Mediator
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The Roman Catholic's invented that notion slick.
St. Ambrose. Bishop of Milan. 4th Century AD. Get a clue. He was the first person to write on the separation of Church and State because he saw that as Christians came out of persecution (following Constantine's edict) and began to assemble as part of daily life, they would become vulnerable to government. Indeed, Ambrose's sermons -- which are used to this day as the foundation of Biblical hermeneutics and bridging Latin and Greek languages -- specifically warned against the competing goals of earthly government and the spiritual goal of the Church. And he was right. Within another 400 years, Charlamagne would be using the Catholic Church as a way to politicize entire nations under his power. The Church was used as an excuse by imperial leaders for hundreds of years. In trying to help kings and queens lead their people the Church fell into the trap of being used by imperialism. This stopped in the 1800s when the Holy Roman Empire finally came to an end. In the early 20th Century, the Vatican and Italy agreed to give the Holy See its status as a sovereign nation, and the Church no longer has ruling concerns over any other body. However, it also has the protection of the family of states and nation-states just like the United States, Russia, Cuba, Malta, or any other sovereign, self-governing entity. We can thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for leading the Catholic Church away from political power. Even Martin Luther has a carved relief of Our Holy Mother on his tomb. It may be the only thing that saves that ironic heretic! Good work Martin! But the Catholic Church has a responsibility to influence its flock to follow Jesus Christ, which means it will butt heads when politicians like Nancy "Frozen Face" Pelosi or Joe "Say It Ain't So" Biden meddle with spiritual matters by exercising politicical protection for the murder of babies and the elderly.
Misty
Sure.
But separation of Church and State doesn't mean the Church can't have a voice. The Church is made up of Catholic people, who vote and pay taxes. As Catholics, they need to be informed about their faith in relation to voting on things that may or may not be immoral.
Abortion, for instance, is a moral issue about life and death. It is not a political one. Just because there is a legal statute giving a woman a right to kill her child, doesn't mean the Church is not allowed to have a stance on such an act. Abortion is murder, and the Church must always stand up for life and the protection of it. What makes it a political issue is the government, not the Church.
Actually, it is the government that has overstepped its bounds. Seperation of Church and State would mean that the government not legislate moral issues, as they are already decided by God.
happygael
this Catholic understands the meaning of separation of church and state. You should let us know where you are going with this. The church also has a right to speak up to stop the state and others from leading Catholics down the wrong lane
Olive Garden
What's your agenda that made you ask it?? Since day 1, I knew the church is separate from the State.
The Catholic Church [CC], also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members
[1] Its leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 Eastern Catholic churches, it comprised a total of 2,795 dioceses in 2008.
[2] The Church defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity. It operates social programs and institutions throughout the world including schools, universities, hospitals, missions, shelters and charities.
[3] The Church is the oldest continuous institution in the Western world, and has played a prominent role since the 4th century.
[4] It teaches that it is the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are consecrated successors of his Apostles and that the Pope as the successor of St. Peter possesses a universal primacy of jurisdiction and pastoral care. Church doctrines have been defined through 21 ecumenical councils and the Church maintains that it is guided by the Holy Spirit from falling into doctrinal error. Catholic beliefs are based on the Holy Bible and Sacred Tradition interpreted by the Church's teaching authority and detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Catholic worship is called the liturgy, the central component of which is the Eucharist.
... and so on and so forth..............The question whether CC understood your political query is of no consequence and immaterial in substance, as the the CC is the first governmental institution in this world and been operating as separate entity in the Vatican State. CC has produced scientist, doctors of laws and other high-profile intellectuals. You have to read the history of Christianity to fully understand the place of CC in this universe. PAX
lyn1136
Yes. Maybe the Conciliarists don't, but the doctrinal Roman
Catholic traditionalists do.
Our Constitutional Convention referred often to its belief in God
without being specific about a doctrinal status in its documents.
They intended Freedom of religion to all citizens. We have that.
But traditionalists do not prefer religion be entered into the
public forum as a law for this would become the tool to suppress
religion in full eventually. Once belief in the all-gods religion
(pantheism) becomes the State religion, then individual
doctrines will be banned. Freedom OF religion will be denied.
It would become the modern Roman Empire again, with the
many-gods-are-equal religion, or pantheism, which is what
brought the Romans to destruction. It is a lesson lost on
today's unhistorically-educated--and you can guess the reason.
The world through the United Nations is VERY interested in the
One World Religion and it will pass 'without a shot being fired,'
as the saying goes.
TraditionalMass.org
see: G. Edward Griffin, website of information
see: The New American magazine articles