Book Review: The Papacy by Abbé Guettée

René-Francois Guettée was ordained a Catholic priest in France in 1839. One of his first tasks was to write History of the Church of France. The young priest had significant research skills and a passionate interest in the truth. Thus began a war between the Catholic Church and the young priest who concluded that the Church of Rome was simply a branch rather than the boss of the true Catholic church. Furthermore, the Church of Rome doctrine was corrupted from the teaching of Jesus. One result of that war was the publication by Guettée of The Papacy – Its Historic Origin and Primitive Relations with the Eastern Churches.

The Papacy describes the steady progression of power grabs by the Church of Rome from the early years of the church, including the First Council of Nicea and six more ecumenical councils, until the Great Schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople in the 11th century, separating Eastern and Western Christianity.

Of course, anyone who can count up over a trillion of annual global expenditures on military and war already knows that something is serious amiss with Western Christianity. However, it is nice to know the history of the Holy Roman Empire maintaining its global reach through the tax exemption and diplomatic immunity of a global church. Guettée documents how the Church of Rome cleverly justifies a divine mandate for Vatican City exercising global dominion over Christianity from Jesus saying he will build his church on a rock of faith.” It’s good training for watching CNN.

Dr. Farrell gave me this book after I asked for his help to understand the schism between Western and Eastern Christianity. After reading it, I can not tell you if Eastern Christianity is the one true church. I can tell you is that the Roman church is not – but I already knew that. I grew up in Philadelphia where I came to believe from experience that the Catholic Church was simply a criminal enterprise with demonic sex practices. It was years later I discovered many good people in the Catholic Church whose faith was sincere and who were doing wonderful things within the Church – they really had no idea.

However, now that I have read The Papacy, I understand the millennium long process of how the Church of Rome left Jesus in the dust and divided Christianity in two. I doubt even a nuclear war with Russia can bring it back together. My concern is that the hubris exists to try.

This is a tough read unless you have studied the Bible and have a basic understanding of the history of Christianity. That said, if you want to learn how the corrupt impulse for power and centralization worked its way through pre-Medieval times in a manner that has profound implications for our world today, this one is for you.