USA Jurisprudence in the lap of the
Vatican
Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)
The Vatican is an independent country with
the pope as its king. It rules 1.2 million Catholics worldwide. They are
submissive to the pope if they are catholic serious. As the Vicarius filii
dei actor replacing the Holy Spirit in this role, the papacy and his
clerics controls the salvation of all their dependents or members. Unless they
receive the superstitiously real body of Christ in the Eucharist and real blood
in the wine becoming blood, they are not saved. Someone said: they do not use
the vicarius filii dei any longer, it is vicarius Christi. What
is the difference? Theologically in the Bible and catholic theology both are
the same. But that is not the point here. How can one say that the USA is in the
lap of the Vatican? In 2018? No. Already in 1888. The book by Justin D. Fulton on the
same subject called all to wake up that Rome has taken over the USA. He wrote that “Fifteen thousand department
clerks are under the surveillance of Rome. If it be not true, as is charged,
that a private wire runs from the White House, in Washington, to the Cardinal s
Palace, in Baltimore, and that every important question touching the interests
of Romanism in America is placed before his eye, before it becomes a public
act, it is true that the Cardinal is a factor in politics. Romanism is the
dominant power in the Capitol of the United States. Lincoln, Grant, and Arthur
withstood it, and suffered the consequences. The power is unseen. It is
shadowy. It inhabits the air and infects it. Romanism is the malaria of the
spiritual world. It stupefies the brain, deadens the heart, and sears the
conscience as with a hot iron. It comes, as did the tempter, with gifts in its hands,
of rule, of power, and of wealth, to all who will fall down and worship it.
They who yield have peace and praise. They who refuse must fight a terrible
foe.” (Fulton 1888, Preface page VIII). This writing is not to dispute that or
confirm it. The year is 2018 and this time it is an article by E. Livni on the
11th of July trying to apologetically calm the fears of many that
religion and politics will from the 6th of October 2018 mixed in the
Supreme Court of the USA. Livni in her article provided the
facts though: 1.
Judge
Kavanaugh is a religious Catholic. “Supreme
Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is religious—just like all the sitting justices”
(Livni, 2018). 2.
Kavanaugh
placed this point upfront in his nomination speech:
“Kavanaugh put his faith front and center while accepting the nomination on
July 9. ‘I am a Catholic,’ he told the audience in the White House East Room, explaining that
he’s active in the Washington, DC, Catholic community and engaged in church
volunteer work like feeding the homeless” (Livni, 2018). 3.
He
went to a Jesuit preparatory school
“Kavanaugh professes to follow the creed ‘Men for others,’ which is the motto
of his Jesuit high school, Georgetown Preparatory School” (Livni, 2018). 4.
Nearly
all the judges are catholic except one who was raised a catholic but are now
attending a progressive Episcopalain Church in Denver Colorado. Some are
Jewish. No Protestant. “The
bench’s Catholic contingent includes chief justice John Roberts as well as
justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Sonia Sotomayor. Anthony Kennedy,
whom Kavanaugh would be replacing, is also Catholic, while Neil Gorsuch was
raised as Catholic but most recently attended a progressive Episcopalian church
in Denver, Colorado. Meanwhile, justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer,
and Elena Kagan are all Jewish” (Livni, 2018). Six Catholics, three Jewish, one
Episcopalian and none Protestant. 5.
What
is happening now is a departure of what happened earlier in American history:
“This religious makeup is a striking departure from most of the court’s
history. For the first 180 years of the Supreme Court, Protestant justices
dominated” (Livni, 2018). 6.
“Catholics
were few—the first was appointed in 1836—and there were no Jews at all until
1916, with the appointment of Louis Brandeis” (Livni, 2018). 7.
Statistics
of change/healing of the ‘deadly wound’:
“Since the court’s inception in 1789, there have been 91 Protestant judges named
out of 113 total justices” (Livni, 2018). 8.
A
shift happened towards Catholics and Jews:
“The recent shift from a Protestant court to a bench with none—or maybe one, if
Gorsuch counts—has been attributed to the fact that Jews and Catholics have overcome much of the
discrimination those groups previously faced in the US” (Livni, 2018). 9.
Religion
is still important in the Supreme Court:
“The public pays attention to the justices’ religions in part because they face
cases about faith every term. In the past year, for example, the Supreme Court
has weighed in on Trump’s ban on travel for citizens of six mostly-Muslim
nations, and a baker’s faith-based 9.decision
not to create a wedding cake for a gay couple” (Livni, 2018).
10.
About Kavanaugh Liberals are scared that he
will break down their abortion rights and gay rights:
“Liberals are worried that Kavanugh’s presence on the bench could lead to
decisions that erode abortion rights and even overturn Roe v. Wade altogether” (Livni,
2018).
11.
Judges makes decisions against their
conviction sometimes: “William Brennan, the justice who convinced the
majority of the Supreme Court to
legalize abortion in 1972, was a Catholic who personally opposed the practice” (Livni,
2018). And Sunday Laws maybe? Sources: 1) E. Livni
(2018, July 11). Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is religious—just like
all the sitting justices. Downloaded on the 8th of October 2018 from
https://qz.com/1324757/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-is-religious-just-like-all-the-sitting-justices/
2) Justin
Fulton, (1888). Washington in the Lap of Rome. Boston: Published by W.
Kellaway. Downloaded on the 8th of October 2018 from https://ia902609.us.archive.org/30/items/washingtoninthel00fultuoft/washingtoninthel00fultuoft.pdf