What was once a national church became a faith on the run. ibid.
In Rome the Pope declared that Elizabeth was to be considered a heretic. Whoever sends her out of the world, the Pope decreed, does not only does not sin but gains merit in the eyes of God. Simon Schama, A History of Britain: The Body of the Queen
A Lollard revolt against King Henry V was crushed in 1414. But at the grass roots their ideas survived. Michael Wood, The Great British Story: A People’s History: Lost Worlds & New Worlds V, BBC 2013
Henry ordered the closure or the dissolution of the monasteries. ibid.
The bad news is that actually there are simply hundreds of Catholics who desperately want their heads sneaked off and there’s no-one to organise it. Blackadder II: Head, Elizabeth to Blackadder, BBC 1986
Right then let’s take a look shall we – who’s first in the head basket? ibid. Blackadder to Percy
Right, good morning, team, my name is Edward Blackadder and I’m the new minister in charge of religious genocide. ibid. Blackadder
Ointment, that’s what you need when you’re head’s been cut off. ibid. Nursie
I’ll say one thing for Catholics – they do have natural rhythm. Blackadder II: Beer, Percy to Aunt & Nathaniel
William of Orange was Dutch rather than Norman ... The Dutch conquest of 1688 would also have profound consequences, and not just for England but arguably for the whole of the rest of the world. For the revolution in government that it ushered in transformed England from a feeble imitator of the French absolute monarchy ... The Dutch conquest invented a modern England, a modern monarchy, perhaps even modernity itself. Monarchy by David Starkey s3e2: The Glorious Revolution, Channel 4 2004
James had done something that many people thought had made him ineligible to the kingship of Protestant England: he converted to Catholicism. There were attempts in Parliament to have him excluded from the succession. But the protests had died away. The climate had changed. ibid.
The Tories now supported a Catholic king. ibid.
James II was England’s first Catholic king for over a hundred and fifty years. ibid.
An Act of Parliament called the Test Act forbade the employment of Catholics in any public post including the army. ibid.
We live in an age of religious extremism, an age of terror and violent slaughter. We are locked in a bewildering ideological battle with religious fundamentalism. It’s a battle that’s taken most of us by surprise … We’ve been here before, here at home, here at the very heart of our own civilisation. Exactly 500 years ago the breach within Christianity tore Europe, England and the Church apart … The same apocalyptic violence as now. It’s own very own jihad. It’s called the Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was also a political and cultural revolution. It unleashed bloodshed, terror and the destruction of religious art. David Starkey, Reformation: Europe’s Holy War, BBC 2017
A spiritual empire bigger than the Caesars. It’s hard to overestimate the power of the Catholic Church in the late Middle Ages. It was a vastly wealthy, bureaucratic machine at the heart of Europe. ibid.
Indulgences were often sold to finance Church schemes … And for one German monk this was an abomination. On 31st October 1517 Martin Luther very publicly denounced this scandal. ibid.
By taking on the power of the Church, Luther has become a local legend, a figurehead for a populist, anti-establishment movement. ibid.
A stream of heretic works followed Tyndale’s New Testament to England. ibid.
Henry himself was left looking for a new policy. ibid.
England was on the road to its Tudor Brexit. ibid.
Thomas More was beheaded in 1535. ibid.
Luther’s Reformation was fuelled by religious fundamentalism and political opportunism. Henry’s was triggered by lust and a hunger for dynastic power. ibid.
The reason why Kennedy was assassinated was he wanted to end the Vietnam War, and he wanted to end the rule of the CIA. That begets two questions: Did Rome want the Vietnam War? And, Did Rome control the CIA? The answer is yes on both counts. We know, on its face, that the Vietnam War was called ‘Spelly’s War’ – Cardinal Spellman’s war. He went over to the warfront many times and he called the American soldiers the ‘soldiers of Christ’. The man who was the Commander of the American forces was a Roman Catholic, CFR member, possibly a Knight of Columbus, I don’t know, but he was General William Westmoreland.
So, Westmoreland was Cardinal Spellman’s agent to make sure that war was prosecuted properly. And another overseer of Westmoreland was Cardinal Spellman’s boy, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a 33rd-degree Freemason. He was also part of the assassination, with J Edgar Hoover, another 33rd-degree Freemason ... Spellman wanted the Vietnam War, why? Spellman was controlled by the Jesuits of Fordham. Why did the Jesuit General want the Vietnam War? The people of Vietnam, the Buddhists, were uncontrovertible. They would not convert to Catholicism. They didn’t need Rome.
There had been a Jesuit presence in Vietnam for centuries, so it had been decided that about a million or so Buddhists would have to be ‘purged’. They would later continue this purge of Cambodia, with Pol Pot, and the purge is yet for Thailand. It was a purging of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam of all these Buddhists, just like they purged the Buddhists of China with Mao Zedong, because Mao Zedong was completely controlled by the Jesuits. So, they wanted the Vietnam War. Eric Jon Phelps
The hierarchy of everything in my life has always bothered me. I’m bothered by power. People, whoever they might be, whether it’s the government, or the policeman in the uniform, or the man on the door – they still irk me a bit. From school, from the first nun that belted me – people used to think of the nice sweet little ladies ... they used to knock the fuck out of you, in the most cruel way that they could. They’ll find bits of your body that were vulnerable to intense pain – grabbing you by the ear, or by the nose, and lift you, and say, ‘Don’t cry!’ It’s very hard not to cry. I mean, not from emotion, but pain. The priests were the same. And I sit and watch politicians with great cynicism, total cynicism. Dave Allen
They hit me. They pulled my hair. They punched me. They demeaned me. And I mean now that I come to think about it I’m quite angry. None of them were qualified teachers. Dave Allen
A landmark report that shocked the country: widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children by Catholic-run institutions. Sex, Drugs & Religion, news clips, 2010
Over the years charges of sexual abuse have resulted in indictments, convictions or lawsuits against at least sixteen priests from this relatively small diocese. ibid.
During the final persecution the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman who will feed the sheep in many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed, and the terrible judge will judge his people. The End. St Malachy
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Revelation 17:1-6&14-17
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Revelation 21:9
And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church,
And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.
And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.
And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots.
And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.