Indeed to apply it to the true Roman Church, or the right succession in the Apostolic see, which was in the days of S. John, or in the time of the Christian Emperors, it were both folly and blasphemy: but to apply . . . Continue reading →
Roman Catholicism
The Myth of the Papacy
You know by now that Benedict XVI has abdicated the papacy and the college of Cardinals have been preparing to elect a new pope. on Tuesday they are set to begin the process of actually electing a new pope. Over the next . . . Continue reading →
Chalcedon Rejects Primacy Of Rome
Rome is a Sect
Following in every way the decrees of the holy fathers and recognising the canon which has recently been read out—the canon of the 150 most devout bishops who assembled in the time of the great Theodosius of pious memory, then emperor, in . . . Continue reading →
Too Legit, Too Legit to Quit
MC Hammer Called. He wants His Costume Back
Vatican I On Papal Infallibility
Sola Scriptura v Solo Papatu
We teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines . . . Continue reading →
The Treasury Of The Church—”A Satanic Mockery”
Now very many persons see the base tricks, deceits, thefts, and greediness with which the indulgence traffickers have heretofore mocked and beguiled us, and yet they do not see the very fountain of the impiety itself. As a consequence, it behooves us . . . Continue reading →
This Treasury Also Includes The Good Works Of Mary And All The Saints
Thus is explained the “treasury of the Church” which should certainly not be imagined as the sum total of material goods accumulated in the course of the centuries, but the infinite and inexhaustible value the expiation and the merits of Christ Our . . . Continue reading →
A Romanist Responds to the Reformation
I’ve had a fair bit of response to the HB over the years. Some of it comes over the transom from anonymous writers (anonymous comments are generally forbidden on the HB) and it usually goes where anonymous correspondence should go. This one, . . . Continue reading →
Implicit Faith And The Cult Of Personality
More than a couple observers of the Reformed and evangelical worlds have noted the rise and danger of the superstar pastor. Yesterday, however, in conversation with a colleague another came to mind: implicit faith. Implicit faith (fides implicita) is the medieval (and . . . Continue reading →
Garry Wills Talks Priesthood, Transubstantiation, and Hebrews
(HT: Jordan Huff). It’s not often that one sees discussion of transubstantiation on Comedy Central or anywhere else for that matter (except perhaps EWTN). It’s interesting that Wills, a Roman Catholic, seems to feel no reluctance to attack Romanist dogma. It reminds . . . Continue reading →
The Problem Of Lent For Confessional Reformed Christians
After all, Protestants don’t have a history of self-inflicted pain to merit spiritual rewards. If as the gospel allies would have it that Lent is to remind us of Christ, then we should also be reminded that nothing we do to attack . . . Continue reading →
A Protestant Catechism On The Papacy
Have the Apostles any successors? To speak properly, they had none to succeed them in the degree and dignity of apostleship; and therefore when James was beheaded, none was chosen into his place. Otherwise all pastors and ministers of the gospel, who . . . Continue reading →
No Other Head Of The Church
There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the . . . Continue reading →
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Benedict XVI, who turns 86 in April, will abdicate the papacy at the end of this month. The election of a new pope is a good opportunity for a brief tutorial on some of the aspects of the papacy that the mass . . . Continue reading →
How Many Ex Cathedra Pronouncements Are There?
One of the principal reasons that some Protestants have given for converting to Rome is the desire for certainty, to escape the alleged uncertainty attached to the confessional Protestant doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture. The unstated implication is that, in Rome, . . . Continue reading →
Of Catholicity and Confusion
One of the most confusing aspects of Protestant-Romanist dialogue is trying to determine “who speaks for Rome?” and trying to answer the question, “What does Rome believe?” One reason it can be difficult to answer these questions is that Rome likes it . . . Continue reading →
Godfrey on Rome
Videos by independent film maker Anthony Parisi.
Rome Agrees With the Medievals Except When It Doesn’t
The related identification of Scripture as pure, holy, sufficient, and perfect—pure, holy, and sufficient in its teachings for the preaching of salvation and perfect or complete in its communication of those teachings—is a point of doctrine that marks out a major line . . . Continue reading →
What Does Rome Mean By Papal Infallibility?
The impending arrival of the Bishop of Rome to Twitter (@Pontifex) has raised the question of papal infallibility in a new, late modern way. This seems like a good time to remind ourselves of what Rome teaches about the infallibility of papal . . . Continue reading →
Who Are the True Catholics? (5a): Justification
Part 4: Who are the True Catholics (4): Assurance of Salvation In theological terms, there were two principles of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation: the formal principle and the material principle. The first, the formal principle, was the doctrine that Scripture is the . . . Continue reading →