The Pope’s Solemn Position
After the death of Pope Francis, an American cardinal was appointed his successor last May and took the name Leo XIV. The purpose of this note is to point out the serious, solemn position into which this man has placed himself by accepting his position.
It is important to realise that Roman Catholicism is described in the Bible. One of the important passages on this subject is 2 Thessalonians 2. Here Paul refers to “a falling away” (v 3), an apostasy, a serious departure from the teaching of Scripture which took place over several centuries, leading to the modern Roman Catholic system with all its unscriptural doctrines and practices. It helps us recognise who Paul is writing about if we turn to 1 Timothy 4, where he refers to some who “shall depart from the faith” (v 1). He goes on to describe them as “forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats” (v 3); Rome forbids priests to marry and used to forbid the eating of meat on Fridays, though now only on two days in the year.
Paul goes on to speak in 2 Thessalonians 2 of “that man of sin” being revealed, who is “the son of perdition”. The expression, man of sin is a form
of words used in Hebrew. As a man of war describes a warlike man, or a soldier; so the man of sin is characterised by sin; what is more, he is revealed during the apostasy, and he appears within the Church – he “sitteth in the temple of God” (v 4) – not outside of it. He is the head of the Church, the Pope. Some of the popes of the Middle Ages were notorious for their outward sins, but however serious these were, they are not the most important matter. The Pope is the head of the Roman system, in opposition to Christ; so he is the Antichrist. Among the most serious of a pope’s sins are claiming to rule in the place of Christ, as the vicar of Christ, and taking the lead in repeatedly claiming to offer up Christ as a sacrifice to take away sin, in the mass – denying the fact that Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was offered once for all, as is made clear in the Epistle to the Hebrews (for example, Heb 7:27 and 9:28).
Further, “the son of perdition”, is a description of a pope already quoted. In common with the previous expression, it points to someone who is characterised by perdition or lostness or destruction, especially the lostness which is eternal misery in hell. Jesus used the expression, “the son of perdition”, to describe Judas Iscariot, when He said in prayer to His Father that none of His disciples would be lost “but the son of perdition” (Jn 17:12) – solemnly “the son of perdition” would be lost. So for any man to take on the position of Pope is to put himself into a very serious position indeed, given that an inspired apostle has used these terms to describe the occupant of that office.
Relying in part on 2 Thessalonians 2, The Westminster Confession of Faith concludes its chapter on the Church thus: “There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God” (25:6).
(We regret that the note regarding the death of the previous pope in the June issue of this Magazine was not stronger in regard to his eternal destiny.)