The Pope made a very strong statement when the controversial ‘Dominus Jesus’ document was published on the Mother Church. He made it clear that the only ‘Mother Church’ in the world is the Church of Rome and that it alone is the true church of Jesus Christ. He made it clear that there could be no such thing as a ‘Sister’ church and that those calling themselves churches were not churches at all.
Now, with the usual forked tongue of the Popes, he, is becoming a crusader on the Church’s commitment to ecumenism. Great attempts are being made by him to cover over the wounds that occurred in apostate ecumenism by his document ‘Dominus Jesus’.
The Pope made the point very forcibly when he received 60 professors and students of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, who came to Rome for a Jubilee pilgrimage and to participate in a program organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Dr Willem Visser’t Hooft, who was the first secretary-general of the World Council of Churches was the founder of the Bossey Institute in Switzerland. It was founded in 1946.
The Pope noted that over the last few months the institute had offered students better preparation in order to serve the cause of Christian unity.
That is, of course, in the Pope’s view final incorporation into the Roman Catholic Church.
He said:
‘In your great work you will find the Catholic Church is a trustworthy partner. There can be no turning back from our shared commitment to work for the full, visible union of all the followers of Jesus Christ.’
This of course, is union totally and absolutely within the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican’s senior ecumenical official has issued a statement, saying that the recent Vatican document had ‘a very negative impact’ on ecumenical relations. He has now come to the assistance of the Pope.
Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity stated, that the church needed ‘to rebuild bridges’ following the publication of ‘Dominus Jesus’ which taught the universal truth of the Catholic faith. He said the document had caused members of the Anglican Communion to decline an invitation, to join the Pope as he proclaimed St Thomas More the patron saint of politicians.
The cardinal also said:
‘every Christian community would agree with about 90% of what the document said, but noted that many were offended by its insistence that they were "not churches in the proper sense".’
He said he would have preferred ‘another expression’ to describe the status of Protestant communities.
And so Rome goes on with her ancient trickery and with her attempt to call the lie the truth and the truth the lie. The Bible lays the axe, to the root of the great lie of popery, with its simple message no lie is of the Truth.
