A TRUE PAPAL APOLOGY
(Friday Church News Notes, February 12, 2016,www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Since John Paul II, there have been a string of “apologies” about Rome’s past that, upon examination, prove to be empty. The most recent is Pope Francis’ January 25 apology. It was characterized by U.S. News & World Report and many others as a “sweeping apology for Catholic wrongs committed against other Christians,” but it was nothing of the sort. Here is what the Pope said in St. Peter’s Cathedral: “As the bishop of Rome and pastor of the Catholic Church, I would like to invoke mercy and forgiveness for the non-evangelical behavior of Catholics toward Christians of other churches” (“Pope Francis ... makes sweeping apology,” U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 25, 2016). That is the sweeping apology! “Non-evangelical behavior” is a most amazing way to describe the imprisonment, robbery, torture, torment, burning, and crusading slaughter of millions of “Christians of other churches”! This is not an apology. It is arrogance; it is presumption; it is a lie; it is a further affront. John Paul II’s “apologies” were of the same caliber. Consider “Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past,” published in December 1999. It was written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, and it was approved by Pope John Paul II. The latter stated that the “apology” contained in this document would lead to a “new springtime of Christianity.” This report stated that “doubtful means were employed in the pursuit of good ends” and spoke of “intolerance and even the use of force in the service of truth.” That’s it. That’s the “apology.”
A genuine papal apology would go something like this: “I am the head of a false church that was formed from rebellion against God’s Word 1600 years ago and that is actually more akin to the whore of Revelation 17. I renounce my false and blasphemous claim to represent Christ on earth and to be the head of all churches. I renounce as heresies the priesthood, sacramental salvation, infant baptism, Mariolatry, purgatory, saints, relics, monasticism, and every other thing that is contrary to God’s holy Word and the doctrine and practice of the original churches that Christ founded. I accept the holy Scripture as the sole authority for faith and practice according to the teaching of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and I renounce every Catholic tradition contrary to Scripture. I decry all claims of supremacy. I denounce all of the horrible things that the Roman Catholic Church has done to people throughout its history. I renounce all of the moral filth that has been committed by popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, and nuns under the guise of Christianity. I repent of these things in sackcloth and ashes before the whole world. I renounce baptismal regeneration and cast myself wholly upon the blood of Jesus Christ for my salvation. May God have mercy on my soul for my participation of Rome’s false affairs.”
