May 27, 1999 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following article by Arthur Noble is from the European Institute for Protestant Studies, December 16, 1998, http://www.ianpaisley.org/ --

Many of the most horrendous crimes against humanity have been committed by the Church of Rome throughout the history of her existence. Her persecution of Protestants and other "heretics" is the inevitable result of her belief in the absolute power and infallibility of the Pope. Persecution is the natural outgrowth of these Papal dogmas.

Through the centuries history furnishes abundant proof of the Roman Church’s crimes against those who would not bow the knee to her. The crusade of Pope Innocent III against the Albigenses in 1208 was a war of extermination, lasting for several years, and was one of the bloodiest in history. We recall the persecution of John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation", and the martyrdom of William Tyndale, who gave the English people the Word of God in their native tongue. So bitterly was Wycliffe pursued by his Papal foes, that his very bones were exhumed, burnt by the Church of Rome, and their ashes scattered on the river Swift. We remember the burning at the stake of the Czech Reformer John Huss by the Council of Constance in 1415, which in spite of the Emperor’s guarantee of safe conduct declared that "faith need not be kept with heretics"! The death of Huss was followed in the next year by the martyrdom of Jerome of Prague, also by fire. Savonarola was put to death at Florence in 1498, because he fearlessly denounced the wickedness of Pope Alexander VI, and earnestly sought the reformation of the Church. In the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no less than 900,000 Protestants were put to death by Papists in different countries of Europe. During the four-year reign of Pope Paul IV (1555-59), the Inquisition alone destroyed 150,000; when he died, the people of Rome crowded to the prison, broke open the doors, released 1,700 prisoners and set fire to the building. In England 300 Protestants were burnt in three years by the Romanist Queen "Bloody Mary", 17 of them being the famous Lewes Martyrs. In Paris, on St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1572, 30,000 Huguenots, "the flower of France", were massacred at the command of Pope Pius V, who so rejoiced at the news that he had a special ‘Te Deum’ sung and a medal struck, inscribed with his name and the words ‘Strages Ugonotorum’, "The Slaughter of the Huguenots". The Duke of Alva’s "Council of Blood" cruelly destroyed thousands of faithful Christians in the Netherlands: for the success of this crusade the Pope earnestly prayed, and sent the Duke a "consecrated" hat and sword. During no less than thirty persecutions the blood of the noble Waldenses was shed in the valleys of the Piedmont, and yet they heroically kept the faith. For 300 years the horrendous Papal Inquisition spread terror over Europe. In Spain alone 31,000 persons were burnt alive and 291,000 imprisoned. It is estimated that in the sixteenth century no less than 900,000 Protestant martyrs laid down their lives for Christ. Even in this twentieth century, which boasts of "enlightenment", the Church of Rome still persecutes. Pope Pius XII was an arrogant and cunning fanatic who helped Hitler to power, blessed Mussolini’s troops and colluded with the Nazi Ustashi in Yugoslavia in slaughtering 250,000 Orthodox Serbs, many herded into churches and burned alive; his priests also forcibly converted over a million of them to Roman Catholicism.

Since the rise of Popery 50,000,000 people had been put to death in various ways for their religion by the end of the 19th century. [Documented in The Protestant Echo, July 1, 1903.] These figures make the atrocities of Hitler or Phol Pot look like a Sunday school picnic.

An examination of the Roman Catholic Church’s contemporary attitude to these and others of her past atrocities reveals that behind her conciliatory ecumenical image lurks the familiar old hag who boasts that she still remains and always will remain "semper eadem". Were she once again to consolidate the power which she claims over temporal civil governments, persecution of her opponents could be carried out on an even greater scale. Her system is unchanged and is growing in our country.