The Jesuits and Communism: Weapon of the Counter Reformation

  

Presented by: Christian J. Pinto

Produced by: Adullam Films/Noise of Thunder Radio

 

DESCRIPTION

The United States and many Western countries are currently afflicted by the plague of Marxism that openly threatens to topple the principles of liberty and enslave the free world.  In 1881, Protestant historian J.A. Wylie warned that the Jesuit Order manipulated Communism against countries that refused to obey their “liege lord,” the Pope.  The openly stated aim of the Order is to destroy Protestantism, in order to reclaim all the territories and power that the Vatican lost as a result of the Great Reformation.  Could Marxism itself be the weapon of Rome’s Counter Reformation?

The relationship between the Jesuits and Communism is startling, even to this day.  Karl Marx was educated at a secularized Jesuit school, while a host of world leaders including Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton were former students of the Order.  Are the Jesuits the missing link to understanding the advancement of Marxist principles in the Western world today?

Rome and Civil Liberty by Tom Friess Part 45

The Papacy - Conclusion - J. A. Wylie

Development Of The Papacy From Gregory VII To Boniface VIII

Boniface VIII

Photo (Courtesy)http://listverse.com/2007/08/17/top-10-most-wicked-popes/

British Church Newspaper October 2007


British Church Newspaper

Now to the last great struggle. There lacked one grade of power to crown this stupendous fabric of papal dominion. Spiritual Supremacy was achieved in the seventh century, the temporal sovereignty in the eighth; it wanted only the pontifical supremacy, known as the temporal supremacy, to make the Pope supreme over kings, as he had already become over peoples and bishops, and to vest in him a jurisdiction that has not its like on earth - a unique jurisdiction arrogating all powers, absorbing all rights, and spurning all limits. Destined, before terminating its career, to crush beneath its iron foot thrones and nations, and masking ambition as astute as Lucifer's with dissimulation as profound, this power advanced at first with noiseless steps. It stole upon the world as night. Its strides grew longer and swifter as it reached its goal finally vaulting over the throne of monarchs into the seat of God.

Claiming to be the vicars of Christ, the popes knew that it would be imprudent, indeed impossible, yet to assert it in actual fact. Their prudent motto was Spes messis in semine. Discerning "the harvest in the seed", they skillfully and perservingly lodged the principle of supremacy both in their creed, and in the European mind, knowing future ages would ripen it.

Papal daring and ambition

At length came overt measures. It was 1073. Perhaps the greatest of all the Popes, Gregory VII, the noted Hildebrand, held the papal chair. Daring and ambitious beyond all preceding, and beyond most to follow, Gregory fully grasped the Theocratic concept. He equated the reign of the Pope with the reign of God. He tirelessly sought the subjection of all authority and power, spiritual and temporal, to Peter's chair. "When he drew out the whole system of Papal omnipotence in twenty-seven theses in his Dictatus, he repeated the Isidorian decretals giving them the appearance of antiquity by new fictions." For example the eleventh maxim says, "the Pope's name is the chief name in the world;" the twelfth teaches that, "it is lawful for him to depose emperors;" the eighteenth affirms that "his decision is to be withstood by none, but he alone may annul those of all men". The nineteenth declares that, "he can be judged by no one". The twenty-fifth vests in him the absolute power of deposing and restoring bishops, and the twenty-seventh the power of annulling the allegiance of subjects. Gregory flung down this gage before kings and nations - for the pontifical supremacy embraces all who dwell upon the earth.

POPE v EMPIRE

The mitre and the (Holy Roman) empire were now at war. Gregory sought to wrest from the emperors the power of appointing the bishops and the clergy, assuming into his sole and irresponsible hands all the intellectual and spiritual machinery by which Christendom was governed. The strife was bloody. The mitre nevertheless continued to gain steadily upon the empire. The superstitious spirit of the times helped the priesthood struggle with the civil power. Superstitious to the core, the age was nevertheless thoroughly ecclesiastical. The crusades broke the spirit and drained the wealth of the princes. The growing power and riches of the clergy militated ever more against the State.

Gregory VII briefly tasted this immortal power. He saw Henry IV of Germany, whom he had smitten with excommunication, stand barefooted in sackcloth, waiting three days and nights at the castle-gates of Canossa, amid winter drifts, suing for forgiveness. Hildebrand stood on this dazzling pinnacle for a moment only. Fortunes of war quickly turned. Henry once humiliated became victor in his turn. Gregory died in exile upon Salerno's promontory. But his successors strove by wiles, by arms, and by anathemas, to reduce the world under the sceptre of the Papal Theocracy. For two dismal centuries melancholy, stricken and bloody fields, empty thrones and sacked cities were beheld!

INNOCENT III

But through all this misery the idea of Gregory was perseveringly pursued, till at last the mitre triumphed over the (Holy Roman) empire and Innocent III. (1198-1216) celebrated this great victory. Pontifical supremacy had reached its fullness. One man and one will governed the world. In stupefied awe we see that colossus, Innocent III, rearing up, all the mitres of the Church on his head, all the sceptres of the State in his hand. "In each of the three leading objects which Rome has pursued, independent sovereignty, supremacy over the Christian Church, control over the princes of the earth it was the fortune of this pontiff to conquer. "Rome then inspired all the terror of her ancient name; she was once more mistress of the world, and kings were her vassals." Innocent appointed all bishops and presided over all tribunals, from the mightiest to the humblest cause. He claimed all kingdoms as his fiefs, all monarchs as his vassals; and launched with unsparing hand the bolts of excommunication against all who withstood his pontifical will. Hildebrand's idea was now fully realized. The pontifical supremacy was beheld both in the fullness of spiritual and temporal power. But the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world.

THE CHURCH MY SPOUSE

Pope Innocent III. affirmed "that the pontifical authority so much exceeded the royal power as the sun doth the moon". As Jehovah said to his prophet Jeremiah: "See, I have set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down". Innocent boasted "The Church my spouse is not married to me without bringing me something. She hath given me a dowry of a price beyond all price, the plenitude of spiritual things, and the extent of things temporal, the greatness and abundance of both. She hath given me the mitre in token of things spiritual, the crown in token of the temporal; the mitre for the priesthood, and the crown for the kingdom; making me the lieutenant of him who hath written upon his vesture, and on his thigh, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I enjoy alone the plenitude of power, that others may say of me, next to God, and out of his fullness have we received".

UNUM SANCTUM

Boniface VIII added in his bull Unum sanctum, "We declare define, pronounce it to be necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff". This subjection is declared in the bull to extend to all affairs. "One sword," says the Pope, "must be under another, and the temporal authority must be subject to the spiritual power; whence, if the earthly power go astray, it must be judged by the spiritual". Such are only a few of the "great words" heard to issue from the Vatican Mount, that new Sinai.

Such contrast between the first and the last estate of the pastors of the Roman Church is lamented by the poet Dante. Addressing Peter, he says:

"E'en thou went'st forth in poverty and hunger
To set the goodly plant that,
From the vine it once was,
Now is grown unsightly bramble".

Petrarch the poet amplifies the same theme:

"The fire of wrathful heaven alight,
And all thy harlot tresses smite,
Base city! Thou from humble fare,
Thy acorns and thy water, rose
To greatness, rich with others' woes".

There is something here out of the ordinary course. For of the 130 Popes between Boniface III. (606), who, in partnership with Phocas, laid the foundations of the Papal grandeur, and Gregory VII, who realized it, onward through another two centuries to Innocent III. (1216) and Boniface VIII. (1303), who at last put the top-stone upon it, not one lost an inch of ground which his predecessor had gained! There is nothing like it in the history of the world. This success was audaciously interpreted proof of the divinity of the Papacy. Behold, it has been said, when the throne of Caesar was overturned, how the chair of Peter stood erect! Is not (this proof that the Church of Rome is) the Church of which Christ said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it?"
Boasting of a supposed donation of the kingdom of Hungary to the Roman See by Stephen, a Romanist historian says, "It fell out by a wonderful providence of God, that at the very time when the Roman Church might appear ready to fall and perish, even then distant kings approach the Apostolic See, which they acknowledge and venerate as the only temple of the universe, the sanctuary of piety, the pillar of truth, the immovable rock. Behold, kings - not from the East, as of old they came to the cradle of Christ, but from the North - led by faith, they humbly approach the cottage of the fisher, the Church of Rome herself, offering not only gifts out of their treasures, but bringing even kingdoms to her, and asking kingdoms from her. Whoso is wise, and will record these things, even he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord."

THE RUIN OF ALL SAVE HER OWN

But the apparent success of the Papacy when closely examined cannot be justly pronounced legitimate, or fairly won. Rome ever swims with the tide. The evils and passions of society, which a true benefactress would have made it her business to cure - at least, to alleviate - Rome has studied rather to foster into strength, that she might be borne to power on the foul current which she herself had created. Amid battles, bloodshed, and confusion, has her path lain. The edicts of subservient Councils, the forgeries of hireling priests, the arms of craven monarchs, and the thunderbolts of excommunication have never been wanting to open her path. Exploits won by weapons of this sort are what her historians delight to chronicle. These are the victories that constitute her glory! Yet another great deduction from the apparent grandeur of her success is the success the clergy. During her early career, the Roman Church rendered certain important services to society but when she grew to maturity all acknowledge that her principles implied the ruin of all interests save her own.

But the career of Rome, with all the fictitious brilliance that encompasses it, is utterly eclipsed when placed beside the silent and sublime progress of the Gospel. The latter we see winning its way over mighty obstacles solely by the force and sweetness of its own truth. It touches the deep wounds of society only to heal them. It speaks not to awaken but to hush the rough voice of strife and war. It enlightens, purifies, and blesses men wherever it comes, and it does all this so gently and unboastingly! Reviled, it reviles not again. For curses it returns blessings. It unsheathes no sword; it spills no blood. Cast into chains, its victories are as many as when free, and more glorious; dragged to the stake and burned, from the ashes of the martyr there start up a thousand confessors, to speed on its career and swell the glory of its triumph. Compared with this how different has been the career of Rome! - as different, in fact, as the thundercloud which comes onward, mantling the skies in gloom and scathing the earth with fiery bolts, is different from the morning descending from the mountain-tops, scattering around it the silvery light, and awakening at its presence songs of joy.

(From Wylie's History of Protestantism, edited by Dr Clive Gillis.)



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History of the Jesuits

History of the Jesuits
by
Dr. J. A. Wylie LL.D.,

Excerpted from the massive 2 vol. History of Protestantism.

Don Inigo Lopez de Recalde, the Ignatius Loyola of history, was the founder of the Order of Jesus, or the Jesuits. His birth was nearly contemporaneous with that of Luther. He was the youngest son of one of the highest Spanish grandees, and was born in his father’s Castle of Loyola, in the province of Guipuzcoa, in 1491. His youth was passed at the splendid and luxurious comfort of Ferdinand the Catholic. Spain at that time was fighting to expel the Moors, whose presence on her soil she accounted at once an insult to her independence and an affront to her faith. She was ending the conflict in Spain, but continuing it in Africa. The naturally ardent soul of Ignatius was set on fire by the religious fervor around him. He grew weary of the gaieties and frivolities of the court; nor could even the dalliances and adventures of knight-errantry satisfy him. He thirsted to earn renown on the field of arms. Embarking in the war which at that time engaged the religious enthusiasm and military chivalry of his countrymen, he soon distinguished himself by his feats of daring. Ignatius was bidding fair to take a high place among warriors, and transmit to posterity a name encompassed with the halo of military glory—but with that halo only. At this stage of his career an incident befell him which cut short his exploits on the battlefield, and transferred his enthusiasm and chivalry to another sphere.

Chapter 1

Contents

Chapter 1

Rome’s New Army—Ignatius Loyola—His Birth—His Wars—He is Wounded—Betakes him to the Legends of the Saints—His Fanaticism Kindled—The Knight-Errant of Mary—The Cave at Manressa—His Mortifications—Comparison between Luther and Ignatius Loyola—An Awakening of the Conscience in both—Luther turns to the Bible, Loyola to Visions—His Revelations.

Chapter 2

Vision of Two Camps—Ignatius Visits Jerusalem—Forbidden to Proselytise—Returns to Spain—Resolves to make Christendom his Field—Puts himself to School—Repairs to Paris—His Two Companions—Peter Fabre—Francis Xavier—Loyola subjects them to a Severe Regimen—They become his Disciples—Loyola’s First Nine Followers—Their Vow in the Church of Montmartre—The Book of Spiritual Exercises—Its Course of Discipline—Four Weeks of Meditation—Topic of each Week—The Spiritual Exercises and the Holy Spirit—Visits Venice—Repairs to Rome—Draft of Rules—Bull Constituting the Society.

Chapter 3

Loyola’s Vast Schemes—A General for the Army—Loyola Elected—"Constitutions"—Made Known to only a Select Few—Powers of the General—An Autocrat—He only can make Laws—Appoints all Officers, etc.—Organization—Six Grand Divisions—Thirty-seven Provinces—Houses, Colleges, Missions, etc.—Reports to the General—His Eye Surveys the World—Organization—Preparatory Ordeal—Four Classes—Novitiates—Second Novitiate—Its Rigorous Training—The Indifferents—The Scholars—The Coadjutors—The Professed—Their Oath—Their Obedience.

Chapter 4

The Jesuit cut off from Country—from Family—from Property—from the Pope even—The End Sanctifies the Means—The First Great Commandment and Jesuit Morality—When may a Man Love God?— Second Great Commandment—Doctrine of Probabilism—The Jesuit Casuists—Pascal—The Direction of the Intention—Illustrative Cases furnished by Jesuit Doctors—Marvellous Virtue of the Doctrine—A Pious Assassination!

Chapter 5

The Maxims of the Jesuits on Regecide—M. de la Chalotais’ Report to the Parliament of Bretagne—Effects of Jesuit Doctrine as shown in History—Doctrine of Mental Equivocation—The Art of Swearing Falsely without Sin—The Seventh Commandment—Jesuit Doctrine on Blasphemy—Murder—Lying—Theft—An Illustrative Case from Pascal—Every Precept of the Decalogue made Void—Jesuit Morality the Consummation of the Wickedness of the Fall.

Chapter 6

The Jesuit Soldier in Armour complete—Secret Instructions—How to Plant their First Establishments—Taught to Court the Parochial Clergy—to Visit the Hospitals—to Find out the Wealth of their several Districts—to make Purchases in another Name—to Draw the Youth round them—to Supplant the Older Orders—How to get the Friendship of Great Men—How to Manage Princes—How to Direct their Policy—Conduct their Embassies—Appoint their Servants, etc.—Taught to Affect a Great Show of Lowliness.

Chapter 7

How Rich Widows are to be Drawn to the Chapels and Confessionals of the Jesuits—Kept from Thoughts of a Second Marriage—Induced to Enter an Order, and Bequeath their Estates to the Society—Sons and Daughters of Widows—How to Discover the Revenues and Heirs of Noble Houses—Illustration from Spain—Borrowing on Bond—The instructions to be kept Secret—If Discovered, to be Denied—How the Instructions came to Light.

Chapter 8

The Conflict Great—the Arms Sufficient—The Victory Sure—Set Free from Episcopal Jurisdiction—Acceptance in Italy—Venice—Spain— Portugal—Francis Xavier—France—Germany—Their First Planting in Austria—In Cologne and Ingolstadt—Thence Spread over all Germany—Their Schools—Wearing of Crosses—Revival of the Popish Faith.

Chapter 9

England—Poland—Cardinal Hosius—Sigismund III—Ruin of Poland—Jesuit Missions in the East Indies—Numbers of their Converts—Their Missions in Abyssinia—Their Kingdom of Paraguay—Their Trading Establishments in the West Indies—Episode of Father la Valette— Bankruptcy—Trial—Their Constitutions brought to Light — Banished from all Popish Kingdoms—Suppressed by Clement XIV—The Pope Dies Suddenly—The Order Restored by Plus VII—The Jesuits the Masters of the Pope.

Chapter 10

Failure of Ratisbon Conference—What Next to be Done?—Restore the Inquisition—Paul III—Caraffa—His History—Spread of Protestantism in Italy—Juan di Valdez—His Reunions at Chiaja—Peter Martyr Vermigli— Bernardino Ochino—Galeazzo CaraccioliVittoria Colonna, etc.—Pietro Carnesecchi, etc.—Shall Naples or Geneva Lead in the Reform Movement?

Chapter 11

A Stunning Blow—Three Classes in Italy—Flight of Peter Martyr Vermigli —of Ochino—Caraffa made Pope—The Martyrs, Mollio and Tisserano— Italian Protestantism Crushed—A Notable Epoch—Three Movements— The Inquisition at Nuremberg—The Torture-Chamber— Its Furnishings— Max Tower—The Chamber of Question—The various Instruments of Torture—The Subterranean Dungeons—The Iron Virgin—Her Office— The Burial of the Dead.

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