Lux Lucet

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 

• Ephesians 5:11

Is it logically possible to hold to Rome’s theology while at the same time rejecting her politics and economics?  Many American Roman Catholics, some of whom may be more Protestant in their thinking than they realize, would answer yes. 

Writing in his 1999 book Ecclesiastical Megalomania, John Robbins gave the opposite answer.  In the Introduction of his book, Robbins noted that Rome’s pronouncements on politics and economics were not, “disjointed statements, but the logical conclusions of premises accepted in Roman theology.”  Put another way, if someone accepts Rome’s theology, he logically must also accept Rome’s politics and economics. 

Rome’s theology, politics, and economics are part of a “package deal” as Robbins put it, and one does not have the option of following Rome in its theology while at the same time rejecting its political and economic philosophy.  “This,” Robbins commented, “flies in the face not only of the claims of the Church-State itself but of reason as well. 

I bring up this point as today, December 12, marks the date on which the Church-State celebrates the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  According to one article in the America Magazine, a Jesuit publication, Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLG) “remains a cherished part of Mexican national identity.”   Another piece in America magazine gives several other titles OLG is known by: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Empress of the Americas, and Our Lady of Tepeyac.

Here’s one interesting item of OLG trivia from one of the America Magazine articles.  Juan Diego, the fellow to whom the demon in the form of Mary is said to have first revealed herself, may never have existed.  Despite his possible non-existence, he was canonized anyway in 2002, “as part of a strategy to retain indigenous Catholics in Mexico and across Latin America who have been defecting in droves to Protestantism, especially Pentecostalism.”   

In one way, this really isn’t surprising.  Rome makes up stuff all the time and has done so for centuries.  Still, to come right out and say that “there is no hard evidence St. Juan Diego ever existed” while at the same time canonizing him is a bit shocking.  Apparently, the Church-State really is running scared that it’s losing its centuries-long grip on “indigenous Catholics in Mexico and across Latin America.” 

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