Ignatius Of Loyola And Submission To The Roman Catholic Church

          "To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed." (Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, Thirteenth Rule)

          Whether or not we understand Ignatius as using hyperbole in this excerpt, is a side issue that does not change the implications of his thoughts about the authority of Rome. It remains clear as day that he taught the almost unconditional surrender of the intellect and will to the Papacy. According to him, that teaching office essentially defines reality. No dissent is allowed on matters it has officially spoken on, no matter how seemingly trivial that they may be. The "infallible" dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church are to be embraced unquestioningly by all the faithful without exception. We have an example of this in play with a more recently defined dogma like the Assumption of Mary. Whether or not one affirms such an idea, it is hard to imagine what kind of harm rejecting that would do. Consider this excerpt from Apostolic Letter Est Sane Molestum, by Pope Leo XIII:

          "To scrutinize the actions of a bishop, to criticize them, does not belong to individual Catholics, but concerns only those who, in the sacred hierarchy, have a superior power; above all, it concerns the Supreme Pontiff, for it is to him that Christ confided the care of feeding not only all the lambs, but even the sheep [cf. John 21:17]."

          This is the kind of mindset that lies behind the words of Ignatius of Loyola. It gets to the very heart of the nature of Rome's claims to authority. It explains why Roman Catholics can still accept dogmas like transubstantiation, even after they have shown to be philosophically untenable. A similar problem is in play when one confronts Mormons with the reality that all their religious claims about history have been debunked by archeological findings. The issue is not that such people are morons, but they have been conditioned in such a way as to accept ideas that outsiders would quickly dismiss as absurd. Consider this excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), Religious Discussions:

          "By a decree of Alexander IV (1254-1261) inserted in “Sextus Decretalium”, Lib. V, c. ii, and still in force, all laymen are forbidden, under threat of excommunication, to dispute publicly or privately with heretics on the Catholic Faith. The text reads: “Inhibemus quoque, ne cuiquam laicae personae liceat publice vel privatim de fide catholica disputare. Qui vero contra fecerit, excommunicationis laqueo innodetur.” (We furthermore forbid any lay person to engage in dispute, either private or public, concerning the Catholic Faith. Whosoever shall act contrary to this decree, let him be bound in the fetters of excommunication.)"

          The life of Galileo Galilei is an illustration of how Rome dealt with "heretics." He provided evidence of a sun-centered universe by making observations through a telescope. His rediscovering of the wisdom of the ancient Greeks made him popular in the streets of Italy, but Pope Urban VIII summoned him to answer to a tribunal in 1633 for challenging the status quo or face torture if he did not show up. The latter was issued as a threat, but not carried out. Daniel J. Boorstin, in his work titled The Discoverers, p. 325-326, recounts the letter in which Galileo was forced against his conscience to publicly renounce what he taught. A small excerpt is presented here as follows, "...after an injunction had been lawfully intimated to me by this Holy Office to the effect that I must altogether abandon the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and immobile, and that the earth is not the center of the world and moves, and that I must not hold, defend, or teach, in any way, verbally or in writing, the said false doctrine..." Jesus and the apostles never in a million years would have dreamed of churches having this kind of power over the lives of people.

          God has ordained the existence of government offices for our own good. They exist to keep the peace and maintain societal order. We should submit to our leaders to the extent that their decisions are sound and godly. Good governments, by our standards, would defend the rights of people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Autocratic governments, by contrast, dictate the terms by which everybody else lives and imposes harsh penalties on people who fail to fall in line with said orders. Roman Catholic moral theology nowadays emphasizes freedom of conscience in decision making, but one has to wonder whether that was driven by changing times. Rome certainly does not have the same degree of power and influence that it used to have. However, the pope wields a considerable amount of power over loyal followers, a kind that Christ never authorized bishops in the church to use.

          There are other religious organizations in modern contexts which further help to illustrate the futility of Ignatius of Loyola's approach to obeying the pope. The Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower Society is known for thought control. For example, they are forbidden by their church government to obtain blood transfusions. They have regulations as to what they can even look up on the internet. Mormonism is another example of a group whose leaders have established all sorts of legalistic rules and regulations. Mormons are forbidden to drink coffee and tea because they have caffeine. In the same vein, the Church of Rome has dietary regulations on various holidays as a requirement for salvation. What all three groups have in common is that adherents are made to obey an authoritarian leader. The hierarchies of these three religions claim to play an indispensable role in the salvation of their followers. Rome unwittingly embraces fideism, and its teaching on the eucharist illustrates this point quite well.

          There are harmful effects of authority that is not able to be kept in check. The New Testament gives us the liberty to individually choose whatever days to observe and foods to eat in thanksgiving and glory to God. The original teachings of Jesus and the apostles centered around spiritual enlightenment, compassion, and the individual's relationship with God. The early Christian message was more about guiding people through moral and ethical principles, not imposing a rigid, authoritarian structure. Jesus often challenged the religious authorities of His time, emphasizing inner faith over strict adherence to external rules. The Apostle Paul called out Peter for potentially splitting the Christian church as he ceased eating with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-16). God is the only one who we owe unconditional submission of the intellect and will (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; James 4:7). It is to Him alone that we owe unconditional surrender.