“Long before I [Ed.: i.e., Charles Chiniquy] was ordained a priest [Ed.: in the Roman Catholic Church], I knew that my Church was the most implacable enemy of this republic [Ed.: i.e., the American Constitutional Republic]. My professors of philosophy, history, and theology had been unanimous in telling me that the principles and laws of the Church of Rome were absolutely antagonistic to the laws and principles which are the foundation stones of the Constitution of the United States. First: The most sacred principle of the United States Constitution is the equality of every citizen before the law. But the fundamental principle of the Church of Rome is denial of that equality. Second: Liberty of conscience is proclaimed by the United States [Ed.: to be] a most sacred principle which every citizen must uphold, even at the price of his blood. But liberty of conscience is declared by all the popes and councils of Rome [Ed.: to be] a most godless, unholy, and diabolical thing, which every good [Ed.: Roman] Catholic must abhor and destroy at any cost. Third: The American Constitution assures the absolute independence of the civil from the ecclesiastical or church power; but the Church of Rome declares, through all her pontiffs and councils, that such independence is an impiety and revolt against God. Fourth: The American Constitution leaves every man free to serve God according to the dictates of his conscience; but the Church of Rome declares that no man has ever had such a right, and that the pope alone can know and say what man must believe and do. Fifth: The Constitution of the United States denies the right in any body to punish any other for differing from him in religion. But the Church of Rome says that she has the right to punish with the confiscation of their goods, or the penalty of death, those who differ in faith from the pope. [Ed.: Chiniquy’s sixth point dealt with the Church of Rome’s distaste for public schools.] …Seventh: The Constitution of the United States is based on the principle that the people are the primary source of all civil power. But hundreds of times the Church of Rome has proclaimed that this principle is impious and heretical. She says that ‘all government must rest upon the foundation of the [Ed.: Roman] Catholic faith, with the pope alone as the legitimate and infallible source and interpreter of the law’.” – Charles Chiniquy (“Fifty Years in the Church of Rome”; Pages 283 and 284)
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:45:56 +0000
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