Ivory Coast [Catholic] Bishop Warns Against ‘Prosperity Gospel’

You do realize that Tony Bushby states that he believes Jesus' father was called Julius Panthera and that the "Khrestians" invented the Resurrection as a means to overthrow the Roman Empire, lol.

The quote by Pope Leo X on the title of his book called THE BIBLE FRAUD, is absolute bull feces as well.

Carry on with your argument, however, Bushby is a hack and most of his source material is a bunch of pseudo material and gossip. Might as well use Dan Brown too, lol.

“You know NOBODY here ever said or even implied that there was anything “officially” published by the Vatican that approved of the abuse of the Indulgences scheme. ”

The pope laundered the sale of indulgences and used them to build a worldly edifice. There is no evidence he returned them. The building was completed and still stands.

As is the typical RC polemicist's weasel wording, there is no "official" canon that approved the abuse of Indulgences. Did you catch that? The anti-Protestants insist we must find somewhere in the millions of documents produced by the Vatican where they come out and say, "We approve of the abuse...". As you and others have pointed out repeatedly, there WAS actual approval of the abuse because the money collected was used for the Basilica and who knows how many other "projects" (i.e., Pope Leo's gambling debts). Additionally, Johan Tetzel was NEVER imprisoned or prosecuted by Rome for his money-making scheme nor were the various bishops who benefitted from their "cut" of the proceeds.

One last thing...the collecting of money in exchange for indulgences continues to this day. Now, it is just not as overt as it once was. On a personal note...my Catholic Mom told me she wants to find out how much it costs for a funeral Mass(es) at her church for when she dies. A church she has faithfully donated to monthly out of her limited funds. I think that is sad.

Sources that are "...preserved in rare archival manuiscripts and difficult-to-find reference books.", yada-yada-yada...

Do you believe his sources that state Jesus' and his twin brother mind you, were "conceived by rape or adultery". Yes, he has a source for that and when I cross reference all his crap, the stuff comes up as nothing burger that is just associated to his bile, quotes taken out of context (When you can find them), or quotes from plays/comedies of the day projecting religious and political leaders (The Pope Leo X for instance.

I think it is clear not all his sources are acceptable.

The others are.

You have freedom to evaluate the historic corruption of the Roman Catholic church.

Heck, it is still corrupt today.

It was corrupt throughout history and today, revelations about the leadership and abuse of minors is worldwide.

Rot from the fish hat in rome down.

I have read and re-read the CE entries you have referred to in this thread and I noted the following:

Again, it is easy to see how abuses crept in. Among the good works which might be encouraged by being made the condition of an indulgence, alms giving would naturally hold a conspicuous place, while men would be induced by the same means to contribute to some pious cause such as the building of churches, the endowment of hospitals, or the organization of a crusade. It is well to observe that in these purposes there is nothing essentially evil. To give money to God or to the poor is a praiseworthy act, and, when it is done from right motives, it will surely not go unrewarded. Looked at in this light, it might well seem a suitable condition for gaining the spiritual benefit of an indulgence. Yet, however innocent in itself, this practice was fraught with grave danger, and soon became a fruitful source of evil. On the one hand there was the danger that the payment might be regarded as the price of the indulgence, and that those who sought to gain it might lose sight of the more important conditions. On the other hand, those who granted indulgences might be tempted to make them a means of raising money: and, even where the rulers of the Church were free from blame in this matter, there was room for corruption in their officials and agents, or among the popular preachers of indulgences.

So, yes, alms giving was part of indulgences. You are correct. Having said that, the CE is clear that if used with the right intentions there is nothing intrinsically evil about this. The issue was that there was danger of using this with the wrong intentions (on both sides)....which did happen. This is probably why this practice appears to be no longer used ... to avoid the same problems.

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