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By Richard Bennett As Pope Francis moves onto the world stage, many people are wondering how he will be generally accepted. The pleasant aura of John Paul still lingers for many, while the shortcomings of Benedict !" still color the current scene. #ore importantly, given the Pope$s e%alted position in the world, many will be as&ing how Pope Francis will change the Papacy. The fact remains, however, that since the early '(th century the )ffice of the Papacy has been set on a course of action that no individual pope will reverse. *ow can this be so+
Setting the Stage for the Mystery of Iniquity n ../ A.0., -mperor ,onstantine moved the seat of the mperial Roman -mpire from Rome to ,onstantinople. By that time, he had decreed ,hristianity the religion of the -mpire in hopes that by means of its acceptance a new unifying strength could be infused into his crumbling empire. The new 1state religion2 was organi3ed much li&e the Roman -mpire$s military. t was divided into four ma4or districts, having a head over each. 5ithout persecution, the simple faith of the early church had declined, so that by the fifth century, the church at Rome was no longer a fellowship of strong believers under ,hrist Jesus. Rather it had become part of an institution dominated by a hierarchy in which the Bishop of Rome eventually commanded the most power. Mystery of Iniquity becomes Manifest
-mperor Justinian , more than anyone else, was the one to establish the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in the si%th century. *e did it in a formal and legal manner, bringing even things religious under the control of civil law. <e Roy -dwin Froom summari3ed,
n '?/. as head of the state religion, the Pope nnocent began through its courts of n7uisition mandatory sub4ection to its unbiblical doctrines enforced by the civil state. This papal &illing machine wor&ed tirelessly for si% hundred years, standing at least on par with the largest bloodbaths that 6talin, #ao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, and other ?/th century dictators managed to inflict on humanity. Thus the form of the mystery of ini7uity, the state@ordained Roman ,atholic ,hurch with its )ffice of the Papacy, grew in strength and civil power throughout the 0ar& and #iddle Ages. t had amassed to itself wealth, property, and influence through the n7uisition and other cruel, unethical, totally unbiblical means, including murder and wholesale theft.
Pope nnocent who in '?/. started the n7uisition of Torture and Burning at the sta&e.
The eformation !rings the ise of the Mo"ern Era n '>G;, the ,hurch of Rome went fully apostate at the ,ouncil of Trent when it formally declared, f anyone shall say that 4ustifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for ,hrist$s sa&e, or that it is this confidence alone by which we are 4ustified: let him be anathema BcursedC.
nternally, to strengthen the hold on ordinary ,atholics, the Papacy in 'F>G declared #ary to have been immaculately conceived. 5ith their elevated #ary, the Papacy had manufactured an alternate but 1visible2 figurehead to which the ,atholic faithful could be united in prayer. The attention of the faithful was thus deflected away from the 1invisible2 <ord Jesus ,hrist and *is 5ritten 5ord. 5ithout these, their attention naturally focused on the visible image in front of them as the center of their prayers.
Pope Pius ! was responsible for the dogma of Papal nfallibility at "atican ,ouncil in 'F;/
Further, Pope Pius ! was highly instrumental in bringing about the declaration of 1papal infallibility.2 5ith remar&able ingenuity, against not only the 6criptural absurdity of the concept, but also in spite of the historical fact of popes declared heretical by the same Roman ,atholic ,hurch, this was made doctrine at "atican ,ouncil in 'F;/. This doctrine consolidated in the hands of the reigning pope dictatorial powers heretofore un&nown within the ,atholic ,hurch. 6ucceeding popes reestablished the Papacy internally by reorgani3ing Roman ,atholic law into the '('; Code of Canon %aw. %atican &chieves Civil Status in the Mo"ern Era The apparent mortal wound of ';(F was healed in '(?(, when, under #ussolini, the "atican was again recogni3ed as a sovereign civil power, &nown as the *oly 6ee, where "atican ,ity is seated geographically within the city of Rome that encompasses all seven hills. The concordat with #ussolini was only the beginning of many civil concordats, one of the most infamous being that between Pope Pius ! and Adolf