is no longer bread, but the body of Jesus Christ.

That Romanists claim for priests this creative power in fact, and not in theory, is further shown in these words:—

The priest holds the place of the Saviour himself; when, by saying, “Ego te absolvo” [I absolve thee], he absolves from sin. How great should be our wonder if we saw a person invested with the power of changing a Negro into a white man; but the priest does what is far more wonderful; for by saying, “Ego te absolvo,” he changes the sinner from an enemy into the friend of God, and from the slave of hell into an heir of paradise.

The possession of such wonderful power, the power to create at will, would in itself constitute its possessor a god and not man. And this is the very claim that Roman writers make for the papal priesthood. Continuing, the author says:—

According to St. Ambrose, a priest, in absolving a sinner, performs the very office of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of souls. St. Clement has reason to say that the priest is, as it were, a god on earth. Innocent III has written: “Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices, the priests are so many gods.” Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent, “Ego te absolvo,” and the penitents of each would be equally absolved.

Quoting the Converted Catholic, the Missionary Review adds:—

These utterances of one of the highest authorities of the Roman Church show that not only does the Pope arrogate to himself the attributes of the Almighty in claiming to be infallible, but that each and every priest is placed by the church on an equality with Jesus Christ,—a doctrine taught in the parochial schools of the Roman Catholic Church, in the confessional, in the administration of the sacrament, and in the other relations of priest and people.

A brief comparison of these boastful claims with the teachings of Holy Writ will serve to emphasize how utterly subversive of the gospel are the principles composing this great system of error, and how truly the papal system fulfils the divine characterization of Antichrist.

Creative Power

God proclaims himself the one creator of heaven and earth. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . For he spake, and it was.”

This power the priest of Rome claims to possess likewise, not only over common things,—the creation,—but over the Creator himself, in that by “saying the words of consecration, he creates, as it were, Jesus in the sacrament.”

This same creative power is exercised by God in transforming the heart of the sinner. David prays: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” And the apostle Paul, speaking of this change of life, declares: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”

This power the priest of Rome likewise claims to possess. By his word, “he changes the sinner from an enemy into the friend of God.”

If the Jews of old mistakenly felt that the divine Master was guilty of blasphemy when he said to the afflicted, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” how much more must we to-day, and truly too, consider the priest of Rome guilty of this great sin in his presumptuous claims.

But One Mediator

The Scriptures plainly set forth that there is but one mediator for the guilty sinner. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

This office the priest of Rome usurps, interposing himself between man and his Maker, receiving confession of sin, and pronouncing absolution for the same, and assuming to appear before God in behalf of the guilty sinner.

The Sacrifice Made Once for All

“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” It was not necessary that “he should offer himself often; . . . for then must he often have suffered: . . . but now once . . . hath he appeared to put away sin.”

The priest of Rome assumes to change and improve this divine order. Not only does he claim power to create the divine Sacrifice, but assumes to offer that Sacrifice at the celebration of every mass.

There are few if any powers or attributes of the Godhead which this antichristian system does not arrogate to its priesthood. It claims the office of the Holy Ghost, the position of mediator, the power of creator,—to be, in short, God, and above God, in that it changes his holy order, and professes to control all the agencies of divine grace and ministration. Is it strange that as the prophet of old beheld its mysterious workings, he was lost in amazement? It stands forth as the “mystery of iniquity” of the ages.

But notwithstanding the perniciousness of this evil system, its advocates and adherents are our fellow beings, men and women for whom Christ shed his precious blood. Tenderly he yearns

for the salvation of their souls. To them we have a mission of evangelization. Opposing the principles of Rome firmly and decidedly, but kindly and considerately, let us diligently seek to enlighten those who hold them, and to reveal in our lives and teachings the purity and preciousness of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our conflict to-day is not against Romanists as men and women, not against pope or priest or prelate as individuals, but against the principles comprising the great system which these represent. This movement in which we are engaged is not a social issue, not a political issue; it is a movement set for the conservation of the truth, and for the enlightenment and salvation of those in error, by whatever name they may be known.

F. M. W.