# Did any medieval popes not distinguish themselves from God?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-medieval-popes-not-distinguish-themselves-from-god/282183>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-medieval-popes-not-distinguish-themselves-from-god/282183 "2004-12-30T01:22:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-medieval-popes-not-distinguish-themselves-from-god/282183/1 "2004-12-30T01:22:00Z")

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I have a couple of quotes here that make a few popes look questionable. Can an expert put them in perspective for me? I am aware of the his proper role as Christ’s representative on Earth. This stems from a thread I started a couple of months ago entitled [Who throughout history has believed they were a deity?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=285408).

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> I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do…wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done of man, but of God, what do you make of me but God? (Decret. par. Distinct 96 ch. 7 edit. Lugo 1661)

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> “The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth…by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth.” The RC New York catechism

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> “The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” (Barclay Cap. XXVII p. 218 Cities Petrus Bertanous, Pius V)

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> “the appellation of God had been confirmed by Constantine on the Pope, who being God, cannot be judged by man.” (Labb IX Dist.: 96 Can 7 Satis Evidentur Decret Gratian Primer Para) Pope Nicholas I

Here is the Wikipedia article I started based on the last thread: [List of self-proclaimed deities]([http://www.wikipedia.org/List](http://www.wikipedia.org/List) of self-proclaimed deities)

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-medieval-popes-not-distinguish-themselves-from-god/282183/2 "2004-12-30T02:07:42Z")

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Matthew 16.19

_I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven._

That’s the scriptural justification. As for the exact quotes, note that two of them specifically refer to the Pope as “vicar” (noun - a person who acts in place of another; deputy.) As for the other two, they seem more like florid prose than theological dogma – much like the phrase “I am the state” attributed to Louis XIV of France.