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pray4priests
Guest
I just finished reading Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, by H.W. Crocker III. It is an excellent history of the Church, focusing mainly on the history of the Papacy and the
struggles the Church has had to survive throughout its history.
The book reminded me of something Hillaire Belloc referred to in his work How the Reformation Happened. Belloc was expanding on his thesis that the Church is a foreign entity in this world, and has never been free from either external threat or internal strife. He relates how Napolean Bonaparte threatened an emissary from the Pope, Pius VII, with the total destruction of the Catholic Church. The Cardinal snorted, and responded that if eighteen hundred years of effort by priests and bishops hadn’t destroyed the Faith, what made Napolean think he could succeed?
Just a thought.
struggles the Church has had to survive throughout its history.
The book reminded me of something Hillaire Belloc referred to in his work How the Reformation Happened. Belloc was expanding on his thesis that the Church is a foreign entity in this world, and has never been free from either external threat or internal strife. He relates how Napolean Bonaparte threatened an emissary from the Pope, Pius VII, with the total destruction of the Catholic Church. The Cardinal snorted, and responded that if eighteen hundred years of effort by priests and bishops hadn’t destroyed the Faith, what made Napolean think he could succeed?
Just a thought.