“Crown and cloth maken no priest, nor emperor's bishop with his words, but power that crist giveth; and thus by life have been priests known.”

— John Wycliffe

As quoted in Typical English Churchmen (1909) by John Neville Figgis, p. 15

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Wycliffe 6

English theologian and early dissident in the Roman Catholi…

Mark O'Connell (bishop) (1964)

Bishop Mark O'Connell: 'I plan on being a happy bishop https://thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=177277 (2016)

“Bishops and priests should bring the spiritual dimension to political and social life. The poor will be exploited and used as a pretext for partisan or other agendas.”

Orlando Antonini (1944) Italian priest

Source: Outgoing Nuncio to Paraguay says Lugo harmed the Church by entering politics https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/17102/outgoing-nuncio-to-paraguay-says-lugo-harmed-the-church-by-entering-politics (14 September 2009)

“The Prince himself has no distinction, either of garments, or of a crown; but is only distinguished by a sheaf of corn carried before him; as the high priest is also known by his being preceded by a person carrying a wax light.”

Thomas More book Utopia

Source: Utopia (1516), Ch. 7 : Of Their Slaves, and of Their Marriages

“The pope has been up against an intransigent church bureaucracy. Vatican officials have proved unwilling to cooperate with the commission; nor has it been furnished with enough resources. But above all, there has been cultural resistance within the church over abuse. The clerical caste is one shaped by obedience and a deep fear of sullying the reputation of the church. The relationship of bishop and priest is a paternal one; if the priest errs, the bishop may focus on forgiveness of the miscreant rather than punishment of an abuser, while his greatest focus is on avoiding publicity. But the church is now reaping what it sowed: like long-festering sores, the suppressed scandals are erupting everywhere.”

Catherine Pepinster (1959)

Pope Francis has utterly failed to tackle the church’s abuse scandal https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/pope-francis-catholic-church-abuse-scandal-failed (26 July 2018), The Guardian.

“Here the idea of God has been replaced by the idea of the Future. The two notions are, admittedly, all but identical in the way in which they are self-contradictory and thus always fundamentally confusing to their worshippers, who must look to priests for translation, and so inevitably the priests (or whatever they call them) gradually take power…”

Michael Moorcock book The Steel Tsar

Book 2, Chapter 8 “Revolutions” (p. 413)
The Steel Tsar (1981)

“My life as a priest in Savannah has been very fulfilling, if initially challenging, I was totally embraced here in the ministry and as a priest. I was totally accepted.”

J. Kevin Boland (1935) Catholic bishop

Savannah Bishop Emeritus Boland celebrates 60 years as priest here https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20190618/savannah-bishop-emeritus-boland-celebrates-60-years-as-priest-here (June 18, 2019)

“We must begin with ourselves: bishops and priests, who should not feel themselves superior to our brothers and sisters in the people of God. Pastoral workers, who should not understand service as power.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

2020s, 2022
Source: "God does not want ‘a world governed by religious laws,’ pope tells Canadian clergy" https://religionnews.com/2022/07/28/god-does-not-want-a-world-governed-by-religious-laws-pope-tells-canadian-clergy/, 28 July 2022

“An Egyptian priest…. plays up the mystery of language to enhance his own power.”

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer

Non-Fiction, A Mouthful of Air: Language and Languages, Especially English (1992)

“We are told by the word of the Gospel that in this His fold there are two swords—a spiritual, namely, and a temporal. […] Both swords, the spiritual and the material, therefore, are in the power of the Church; the one, indeed, to be wielded for the Church, the other by the Church; the one by the hand of the priest, the other by the hand of kings and knights, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.”
In hac ejusque potestate duos esse gladios, spiritualem videlicet et temporalem, evangelicis dictis instruimur. […] Uterque ergo est in potestate ecclesiae, spiritualis scilicet gladius et materialis. Sed is quidem pro ecclesia, ille vero ab ecclesia exercendus, ille sacerdotis, is manu regum et militum, sed ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis.

Pope Boniface VIII Unam sanctam

Unam sanctam (1302)

“The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“Crown and cloth maken no priest, nor emperor's bishop with his words, but power that crist giveth; and thus by life have been priests known.”

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John Wycliffe 6

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