Question Answered by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 25, 1878

Question Answered.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“Did the Roman Catholic Church grow out of the church established at Rome by the apostles?” A. H.

Ans. Yes. The most reliable history shows that the church of Rome was raised up by the apostles. We are certain that the apostle Paul was there several years. It was at first, like other early churches, a pure, Christian church. It continued such for a long time, probably for more than a century. It did not apostatize in one year nor even in a hundred years. The work of backsliding was a gradual one, as is always the case with any church.

On the start the bishop of Rome was no more than any other bishop; but, as that was the capital of the empire, the Roman church gradually grew larger and more influential, which, of course, gave more authority to the bishop of that church. Gradually he began to extend his authority over surrounding churches, until about five hundred years after Christ the bishop of Rome claimed jurisdiction over all the churches in Christendom.

D. M. Canright.