Vatican Guidelines for Interconfessional Translation of the Bible

What many Christians do not realize is that the Vatican has been working in an official agreement with the United Bible Societies since 1967 for the purpose of producing hundreds of interconfessional bible translation projects worldwide.  The word "interconfessional" has to do with the ecumenical approach their translations of the Bible take.  Today, they continue to work together to produce the Nestle-Aland/UBS Greek New Testament, and to publish Bibles that are sent out all over the world. On the Vatican's website, they even post "GUIDELINES FOR INTERCONFESSIONAL COOPERATION IN TRANSLATING THE BIBLE, THE NEW REVISED EDITION, ROME."

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"PROTESTANTS AREN'T PROPER CHRISTIANS," SAYS POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Benedict XVI declared yesterday that Christian denominations other than his own were not true churches and their holy orders have no value. Protestant leaders immediately responded by saying the claims were offensive and would hurt efforts to promote ecumenism. Roman Catholic- Anglican relations are already strained over the Church of England's plans to ordain homosexuals and women as bishops. The claims came in a document, from a Vatican watchdog which was approved by the Pope. It said the branches of Christianity formed after the split with Rome at the Reformation could not be called churches "in the proper sense" because they broke with a succession of popes who dated back to St Peter. As a result, it went on, Protestant churches have "no sacramental priesthood", effectively reaffirming the controversial Catholic position that Anglican holy orders are worthless. The document claimed the Catholic church was the "one true church of Christ". Pope Benedict's commitment to the hardline teaching comes days after he reinstated the Mass in Latin, which was sidelined in the 1960s in an attempt to modernise.

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VATICAN OPENS SECRET ARCHIVES

As the confidential correspondence of popes, princes and potentates, the Vatican Secret Archives have been jealously guarded for centuries. But now 100 of the most historically significant documents held by the Vatican's Secret Archives are to go on public display in Rome – the first and probably last time that they will leave the buttressed stone walls of the tiny city state. The priceless documents span more than a millennium, from the 8th century to modern times, and feature a cast of historical characters ranging from the Knights Templar to Galileo, Martin Luther and Henry VIII.

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50 MILLION PROTESTANTS KILLED

For two or three centuries, many Protestants have given figures concerning the total number of people killed directly or indirectly by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The numbers given include 50 million, 68 million, 100 million, 120 million, and 150 million. Roman Catholics typically give much smaller numbers. Frequently the figures are stated without any information about where they came from or how they were computed. The purpose of this note is to describe where some of these figures come from and to comment on their reliability. Surely nearly all Roman Catholics as well as Protestants disapprove of past religious persecutions, so this discussion should not reflect negatively on current members of the Roman Catholic Church. However, events in Nazi Germany show how easily persecution can revive, so it is necessary to be on guard against it and maintain an awareness of its history. Of course, many other groups besides the Papacy have persecuted. And all of us, without Christ, have the roots of...

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