On the one hand, the church of Rome formally denies continuing revelation. The age of public revelation ended with the apostles. As a result, the Roman church must appeal to the theory of development to justify its theological innovations.
On the other hand, the church of Rome nurtures belief in Marian apparitions. Now only is Mary said to appear to groups or individuals at different times and places during the course of church history, but she reveals things about the future, such as the “Fatima Prophecies.”
To be sure, the church of Rome is wary about making official pronouncements concerning this or that apparition. But the Roman church is certainly open to that possibility. Indeed, it positively encourages pious belief in certain reported apparitions of the BVM.
But what is this if not a theory of continuing revelation? If the “Fatima Prophecies” were true, how would that be essentially different from NT prophecies regarding the future?
Likewise, if Mary can (and does) touch down to disclose certain things which are not already revealed in the Bible, then why does the Roman church need a theory of development? Indeed, why does the Roman church even need a teaching office? It has a living prophetess in the person of Mary. Who needs the pope when you have Mary? She outranks the pope. If Mary can pop in to unveil new truths, then the papacy and the development of doctrine are pretty superfluous.
Mary 'outranks' the pope? where is that written?
ReplyDeleteShe's the "Queen of Heaven." The Queen Mother" of Jesus. The Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix.
ReplyDeleteYes, that puts her several notches above a lowly pope in the Catholic food chain.
Of course, I'm not Catholic.
But Mary cannot pull Christ from Heaven as the priests can.
ReplyDeleteGerry wrote:
ReplyDelete"Mary 'outranks' the pope? where is that written?"
Here are some examples of what Catholics have claimed about Mary:
"God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of heaven and earth do not suffice." (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus)
"These principles laid down, and to return to our design, who will not see that we have with good reason claimed for Mary that - as the constant companion of Jesus from the house at Nazareth to the height of Calvary, as beyond all others initiated to the secrets of his Heart, and as the distributor, by right of her Motherhood, of the treasures of His merits, - she is, for all these reasons, a most sure and efficacious assistance to us for arriving at the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ." (Pope Pius X, Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum)
"God, who from all eternity regards Mary with a most favorable and unique affection...enlightened by divine grace and moved by affection for her, God's Mother and our own dearest Mother, they have contemplated in an ever clearer light the wonderful harmony and order of those privileges which the most provident God has lavished upon this loving associate of our Redeemer, privileges which reach such an exalted plane that, except for her, nothing created by God other than the human nature of Jesus Christ has ever reached this level." (Pope Pius XII, Minificentissimus Deus)
"Mary has by grace been exalted above all angels and men to a place second only to her Son, as the most holy mother of God who was involved in the mysteries of Christ: she is rightly honored by a special cult in the Church." (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution On The Church, no. 66)
"The 'splendor of an entirely unique holiness' by which Mary is 'enriched from the first instant of her conception' comes wholly from Christ: she is 'redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son'. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person 'in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places' and chose her 'in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love'....'Full of grace', Mary is 'the most excellent fruit of redemption'" (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 492, 508)
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ReplyDelete"With equal truth may it be also affirmed that, by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ, thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother....How grateful and magnificent a spectacle to see in the cities, and towns, and villages, on land and sea-wherever the Catholic faith has penetrated-many hundreds of thousands of pious people uniting their praises and prayers with one voice and heart at every moment of the day, saluting Mary, invoking Mary, hoping everything through Mary." (Pope Leo XIII, Octobri Mense)
"O Virgin most holy, none abounds in the knowledge of God except through thee; none, O Mother of God, obtains salvation except through thee, none receives a gift from the throne of mercy except through thee." (Pope Leo XIII, Adiutricem Populi)
"Mary is all powerful with her divine Son who grants all graces to mankind through her" (Pope Benedict XV, Fausto Appetente Die)
"Jesus is Mary's only son, but her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed he came to save: 'The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, that is, the faithful in whose generation and formation she co-operates with a mother's love.'...Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. 'In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace.' 'This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation....Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.'...Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her...And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender 'the hour of our death' wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise....Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope....Because of Mary's singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her, and to entrust supplications and praises to her." (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, 501, 968-969, 2677, 2679, 2682)