Catholic Church

A book that recently came out declares Pop John Paul II to have a special belt that he would whip him self to be “a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ”.

The book writer Slawomir Oder wrote that “In the closet, among the cloaks, a particular pant-belt hung from a hook, which he utilized as a whip and one which he always had brought to Castel Candolfo”. Oder at the time was the head of the council that judges if Popes should be given the title of "saint" after they die.

self-mortification, self-flagellation is not biblical.

Pope Clement XII issues a Papal Bull “In Eminenti” declaring Freemasonry to be “condemned and prohibited”. Also that any Catholic involved with the secret society or any of it’s members will be excommunicated.

In the Canon Law issued by the Catholic church in 1918 the Masonic ban is broadened to other guilds in the Order of the Quest. Those openly expressed as forbidden were as follows: Socialists, Communist party, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, and “other societies of the same sort”.

To be forgiven the Church declares that the perpetrator must quit the secret order that they are a member of. Oddly enough the church says that in some of these guilds if stopping the payment of dues would cause you a “grave loss” you could continue to pay dues (which this is not biblical in the slightest).

The new Canon Law of 1983 removed the explicit name of Freemasonry from its banned secret society list (along with all others). Instead it is replaced with the vague wording - any “association which plots against the Church”. Since Freemasonry by it’s own admission is a secret society how would confessing Catholics know to stay away from it just reading the Canon Law?

Also the penitently of joining an group that “plots against the Church” is no longer punishable by excommunication, but instead with interdict which is the forbidding of taking communion and other minor things (which according to the bible is not a requirement of salvation).

In a response back to the a letter sent by Freemasonry asking it if was ok for a Catholic to become now become a member of Freemasonry with the new canon law in affect Thomas Anslow of the Canon Law Society of America replied “probably yes” since he did not see anything subversive about Freemasonry.

Granted that in the letter sent by the Freemasons it stated that an “allegiance to one God is all we require”. The statement does not declare which god, or that if you believe in many gods you can only have allegiance to one - to both of these statements the God of the Christian bible is apposed to.

In an effort to disband the Illuminati and Freemasonry in the country of Bavaria the then Duke Karl Theodor issues a ban on the practice of subversive secret societies. Unlike the first edict this one specifically states the Illuminati and Freemasons by name.

The Jesuit Order was disbanded in the countries of France, Spain, Portugal, Naples and Austria by order of the Catholic Pope Clement XIV. Many Jesuits fled to Russia during this period due to Catherine the Great not carrying out the Pope’s orders. According to Manresa (a Jesuit history site) Catherine held the Jesuits’ and their schools in higher regard than the Pope. Jesuits maintained operations in Russia and when the Jesuits was re instantiated by Pope Pius VII in 1814, it was the Russian Jesuits that rebuilt the order in all countries.

Pope Innocent II basically made the Knights Templar their own distinct Church, by declaring that they do not have to pay any secular taxes, or pay any tithes to the Catholic church. The bull also states that they can build their own church which they can collect money, along with the ability to create their own cemeteries to bury the dead in. All of these sweeping powers were unheard of being granted to any group, but the Templars were granted all in one bull.

Quotes From The Papal Bull:

"As for the things that you will receive from the spoils, you can confidently put them to your own use, and we prohibit that you be coerced against your will to give anyone a portion of these. We establish that the house or ’the Temple’ in which you are gathered, for the praise and glory of God and the defense of his faithful ones, as well as liberation of the church of God, with all your goods and possessions that it is known to legitimately have at the present time or may acquire in the future through concessions of bishops, generosity of kings and princes, gifts of the faithful or in any other just away, with God’s help, shall be under the guardianship and protection of the Apostolic See for all time to come. We also establish in this present decree that the religious life that has been instituted in your house, inspired by divine grace, shall be observed inviolably and the brothers who serve the Lord therein shall live chastely without personal property, and, confirming their profession by words and morals, shall be subject and obedient to their master and to those whom he ordains. Moreover, since this house of your sacred institution merited to be the source and origin of the order, it shall likewise forever be considered the head and principal of all the places that belong to it."

"And because those who are defenders of the Church should live and be sustained from the goods of the Church we by all means prohibit the exaction of tithes against your will from all moveable and unmovable possessions and anything that belongs to your venerable house. But we confirm with apostolic authority the tithes that you might extract by your zeal, with the advice and consent of the bishops from the hands of clerics and laymen, and even those that you obtain with the consent of bishops and their clerics."

"While also reserving for bishops episcopal rights, in regard to tithes, as well as religious services and burials, we likewise grant permission to build places of worship in locations given to the Holy Temple, where your community resides, in which religious services would certainly be held and where, if any one of your or your community should die, they may be buried. For it is not unbecoming and constitutes clear danger to the souls if the brothers of the order commingle with multitudes of men and crowds of women, under the pretext of going to church."