Pius IX and Original Sin (1854) It was on this date, December 8, 1854 – that the same Pope Pius IX promulgated, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Not to be confused with the "virgin birth" legend of Jesus, this equally absurd doctrine says that, at Mary's conception, she did […]

Martin Luther's Reformation (1517) It was on this date, October 31, 1517, that the Protestant Reformation began in Germany, when 31-year-old Martin Luther posted his 95 theses at Wittenberg Cathedral. That document attacked papal abuses and the sale of offices and indulgences by church officials. Furthermore, Luther argued several other points: • that Christian salvation […]

Henry VIII (1521): Defender of the Faith It was on this date, October 11, 1521,* that Pope Leo X conferred the title Fidei Defensor, which is Latin for "Defender of the Faith," on England's King Henry VIII. That Medici pope, whose profligate spending and perverse pleasures were the outrage of Rome, was a staunch opponent […]

Freethinkers such as Voltaire in France and John Locke in England pushed back the night of superstition with the light of reason.

Martin Luther Condemned (1520) It was on this date, June 15, 1520, that Pope Leo X (p. 1513-1521) issued the Bull Exsurge Domine (Arise, O Lord), condemning Martin Luther for forty-one doctrinal errors and threatening him with excommunication if he would not recant. It is instructive to note the nature of the time and the […]

It was some consolation to the survivors of the largest pogrom in human history that a Jewish state was formed on this date in 1948.

one could pay money, get change, and receive a piece of paper with which one got remission of sin. The price is stipulated and there is no indulgence without "alms." That sounds like a sale.

From 1522 he cohabited with Anna Reinhard, producing four children, with no discernable diminution of Zwingli's ecclesiastical effectiveness.

What Pius IX condemned generally as "Liberalism" is today seen as general principles of modern civilization.