Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Protestant Geneva Cathedral Packed for First Catholic Mass Since 1535
The Tablet (UK) ^ | 3/7/22 | Tom Heneghan

Posted on 03/08/2022 6:21:10 PM PST by marshmallow

The cathedral’s last Mass in 1535 ended in turmoil as priests were chased out and statues and other “idolatrous” items thrown after them.

The Protestant St Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva, where John Calvin preached the Reformation, has hosted its first Catholic Mass in almost five centuries, with clerics from the once-opposed denominations sharing Lenten ashes in a sign of ecumenical harmony.

The ceremony in the Swiss city’s cathedral, Catholic in the 12th century when it was founded and Protestant since 1535, was planned for 2020 but could not be held because of the pandemic.

About 1,500 people filled the cathedral in the one-time Calvinist stronghold for the Saturday evening Mass on March 5. More would-be attendees had to be turned away.

Catholics and Protestants praised the harmony between the former adversaries in faith, but differences remained.

“The Gospel brings people together, but we keep our identity,” Daniel Pilly, lay head of the cathedral’s parish council, said in his welcome. “Your cathedral is the mother church of our canton,” added Fr Pascal Desthieux, episcopal vicar of Geneva, but “that does not mean that we are merging.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thetablet.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Ecumenism; Mainline Protestant; Worship
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/08/2022 6:21:10 PM PST by marshmallow
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: marshmallow
Fr Desthieux, who began the service by leading the congregation in silent prayer for Ukraine, asked the Protestants to forgive Geneva’s Catholics for their “errors against unity”.

The Prots stole a Catholic cathedral and this pathetic francispriest is asking for their "forgiveness" for doing so?

2 posted on 03/08/2022 6:45:16 PM PST by ebb tide (Where are the good fruits of the Second Vatican Council? Anyone?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marshmallow

I know people hate to acknowledges this but the Catholic Church in the middle ages was a lucrative racket. That is why the Protestant reformation happened in the 1500s and why Martin Luther led Europe to fight against it.


3 posted on 03/08/2022 6:52:30 PM PST by WMarshal (Neocons and leftists are the same species of vicious rat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide

Stole cathedrals including Westminster Abbey and executed many priests and religious and those harboring and supporting those priests like St. Margaret Clitherow.


4 posted on 03/08/2022 6:52:39 PM PST by Coleus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: WMarshal

Pope Francis: If you don’t let communist China select your bishops, you ain’t Catholic.


5 posted on 03/08/2022 6:55:45 PM PST by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: WMarshal

So they stole churches built by Catholics, rather than funding and building their own.


6 posted on 03/08/2022 7:13:51 PM PST by ebb tide (Where are the good fruits of the Second Vatican Council? Anyone?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide
"So they stole churches built by Catholics, rather than funding and building their own."

Like the Catholics stole pagan temples like the Parthenon and the Acropolis to turn into Catholic churches? Welcome to historical perspective.

Face it, in the 1500s the Catholic Church was the highest level of the medieval power structure of Europe. They deserved to be taken down then because they were wedded to the aristocracy and integral to the rule of the aristocracy - just like today with communism and the Democratic Party. Everything that the Catholic Church is doing today under the antipope Bergolio is getting back into that prime, first position in order to gain control. Antipope Bergolio worships the Golden Calf of communism and God cannot be pleased with it.

7 posted on 03/08/2022 7:43:08 PM PST by WMarshal (Neocons and leftists are the same species of vicious rat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ebb tide

BAM!! Mofo.


8 posted on 03/08/2022 7:43:33 PM PST by WMarshal (Neocons and leftists are the same species of vicious rat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: WMarshal

“That is why the Protestant reformation happened in the 1500s.” I acknowledge. To give another point of view, Man does not live by bread alone. The financial people were jealous of the Church as they are today and used the weak and pathetic Luther to do serious damage to the state. The damage was serious. The Reformation destroyed the good things from the Age of Faith such as hospitals, universities, cathedrals, stable economies, missionaries, and saints. Henry VIII alone crushed the porcelain industry, vineyards and the beer making industry as well as many libraries. Recently, who shut down the Space Industry in Los Angeles and destroyed 200,000 jobs? Yup, non-Catholics.


9 posted on 03/08/2022 10:11:18 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: WMarshal
They deserved to be taken down then because they were wedded to the aristocracy and integral to the rule of the aristocracy

You might want to work Romans 13 into that discussion somewhere.

The medieval Catholic church was the social welfare agency of its age. There were no debtors' prisons and few orphanages in Europe prior to the Reformation. Even from a completely secular POV, the Church's wealth served a useful purpose.

It's odd that you say the Catholic church was in bed with the aristocracy. You do understand, I hope, that much of what happened in the Reformation (particularly in England, but also in much of the rest of Europe) was the aristocracy grabbing power and wealth away from the Church? Aristocrats like the Cecils in England became fabulously rich by plundering the Church.

10 posted on 03/09/2022 7:57:10 AM PST by Campion (All we are saying is give peace a chance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Campion

The Church WAS the ruler. I am speaking of the RCC. The Pope ruled like a King until about 1800. What happened in England was the King there getting jealous of the scam.


11 posted on 03/09/2022 8:49:29 AM PST by Glad2bnuts ((“If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” Francis Schaeffer,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Glad2bnuts
The Church WAS the ruler. I am speaking of the RCC. The Pope ruled like a King until about 1800.

The Pope was sovereign over a small chunk of central Italy until about 1870. Not sure what you think that has to do with England.

12 posted on 03/09/2022 12:30:58 PM PST by Campion (All we are saying is give peace a chance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Campion

The Church of England was founded in part because the “Royals” were tired of deferring to the Pope in spiritual matters.

Someone commented: Stole cathedrals including Westminster Abbey and executed many priests and religious and those harboring and supporting those priests like St. Margaret Clitherow.

THAT would be the Church of England.


13 posted on 03/09/2022 4:02:40 PM PST by Glad2bnuts ((“If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” Francis Schaeffer,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Glad2bnuts

The Church of England was founded so that Henry VIII could put away his lawful wife and marry his mistress.


14 posted on 03/09/2022 4:27:02 PM PST by Campion (All we are saying is give peace a chance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Campion

And then divorce and remarry multiple times...


15 posted on 03/09/2022 5:38:47 PM PST by Texas_Guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Campion

Or you could say it like this, the Church of England was founded in response to the RCC telling him he could not divorce and remarry. He says to himself, SELF I can make myself as powerful as the Pope. Then I can marry who I want.


16 posted on 03/09/2022 7:46:23 PM PST by Glad2bnuts ((“If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” Francis Schaeffer,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson