The undersigned was asked to write an article for Beacon Lights on the topic, “Influence of the Catholic Church on its members who are political candidates.” Since the influence of the Romish Church not only affects such political candidates but also affects politics in general, when ever any issue of the Romish Church is at stake; therefore, I thought it would be better to discuss its influence upon world and national politics in general.
In order to understand the part that Roman Catholicism plays in local, state, national, and international politics we must briefly look at the structure of power of the Romish hierarchy. It resembles a pyramid with a very thin peak where the Pope is perched in a position of such majesty that he is so far above his subordinates that he is more like a public demigod than a human being. He is God’s Vicar on earth and all Catholics owe obedience to him as to God Himself. He has power to declare what is right or wrong and to consign to eternal perdition anyone who defies his judgment. He may depose emperors and free their subjects from allegiance to civil rules which are contrary to the hierarchy. He is the only personage in the world who is infallible. Therefore, according to the Romish interpretation of Acts 5: 29, the Romish layman must obey God’s Vicar, the Pope, rather than any earthly king or government. Directly under the Pope are fifty to seventy cardinals which hail from many different nations, but they do not represent the Roman Catholic people of these nations, since they are chosen entirely in accordance with standards of performance by the Vatican. Under the cardinals come the bishops and archbishops who rule the dioceses scattered throughout the world. They are appointed by the Pope upon the recommendation of the cardinals. Below these high dignitaries are the priests, nuns, and brothers who do the basic routine work of the Romish Church throughout the world. They minister to their congregations, comfort the sick and dying, do mission work on the far corners of the earth, but their selfless service does not necessarily make them citizens in their own commonwealth. They are completely denied the right to express their own opinions on all major matters of policy and must accept the opinions and rules of their bishops or the heads of their religious orders. At the bottom of the pyramid are perhaps 350 million baptized laymen of the Romish Church throughout the world who have professed allegiance to the Holy See at some time in their lives. Even more than the priests, they are utterly subordinate in the Romish system of power. They have no representatives of their own choosing in the central administrative machine and have no voice in popular assemblies. They do not even own the costly church buildings which they pay for. Their numerous organizations for propaganda and social activity have no right to participate in the making of policy, but are under rigid control a supervision of the high dignitaries of the Romish hierarchy. The whole power of the system comes from the top down.
The role of the Romish Church as a political power in the world becomes prominent when the Pope wants to protect or further the power of the Romish Church or when he wants to deal with social and political movements which are not in accordance with the dictates of the Romish hierarchy, or with states or even with forces which are not only non-religious or non-Romish, but also anti-religious, with whom he wants to bargain or strike an alliance in order to fight a common enemy – for instance, Atheism, Communism, and last but not least Protestantism or more particularly the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. – This is the reason why Protestant missionaries and meetings of Protestant groups are outlawed and are even persecuted in countries such as Spain, France, Mexico, South America, etc. where the members of the Romish Church dominate the population of the above countries. Actually, the laws of these nations are made according to the dictates of the Romish hierarchy.
In Protestant dominated countries such as the U.S., the proportion of the Romish population, who are active Catholics, is usually far higher than in Catholic dominated countries. There are over 35 million active Roman Catholics in the U.S. and this number is annually increasing by leaps and bounds. When these active millions move together to achieve the same aim – namely, to further the power of the Romish Church in society -, being directed under a single leadership to act according to a well defined plan, it does not require any great imagination to grasp the amount of political influence they can exert. In other words the laity of the Romish Church is actually told how, who, and why they shall vote by their bishops and priests upon penalty of mortal sin, prolonged period of time in Purgatory, or even excommunication. To sum up what this means, Paul Blanshard in his book, American Freedom and Catholic Power, makes the following statements:
“Whenever any issue arise in Congress, which may or might affect Catholic
interest, a seasoned lobbyist in priestly garb is likely to appear in a congressman’s
office, reminding the legislator that 35,000,000 Catholics in America feel such
and so about this matter. Even when the legislator knows perfectly well that
the opinion is actually that of a handful of top ranking bishops, acting on order
from Rome, he may swallow his convictions and “yes, yes” because he knows
that in American Catholicism the bishop speaks for Catholic power. He knows
also that Catholic pressure can be mortally effective in swinging any close
election against him.”
Not only does the Romish Church lord itself over its members as individuals but also collectively in their numerous organizations of which there is one for almost every sphere of
American life – educational, scientific, literary, journalistic, youth activities, athletics, music, the fine arts, government, economic, labor world, medicine, etc. – In addition there are the secret organizations such as the Jesuits, Knights of Columbus, Holy Name Society, etc. which are patterned very closely after the Masonic Lodge. In joining the Knights of Columbus (which are founded at New Haven, Conn in 1882 with the purpose of destroying the Masonic Lodge).
whose membership today totals around one million members in the U.S. the candidate must swear in the presence of Almighty God upon penalty of being tortured to death and of being cast into eternal Hell forever, that he recognizes that the Pope is Christ’s Vice Regent, the true and only head of the Romish Church, and has the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to bind or to loose, and has power to depose heretical kings, princes, commonwealths, and governments, that they may be destroyed; that he will renounce and disown any allegiance to any heretical king, prince, or government, called Protestant or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates, or officers; that he will do his utmost I helping to exterminate the heretical Protestant and Masonic doctrines; that he will obey unhesitatingly each and every order from his superiors and have no opinion of his own; that he in voting will always for a Knight of Columbus or Catholic in preference to a Protestant and he will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in his power to deal with or employ a Catholic; that he will as soon as the opportunity presents itself, upon direction of his superiors, torture and kill all Protestants, regardless of honor, dignity, or authority, whatever may be their condition in life either public or private. There are many more statements such as these that the candidate must swear to, but space does not permit me to mention them.
Yes, indeed, dear reader, no wonder that the reformers of old such as Luther, Calvin, etc. did not hesitate to recognize the Pope and the Romish hierarchy as the Antichrist, “that man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped,; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
II Thessalonians 2:3-4.