Vatican: disturbing stories E-Book

Marina Bagni

• Herausgeber: Marina Bagni
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Mister pope, the catholic “church” is not the True Christian Church founded by Jesus and faithful to His Scriptural Word, the exclusive Source of Eternal Life (John 17:3). Catholic traditions and doctrines darken the sky of Rome, Italy, and many other countries. Like the shadow of a huge scorpion, your “teachings” suffocate the peoples with poisonous words that prevent them from seeing the Truth of the Gospel and from entering the House of the Heavenly Father.
I wrote you this “open letter” not because I have anything personal against you, your priests, or anyone belonging to the catholic denomination. My motivation is the opposite: Christ’s love forces me to warn that only by obeying the One Biblical Truth can we be Saved. Just such a Scriptural love is the basis of this volume. My greatest wish is that you can truly find the Way of Life, offering your extraordinary potentials to the Kingdom of God, for the Eternal Salvation of your soul and the souls of all who follow you.

Leseprobe

VATICAN: DISTURBING STORIES

MARINA BAGNI

Title | VATICAN: DISTURBING STORIES

Author | Marina Bagni

Content Copyright © 2019 - Marina Bagni

Cover Copyright © 2020 - Giovanni Paolo Capurro

II Edition | September 2021

The photos published in this volume were found to be in the public domain. Anyone who has rights over them can contact us to request their removal.

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THANKS TO MY COLLABORATORS

This volume - along with others - has been prepared with a few collaborators’ help over many years. A heartfelt thanks to these precious colleagues, who helped me during my work, supported me with their assistance and substantial participation in the development of this book and many others:

GIOVANNI BAGNI

OFELIA BAGNI

SERENA PANCRAZI

GIOVANNI PAOLO CAPURRO

                              Marina Bagni

THE BOOK IS DEDICATED

TO THE KING OF KINGS,

THE LORD OF LORDS,

THE LIVING WORD

OF GOD,

JESUS CHRIST

SOME NOTES ON THE AUTHOR

After graduating in Literature and Philosophy, Marina Bagni specialized above all in metaphysical, patristic, and scholastic Philosophy; from there, she went on to study the general history of Theology, fundamental and speculative Theology; finally, she continued with the comparative study of religions. She worked as a university teacher and researcher, mainly motivated by the desire to find valid proofs regarding God’s existence and an afterlife. However, after years of research, she became convinced that philosophy, theology, and the comparative science of religions could not help her.

The answer to all her questions came suddenly when an Evangelical Pastor - met during a trip - introduced her to the True Living Jesus and led her to study the Old and New Testaments. From that moment, Marina has been dedicating her time to writing books and preaching in conferences, congresses, churches both in Italy and abroad, affirming the Saving and Healing reality of the Word of God without contamination of human doctrines.

Furthermore, since 2008, the author has taught TheRevelation and Catholicism in the light of the Scriptures at the Italian Mission for the Gospel (MIE) during the Theological Refresher Courses with Non-denominational Methodology (CATMA) for Pastors and Elders. Marina held this role - in Vico Equense (Sorrento peninsula) - until the end of the 2015 course when she temporarily retired from teaching to devote herself entirely to writing.

The Editorial Staff

PURPOSES AND REMARKS

Our goal is to see the liberation of many souls and introduce them into the knowledge of authentic, Eternal Salvation: it consists in being born-again and obeying the real Jesus Christ, Who is the Word of God, witnessed in His Integral Scriptures.

It is not our intention to offend any individual or group of people but only to highlight their doctrinal deviation from Biblical Truth. We aim to encourage everyone to re-evaluate the Lord’s Word, so that many can enter into the joy of the Celestial Kingdom.

In this book, we use uppercase and lowercase letters in a particular way to emphasize certain spiritual concepts, facilitating the reading of the text. For the same reason, the specific book formatting has been adopted, which uses bold, italic, and underlined characters.

The Biblical quotes are taken fromtheAmerican King James Version. We thank the generosity of Michael Peter Engelbrite, who, on November 8, 1999, put the AKJV text into the public domain, renouncing his rights.

For communications, requests, suggestions, mail to:

[email protected]

The Editorial Staff

PREFACE

The Holy Scripture underlines, in various ways, the importance of the commandment of the Lord Jesus, Who admonishes all those that wish to be His followers not to judge with their human reason. In this way, they will not be judged, in turn, by Him with the same measure they judged others.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer invites us to forgive those who have sinned against us if we want to be, in turn, forgiven by the Father (Matthew 6:12). Immediately afterward, Jesus reaffirms the same concept in this way:

14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

The Master again repeats the same exhortation at the beginning of chapter 7:

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matthew 7:1-2)

However, in the Holy Bible, there are exceptions to this substantial warning. In both the Old and the New Testament, the Lord (according to His Will) authorizesHis servants to opposefalse doctrines through the sword of the Word.

The true sword of the Spirit does not harm, does not hurt or kill anyone. It is one of the Biblical weapons given to us by the Son to free souls from the lying beliefs in which they are chained. Thus explains the apostle Paul:

7 And take the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17)

Jesus urges us to restore sight to those who are blind and to get prisoners out of prison:

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

To preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind means - in the spiritual dimension - to break the chains of those who lie in the darkness of deadly religions and lead them out so that they can see the Light of Truth.

We, therefore, as children of God and preachers of the Full Gospel, can and must expose false doctrines. This task involves a spiritual battle - by the sword of God’s Word - against the fraudulent doctors, often drawing many in their wake.

Our specific duty is to warn deceived preachers and their followers about the danger of their beliefs so that they withdraw from evil and convert to the One True God. Otherwise, they will be perpetually tormented in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20).

If we warn the misguided, we will be innocent in our Father’s eyes, whether they accept the Truth and receive Eternal Life or reject it. Thus says the Lord to the prophet Ezekiel, in the sixth century BC:

17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore, hear the Word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me. 18 When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand. (Ezekiel 3:17-18)

The apostle Paul warns the Christians he has brought up in the integrity of the Holy Word to defend themselves from the preachers of another gospel (Galatians 1:6-7), who will arise precisely from their midst:

29 For I [Paul] know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)

With the same honesty and courage as Paul, Peter urges his brothers to be vigilant and not lured by corrupt preachers. These “ministers” will promise freedom from sin while they will be enslaved to it (II Peter 2:18-19). The apostle Peter repeatedly denounces false doctors, and he too prophesies that they will come out of the Christian church womb:

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not. (II Peter 2:1-3)

The Spirit of the Lord leads both Peter and Paul to prophesy that the preachers of lies will come right out of the early Christians’ midst.

Peter also specifies the method that such misguided doctors will use to insinuate themselves into churches: they will introduce their heresies secretly, slowly, and progressively to not be noticed before they have obtained a large number of proselytes.

Few centuries after these prophecies, from the womb of the First Church - purchased by Christ with His blood - another “church” of false Roman ministers arose. They have taught (and still teach today) perverse doctrines, i.e., deviated from the Holy Scriptures.

CHAPTER I - THE ROMAN APOSTATE CHURCH

THE TWO CHURCHES

In the Old Testament, the desire for power and money had ruined the Levitical caste. In the first centuries of the Christian Era, the same desire also dishonoredmany “ministers” and heirs of the true Church founded by Jesus Christ.

In AD 312, emperor Constantine took power in Rome. From that moment on, he began to make attractive proposals to hundreds of bishops, who had now fallen into a completely anti-Biblical top-down system. The emperor intended to unite the various communities into a single “church” called catholica, which means universal in Latin.

With this maneuver, Constantine was trying to cement - through a new religion - the imperial structure, which was crumbling. He was particularly struckby the authoritarianism with which the bishops managed to make themselves feared and obeyed by their subordinates. Thus, he thought their hierarchical model could reinforce his shaky organization.

Furthermore, Constantine was very concerned about the danger caused by the ever-growing Christian forces within the empire’s borders. It may seem strange that a “tough” man like him was the first to guarantee Christians freedom of worship (edict of Milan, AD 313) and grant the apostate bishops considerable incomes and specific authority. Indeed, his decisions depended on the complicated political situation in which the Roman Empire found itself in that historical period.

It was difficult for any emperor, at this point, to suffocate the testimonies of Christ’s faithful followers in a bloodbath. Unlike all other subjects, they were not afraid of death and refused the veneration of the emperor’s statues and other statues of the Roman gods. The true disciples of the Nazarene did not give the emperor any chance of reaching an understanding since they did not compromise. Indeed, every bloody Roman repression had the effect of increasing their number. In the Letter to the Hebrews, the Spirit attests thus:

35 […] others [other Christians] were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better Resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:35-38)

Other distressing problems, for Constantine, were caused by the barbarian incursions, more and more frequent throughout the imperial territory. These wild populations from the North weakened the Roman military power and favored foreigners’ infiltration even into the imperial armies. At first, the Romans gave many borderlands to the most deserving soldiers to stop the incursions. Still, other barbarians’ slow entry continued unabated in all imperial administration sectors, westwards as eastwards.

Constantine examined the possibility of an agreement with the “leaders” of those unmanageable Christian subjects because he was perturbed about his empire’s severe crisis.

Aware of sitting on a throne in danger, the “dominus et deus” (lord and god) of the Roman Empire assured the bishops not to imprison them and not condemn them to death. Besides, he promised to exempt them from taxes and other financial charges, offered them official positions, economic benefits, and jurisdiction over territories. In return, Constantine asked the bishops to collaborate closely with his policy and reconcile their “Christianity” with his Olympic religion.

The strategy worked: about 250/300 bishops (the sources do not agree) definitively trampled their faith in the Word of Jesus and allowed themselves to be corrupted by the emperor. Constantine was triumphantly welcomed amid the apostate bishops and presided over Nicaea’s council(AD 325), taking control of it. From that moment on, other “ministers” were bought, denied Christ, and became, in practice, a congregation of Babylon the great, that is, of Rome, as many times prophesied since the Old Covenant.

The Master teaches His authentic disciples not to make any compromise with the world in order not to lose their prerogative of being salt, i.e., instruments of Heavenly Wisdom among men:

13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its flavor, with which shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)

Thus, the true Church of Christ, now betrayed and weakened, has continued its journey of faith and sacrifice, far from public offices and the high society of the empire.

Concurrently, the sad story of an apostate church began, a worldly organization that would be called - by Constantine’s wishes - “Roman catholic.” This second “church” was governed by a large number of bishops and their followers, who had chosen the idol of power and money (mammon), denying the Word of God witnessed in the Scriptures:

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the idol of money]. (Matthew 6:24)

The unfaithful clergymen had fallen to the point of submitting the Biblical Truth to a pagan tyrant. However, the Master warns, through the apostle Paul:

14 Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believes with an infidel? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?For you are the temple of the Living God. (II Corinthians 6:14-16)

Constantine was capricious and cruel: he dismissed or exiled the bishops who had an ideology contrary to his wishes and, instead, supported those who helped him most mix the Olympic religion with the ‘Christian’ one.

The list of arbitrary theories, unfounded axioms, anti-Scriptural dogmas that originated from Nicaea - and from the other subsequent councils - is too long to be treated in this short study. It is enough to recall an indescribable proliferation of the most different doctrines relating to the nature of God. Nevertheless, none of them was corroborated by the totality of what the Lord’s Spirit testified of Himself in His Holy Book.

The unfaithful bishops have continued to call themselves “Christians,” but they have never been such again. Indeed, they have made an unworthy trade in the Word of Christ, amputating it and manipulating it at their own will. Moreover, they have added their unedifying catecheses to the Holy Bible, their offensive dogmas, their lying traditions.

As a result, everything in such prelates has become corrupt. They exploited the glory of the First True Church witnessed in the Book of Acts and boldly continued to call their false church - sold to the Romans - “Christian.” This religious system, still today, is the poisonous fruit of the Roman catholic tree. Jesus speaks in this way about false prophets:

17 Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. 20 Why by their fruits you shall know them. (Matthew 7:17-20)

The unacceptable theories approved by the Roman councils are in stark contradiction with the Sacred Texts. Such doctrines are the consequence of a deliberate desire to overturn the teachings imparted by Jesus to adapt them to the myths, legends, and idolatries of the Roman Olympic religion.

Furthermore, in the indecent history of these councils,the arbitrary “theological” views of the various characters conflicted with each other to the point of provoking violent quarrels. During the council of Nicaea, the emperor himself intervened, in numerous cases, to calm the disputes between the bishops in order to avoid the schisms threatened by the fiery orators.

Had none of them ever read in the Scriptures what the apostle Paul recommends to his disciple Timothy?

3 If any man teaches otherwise, and consent not to wholesome Words, even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the Truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself. (I Timothy 6:3-5)

From Nicaea onwards, two “churches” were constituted, both called “Christian.”The first was the True Christian Church, which retreated into hiding and remained faithful to the Saving instructions of the Master. The other was only a formal “Christian church,” but de facto was an idolatrous church, a slave of the Roman emperor and mammon. Through Constantine’s financial and political support,the catholic structure - based on Pharisaic formalism - increasingly established itself as an institution recognized within the empire.

14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him. 15 And He said to them, You are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:14-15)

In AD 380, the emperors Theodosius I (for the East), Gratian, and Valentinian II (for the West) issued the Edict of Thessalonica and declared catholicism as the empire’s official religion. In reality, this new Roman catholic denomination hid an insidious mystification compared to the original Christianity.

A dead religion of men, which exalted the Olympic gods, was replaced with another dead religion of men.TheRoman clergymen who had joined the emperor continued to attribute the name of “Christians” to themselves, but, from then on, they have systematically been kneeling before other idols no less dangerous than the Olympic ones.

3 But our God is in the heavens: He has done whatever He has pleased. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like to them; so is everyone that trusts in them. (Psalm 115:3-8)

The anti-Christian spirit that animated the members of the catholic congregation soon manifested itself in every aspect of their cults and rituals, which became increasingly detached from what the Master commanded in the New Testament:

19 Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatever I [Jesus] have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20)

These catholic bishops’ paganismrevealed itself in their ambition to predominate over the community as anelevated and privileged male caste. Conversely, the Savior desires service and not dominion:

25 But Jesus called them to Him and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority on them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)

The authentic born-again believers are all brothers and recognize only One Chief (Ephesians 1:22) and High Priest (Hebrews 7:28; 8:1; 9:11; 10:21):Jesus, the Master (Matthew 23:8), the Word of God witnessed in the Scriptures.

22 And [the Father] has put all things under His feet and gave Him [Jesus] to be the head over all things to the church. (Ephesians 1:22)

28 For the Law [of Moses] makes men high priests which have infirmity; but the Word of the oath [made by the Father], which was since the Law, makes the Son, Who is consecrated for ever more. (Hebrews 7:28)

8 But be not you called Rabbi: for One is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brothers. (Matthew 23:8)

Instead, the catholic hierarchs recognize as their high chief a man (the pope), whose title of pontifex maximus - or supreme pontiff - directly derives from the Roman Olympic religion.

15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there rises another Priest [Jesus], 16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment [as in the Law of Moses], but after the power of an Endless Life. 17 For He [the Father] testifies, You are a Priest Forever after the Order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 7:15-17)

God’s Word certifies that Christ’s High Priesthood is Eternal, unchangeable, and not transmissible. No creature - on earth, under the earth, or in heaven - can replace Jesus. He is utterly powerful to justify all those who repent and turn to Him with a sincere heart, declaring themselves sinners and asking for forgiveness:

24 But This Man [Jesus], because He continues ever, has an unchangeable Priesthood. 25 Why He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:24-25)

The Roman supreme pontiffs usurped the eternal and irreplaceable role that belongs exclusively to the Son of the Almighty. They have unduly taken possession of the anti-Christian titles of vicar of Peter, vicar of Christ, and even vicar of God! They have no fear of the Lake of Fire, prepared for all the rioters, idolaters, and enemies of the Lord on the last day.

SOME CATHOLIC “GOOD DEEDS”

Through the Edict of Thessalonica (AD 380), catholicism became the Roman state’s official religion. The consequences were tragic because the thirst for temporal power and money continued to push the supposed pontiffs to commit the most dishonorable historical crimes: murders, carnage, wars; illegal activities; unbridled financial management; unmentionable obscenities. Such wrongdoings are documented by ancient, modern, and contemporary sources, by mountains of indisputable evidence, by history, by the news, by the world media. Nevertheless, the popes still occupy the so-called “holy see,” spend colossal sums of money bestowed by the Italian state, and claim to represent Jesus Christ!

From the 4th to the 7th century, the catholic system, relying on political power, managed to impose itself on ancient paganism with undoubtedly not Christian methods. The new religion instigated the persecution, torture, and killing of countless followers of the Olympic cults and their priests. However, the True Christ does not induce His disciples to torture and kill people; instead, He exhorts them to preach His Gospel to those who are available and withdraw from those who do not want to listen.

From the 7th to the 17th century, the catholic “church” hierarchs and their supporters enormously intensified their barbarity and massacred an astonishing number of men, women, and children. The popes’ primary purpose was to conquer territories, raise money, and violently impose their catholic supremacy on peoples and nations. The religious pretext has always been the official banner of the pontifical propaganda; it has conditioned the masses and bent kings to the service of pope-Caesar, in the name of a “god” who was certainly not the Only True God witnessed in the Bible.

One of the most famous promoters of such a catholic“proselytism” was Charlemagne or Charles the Great (AD 742-814), king of the Franks, the Lombards, and founder of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Instigated by the anti-Christian and warmonger pope Adrian I (772-795), he organized an expedition against the Lombards (773-774). During the long campaign against the Saxons (which took place between 772 and 804), the Frankish emperorissued the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae (Ordinances concerning Saxony), a set of laws for the forced “conversion” of the local population. According to these provisions, anyone who refused to receive the extra-Scriptural catholic “baptism” was sentenced to death. The same fate was reserved, for example, to those who had eaten meat during the “holy lenten fast” (a catholic precept never given by Christ) or to those who had stolen something in “church.” Through this campaign - among other things - Charlemagne had 4,500 heathens executed: such carnage is known as the massacre of Verden (AD 782).

History shows that there is a tremendous difference between catholic proselytism and Christian Evangelization! True Jesus Christ does not teach to kill anyone who rejects His Gospel; He says instead:

14 And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14)

A special page of the gloomy Vatican history concerns the crusades (AD 1095 - 1272), conceived and “blessed” by the “holy” popes.

The main promoters of these nine military campaigns - which have bloodied and devastated the earth for two centuries - were the pontiffs:Urban II (1088 - 1099), Paschal II (1099 - 1118); Eugene III (1145 - 1153), Innocent III (1198 - 1216); Honorius III (1216 - 1227); Gregory IX (1227 - 1241); Innocent IV (1243 - 1254); Clement IV (1265 - 1268); Gregory X (1271 - 1276).

One of the fundamental reasons that led Urban II to launch the first crusade is to be found in the fact that catholicism had recently undergone an epochal schism: in AD 1054, the Eastern patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem) hadrefused to recognize the primacy of the pope of Rome, affirming the autonomy of their orthodox churches. Furthermore, the Islamic advance in the Middle East had become increasingly worrying.

Urban IIthought of taking advantage of the situation to regain territorial and religious dominance in those areas. To achieve his aims, the pseudo vicarof Peter decided to exploit the military forces of the European sovereigns and feudal lords who responded to his appeals.

However, the conquests obtained during the first crusade - one of the few that met with some success - soon proved ephemeral. The Muslims quickly won back the territories that the fighters gathered by the pope had acquired, and the human losses were enormous.

For example, only on the final day of the siege of Jerusalem (July 15, 1099) by the papal forces, tens of thousands of Jews and Muslims fighting side-by-side were exterminated by the crusaders, regardless of the elderly, women, and children.

Altogether, during all the nine military campaigns, millions of victims were brutally killed by the Supreme Pontiffs’ order in the name of a fake “Jesus Christ.” Jewish and Muslim soldiers were killed, unarmed civilians lost their lives, and the crusaders were decimated. They used to leave for the war en masse, deluded by the prospect of easy looting and gains and by the useless plenary indulgences. The popes were not ashamed to profusely distribute such “sacred” licenses to kill, guaranteeing absolute impunity and paradise for all fighters! However, their return was almost always tragic: only a few veterans returned, maimed, wounded, sick, and destroyed in their conscience due to the alarming number of casualties and poor military results.

Among the popes who organized these systematic butcheries called crusades, the name of Innocent III (AD 1198 - 1216) emerges. This man was one of the most ruthless characters in history. At the beginning of his papacy, he proclaimed the fourth crusade. Innocent gathered the troops he needed usingdeception, blackmail, threats of excommunication, and future booty promises. In other words, the pope authorized uncontrolled lootings. Naturally, he did not forget to seal his bloody military operation by cynically displaying - on tunics, armor, shields, banners - the external cross symbol. With similar methods, he managed to form an army from various parts of Europe.

The official pretext for His Holinesswas to “free” Jerusalem from Muslim control once again.

However, the generals of the expedition (Boniface I of Montferrat and Enrico Dandolo, doge of Venice),at first, stormed the catholic city of Zadar (Zara) with the sole purpose of making up for the huge debts contracted to support the military organization. In particular, one of the greatest burdens concerned the massive fleet that the doge had had to build under the threat of papal excommunication. At that time, incurring pontifical wrath and being excommunicated was a heavy stigma, which created significant problems even for rulers and kings.

Subsequently, the commanders of the crusade - once more for economic reasons - welcomed an attractive offer from Alexios IV, heir, now ousted, to the throne of Constantinople. Alexios asked the crusader army to restore him to power; in return, he undertook to provide substantial economic aid to the militias, repay Venice’s debts, and subject the orthodox clergy again to the Roman pope. This immensely pleased Innocent III, who longed to reacquire the oriental churches, which had escaped Roman control.

Therefore, Innocent authorized these adventurers - disguised as soldiers of Christ - to disembark in the Byzantine and orthodox Constantinople, overthrow the throne, and confer royal power on Alexios IV and his father. This operation, however, provoked a chain of harsh consequences and rebellions of the citizens. The tragic epilogue was the famous sack of Constantinople (1204): the crusaders put the city to fire and sword, tortured, raped, and slew most of the inhabitants, devastating and robbing everywhere.

From this, we can see that the popes and their vassals do not respect even the most basic commandments that the Eternal God has dictated to His people:

13 You shall not kill. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:13-17)

Furthermore, to please the pope, the crusaders established a so-called Latin Empire in Constantinople and replaced the orthodox patriarch with a Latin patriarch subject to Rome. After cramming the ships with the treasures robbed in the wealthy city, the mercenaries decided to close their “undertaking” and return directly to the base.

Since ancient times, the Holy Word has warned those who love the Lord against following the way of sinners, who entrap the innocents to strip them of their goods and their lives:

10 My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not. 11 If they say,Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause: 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13 we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14 cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15 my son, walk not you in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path: 16 for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. (Proverbs 1:10-16)

The crusade - wanted and organized by the pope - had turned into a brutal catholic war against the orthodox.

At first, the pope and his court issued a formal and hypocritical excommunication to save appearances. However, subsequently, they de factoapproved this indecent “expedition” in the Lateran councilIV (1215), which confirmed and strengthened the Latin patriarch’s position in Constantinople. Even this unworthy papal “conquest” did not last long since, in 1261, the Byzantines recaptured the city and brought down the Latin state.

The carnages committed by the army gathered by Innocent III for the fourth crusade were not enough to quench his bloodthirst. Thus, the pope launched, in 1208, the Catharcrusade (not included among the nine crusades mentioned above). The military campaign lasted about twenty years (until 1229) and involved the successive popes Honorius III (1216 -1227) and Gregory IX (1227-1241).

It was a ferocious hunt against an entire peaceful population, namely the Albigenses or Cathars. They were mainly located in Languedoc (Southern France) and, in particular, in the Albi area, hence their name. The purpose that the “holy fathers” pursued was to completely exterminate the Cathars since they did not accept papal supremacy and did not pay taxes to the catholic“church.”

During this period, the “sacrosanct” Roman see carried out a real genocide: the Cathars were gutted and quartered, stoned, hanged, burned alive, and drowned. Despite the hecatomb, the Cathar movement did not completely disappear. Therefore, for another century, the efficient tribunal of the holy inquisition continued to torture and kill such unfortunates.

The roots of the perfidious tribunal date back to AD 1184, the year pope Lucius III (1181 - 1185) issued a terrible bull in a synod held in Verona. This document allowed Roman ecclesiastics (without the need for evidence or witnesses) to prosecute for heresy every person merely suspected or reported.

During the Lateran council IV (1215), Innocent III (1198 - 1216) confirmed and made these shocking trials habitual, frightening the people with a further clause, which deemed guilty all those who knew an alleged “heretic” and did not inform the inquisitors.

The unlawful vicars of Christ established a real regime of terror, torturing those they called “heretics” in the most horrendous ways. Many of them were guilty only of being Jewish, many others of defending the superiority of the Scriptural Word over the popes’ blasphemous words. Multitudes of poor condemned were:

sawn

;

impaled

;

drowned

;

hanged

on ropes;

torn

with wheels;

locked up in sarcophagi

- internally covered with nails - which pierced and suffocated them at the same time;

gutted

with rollers full of sharp points;

clenched

with iron circles and clamps that crushed their skulls and the bones of their arms and legs;

burned alive

at the stake;

“cooked” over a low flame

in large containers to increase their pain unspeakably.

In over five centuries,the infamous inquisition tribunal - from which very few came out alive - has tortured and murdered a colossal number of victims, who were prevented from defending themselves in any way against the accusations of “heresy” or “witchcraft.”

The dominican prior Tomas de Torquemada headed numerous inquisitiontribunals - in Spain and elsewhere. During the 15 years in which he held this role (1483-1498), his pious collaborators carried out about 100,000 inhuman trials against those who opposed the pope’s supremacy. Torquemada personally sentenced over 10,000 defendants to death.

It is unnecessary to have special Biblical preparation to understand that such systematic murders with torture cannot come from the authentic Jesus Christ. Simple conscience is enough to warn anyone that these tribunals’ cruelty has nothing to do with what the Son of God taught his disciples.

The Master, despite having often verbally opposed the false prophets - i.e., the priests, the doctors of the temple, the scribes, the Pharisees - never has performed a single act that could harm physically and has always encouraged His disciples to imitate His example.