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by Katherine Frisk, The Phaser:
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they insisted on a separation between church and state and a Vatican Embassy was not allowed in Washington D.C. The Vatican in effect, was not acknowledged as an Independent City State and the political ramifications that go with it.
Those who had left Europe for the USA were not only tired of the nobility in Europe and being underdogs and peasants, they were also tired of the Roman Catholic Church and the many tithes that had to be paid to Rome, including paying for prayers and a church Mass to save a soul from purgatory, or worse, hell.
Most people living outside of Europe today, are unaware of the historical and financial stranglehold that the Vatican had over most of Europe and still does today. As recently as 2013 a court ruled that German Catholics could “only remain in the Church if they pay membership tax.” Many Roman Catholics risk being ex-communicated and thrown out of the church should they not comply with these many tithes and taxes.
In other countries like Poland for example, the Catholic Church is very much embedded in the political and financial structure of the country.
The USA for a large part of it’s history has been, and still is, mainly Protestant. Today Protestants represent approx 5.1 per cent of the population. The Protestant ethic is far removed from the Roman Catholic ethic. The Pope is not seen as the representative of Christ on Earth, and the Protestant Reformation, in conjunction with millions moving from Europe and Great Britain to the United States of America since the 17th century, was motivated by a need for self empowerment on a religious as well as political level. Freeing themselves not only from the stranglehold of the nobility, but also from Vatican domination in all their affairs.
According to Catholic Doctrine, the Papal Bulls written in the last 800 years give the Vatican and the Pope in particular, ownership of all land, bodies and souls on the planet.
Starting from Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, the first Bull, the first crown, gave the Church and the Pope in particular, ownership of all land. Hence the term “crown land.”
The second crown, Sixtus IV in 1481 , gave the church and the Pope in particular, through the system of birth certificates, ownership of all people born into this world.
The third crown, Paul III in 1537, gives the church and the Pope in particular, ownership of all souls in the Holy See.
Many people across Europe started to challenge these Papal Bulls when the Bible was translated into the vernacular and the printing press came into existence, making the Bible stories more freely available to the general public as opposed to taking as writ whatever the Roman Catholic Catechism dictated. They concluded that not only did the Vatican have no legal standing of ownership of all land, all bodies and all souls, but that these privilages which they had given themselves were inherently not Christian.
A glaring example of this disparity is in Matthew 4: 8 – 11
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
The story of Jesus whipping the money lenders in the Temple rang as true then as it did in Europe in the 17th century, whereby the population under threat of ex-communication and their souls being damned to hell, had to and in many cases still do pay tithes and taxes to the church.
The persecution of Jesus also rang true for them personally, St. Bartholomew’s Massacre as one example of many. Those who turned their backs on the Vatican from the 13th century on wards, were subjected to the Inquisition, humiliation, torture and death, often judged as witches and heretics under trail by ordeal, again in contradiction the Laws of Moses which entitle people to have witnesses to speak on their behalf and in contradiction of Christian Scripture: