Non Habemus Papam. Christus Solus Noster Mediator et Pontifex Maximus

by on March 13, 2013 | 17 Comments

Card._Jorge_Bergoglio_SJ,_2008

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  • R. Scott Clark
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    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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17 comments

    • But we do of course have a pope/papa …

      ‘Bergoglionem Papam habetis. Deum Papam habemus’

      (All this reminds me of the Jews crying ‘we have no King but Caesar’)

  5. I was just listening to a Jesuit, Robert Spitzer, on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program (the guy who calls himself a Presbyterian-Roman Catholic). He said that he was surprised to hear who their new pope is since the man is a Jesuit; he said Jesuits take vows to not take or seek higher offices. So I am wondering the significance of this, and doesn’t this mean their vows are not trustworthy?

  6. John,

    The roman curia got some concession, his father was an Italian immigrant to Argentina. There was no way the curia was gonna get their guy with Ratzinger still in the city and having copy of the dossier. He’s supposedly not as liberal as most Jesuits in Latin America(liberation theology) but he did modernize the perception of the church down there. He advocates for the poor and is very pointed in his criticisms of economic inequalities. He’s a half-measure with the demands of modernity.

  7. It is sad to see adherents of the Roman communion react with shouts and praise which should be for God alone; average Protestant Joe’s like me should react by reading the Epistle to the Romans, maybe Calvin’s reply to Sadoleto, and other material which distinguishes us from Rome and helps defend what we believe.

    Since the man is from Argentina, Spanish speaking Christians have a message for him:
    No tenemos papa. Solo Cristo es nuestro mediador y sumo sacerdote.

    • On of the news anchor’s daughter from CBS 4 Denver was on last night (apparent she is on a semester abroad in Argentina) and said that the whole country went nuts with joy, basically. Yes, it is pretty sad.

    • Oh wait, apparently there was a selection today, so the point of the post is to take yesterday’s announcement and apply it to today and forever.

  10. You should have said “there is a pope, he is a fraud, and the papacy is a fraudulent institution, as it has been from its beginnings. Christ alone is…”

    Nobody knew who this guy was going in, although I’ve seen reports he finished second to Ratzinger last time. (The vote was probably 100-15 or something like that, but we can’t know what that was). Still, he wasn’t on anyone’s papabili lists:

    http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/conclave-looming-all-bets-are

    From some of the photos I’ve seen, he looks a lot like Angelo Roncalli (who became John XXIII). He’s the same age, and is the same type of “outsider”. (He is reportedly a Jesuit, and he names himself after “Francis”?) They elected Roncalli, it is said, because they thought he would be a “caretaker” pope. Someone who wouldn’t be likely to rock the boat. A vote like this one makes one think the Cardinals want to “put the papacy on hold” for a few years, while the Italians try to regroup.

    But who knows? Maybe he’ll call a new council?

  11. For those of us who don’t know Latin; Google translator says this means: “Does not have the Pope. Christ Our Mediator and the Sovereign Pontiff alone”

    Is that what you intended to communicate?

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