The Inquisition Isn’t Over, It Just Changed Clothes

RNS has a story about the Vatican’s policy of “pontifical secrecy.” Read the story. The approach Rome is taking toward the problem of sex abuse by priests reminds one of the policies followed in the inquisition. What was established for the preservation . . . Continue reading →

Has Rome Really Changed?

Chris Castaldo (HT: Justin Taylor) takes issue with R. C. Sproul’s claim: The indisputable fact is that Rome made a number of strong, clear theological affirmations at the Council of Trent. Because Trent was an ecumenical council, it had all the weight . . . 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →