SHOULD WE WELCOME THE POPE?

Joint Protest against the 2010 Papal Visit to the United Kingdom

Remembering the deaths of the Protestant martyrs of the sixteenth century Reformation, we the undersigned protest against the state visit of the Pope to the United Kingdom.

The Pope claims to be the supreme head of the universal church and that all governments should be subject to him. There is only one head of the universal church - the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can claim that title. In the United Kingdom the Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and is pledged to defend the Church of Scotland. She is bound by oath to uphold the Protestant Reformed religion established by law. She is the head of state and, together with the British Parliament, we accept no other temporal authority.

We reject the Pope’s absurd pretensions to power over governments and churches. In particular we reject his blasphemous claim to infallibility. God alone is infallible. The recent scandalous revelations over child abuse demonstrate the falsehood of such claims.

The Pope does not owe his status as monarch of the Vatican City State to God but to a self-serving treaty with Mussolini.

Thanking God for the great outburst of spiritual light that shone during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, we declare:

• The Bible, the inspired Word of God, is our supreme rule and contains no shred of evidence for the false and idolatrous doctrines of the Roman Church.
  
  
• There is only one mediator between God and men – the man Christ Jesus. The Pope cannot mediate between man and God. Neither Mary nor the ‘Saints’ can make intercession for us. Jesus Christ is our only advocate with God the Father.
  
  
• At Calvary Jesus Christ died for the sins of all those who put their trust in him. That sacrifice was made once for all and can never be repeated.
  
  
• The so-called sacrifice of the Mass is, as the Articles of the Church of England make plain, a blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit.
  
  
• Repentant sinners find forgiveness by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. God alone can absolve our sins and the confessional is a useless fraud.
  
  
• The Roman doctrine of purgatory has no biblical foundation. There are only two possible destinations for men and women after death – heaven or hell. 

The Papal visit is a betrayal of our Protestant Constitution and of the Gospel that sustains it. Christ promised – ‘He that believeth on me hath everlasting life’ (John 6:47). He alone is King of kings.

‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God’ Ephesians 2:8

Published by the Council of the Protestant Truth Society (PTS) in association with the following Protestant organisations Associations.

The Association Of The Continuing Church Trust
17 Greenfels Rise
Dudley
West Midlands
DY2 7TP
Tel: 01384 259 781

British Council Of Protestant & Christian Churches 
258-260 Bedfont Lane,
Feltham,
Middlesex,
TW14 9NU
Tel: 020 88442152

Christian Watch
PO Box 2113, Nuneaton, CV11 6ZY
Email:   
Website: www.christianwatch.org.uk

The Church Society
Church Society,
Dean Wace House,
16 Rosslyn Road,
Watford, Herts,
WD18 ONY
Tel: 01923-235111
Website: www.churchsociety.org/

The Protestant Alliance, The Reformer and Young Reformer Magazines
77 Ampthill Road,
Flitwick,
Bedford.
MK45 1BD
Contact: Dr Stephen J Scott-Pearson
Tel: 01525 712348
Web: www.protestant-alliance.org

Protestant Reformation Society
PO Box 47
Ramsgate
CT11 9XB
England
Tel: 01843 580542

Dorchester House Publications/Spirit of '88
P.O Box 67,
Rickmansworth,
Herts.
WD3 5SJ
Tel/Fax: 01923 286080
Website: www.reformationfaith.com

Trinitarian Bible Society
Tyndale House,
Dorset Road,
London.
SW19 3NN
Tel: 020 8543 7857
Fax: 020 8543 6370
Website: www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org/

United Protestant Council
Pastor David Carson
Email: 
Tel: 01244 376773

What Now? - comments on the future

Join the Papal Protest Supporters List to be kept informed of other events and campaigns to stand for Biblical truth.