The Black Pope was published in 1896 and is one of the classic books about the Jesuit Order the powers of darkness of this world does not want you to read. I got it from an image text only PDF file. Using GNU Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software on my Fedora Linux laptop, I converted the image text in the file to actual text which will make it easy to read even from a phone! It is a lot of work to proofread but, because I no longer employed with a regular salary, I’m glad to have a job for Jesus and I trust that He will supply living expenses. The OCR software did a pretty good job but because the image text in some places looks like the image below, the OCR software could not get the text correctly.

I added definitions of unfamiliar words in parenthesis after the word. I also translated foreign words from Latin, French, and Spanish. And I put emphasis in bold of the text I deemed to be significant. Also, I corrected what I thought to be funny punctuation. The author used too many semicolons. I changed them to commas or periods to make the text easier to read. I’m sure I could improve it further but I hope it’s good enough for now. The spelling of certain words is British. I left most of them as is.

If you find typographical errors, please bring them to my attention and I will fix them.

Here’s an enlightening quote from the book:

The simple fact is that the Jesuit dare not educate. He dare not because he is a Roman Catholic, and Rome does not permit education in its highest sense.

I hope the reader understands the purpose of this article and my entire website is to educate! God’s children in Christ Jesus need to be aware of the Devil’s devices lest they become deceived. I think too many of my friends are not reading between the lines when they listen to the nightly news on TV.

The Author’s Bio:

Margaret Anna Cusack (born 6 May 1829 in a house at the corner of Mercer Street and York Street (now known as Cusack Corner), Dublin, Ireland – died 5 June 1899), also known as Sister Mary Francis Cusack and Mother Margaret, was first an Irish Anglican nun, then a Roman Catholic nun, then a religious sister and the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and then an Anglican (or possibly a Methodist). (Source: Wikipedia)

She left the Roman Catholic church and became the author of several books including this one!

The first paragraph of each chapter of the book including the introduction will have a synopsis of the entire chapter. That’s how it looks in the PDF file.

PREFACE.

The title of this work may require some explanation. In Roman Catholic circles it is well known that the Black Pope is the term used for the General of the Jesuits. As the Pope is always robed in white, and the General in black, the contrast is obvious. But those Romanists who do not greatly love the Jesuits, and their number is not limited, use the term as indicating that the Black Pope rules the White Pope. The expression will be found in the recently published life of Cardinal Manning. As the writer had some difficulty in finding a title which would not conflict with many others used in works treating on the same subject, this one was chosen for distinction, and for its special appropriateness.

M. F. Cusack.
Brighton,
March 26th, 1896.

INTRODUCTION.

THE marked and comparatively rapid changes of religious opinion which have characterised the 19th century will be a subject of profound interest to the historian of the future. Nor are the character of these changes less noteworthy. The Roman Catholics were a feeble folk when the century began, now they hold their own in court, and camp, on the judicial bench, and in the senate. But it was not merely that they were numerically feeble, they were the subjects of contumely and abhorrence. They were mistrusted and hated. Whence then this change? Today, a Roman cardinal can denounce the actions of an Anglican archbishop; can question his motives, and scorn his priestly orders with scarce a note of censure. Again, whence the change?

The Jesuits, dreaded as being more papal than the Pope, and more Catholic than the College of Cardinals, were fain to remain in obscurity, at the risk of their lives, if they emerged from it. Today the Jesuit is to all intents and purposes master of the situation. His favourite pupils decide Protestant causes, and with calm effrontery honour the head of their Church as a temporal prince before the Queen (of England), and place him in the position which he claims to be his by divine right, as king of kings and lord of lords.

A faint breath of public disapprobation may be heard: it is but as the echo of a ringdove’s note, in comparison with the shout of indignant protest which such an act would have called forth in the twenties or thirties of the present (19th) century.

If the Roman Catholic Church has advanced in England by leaps and bounds, it has been because the heads of that Church have known how to prepare the way for the leaps, by steps which were very slow, but very sure, and by ceaseless perseverance in securing advantages.

And so it has been with what, for want of a better name, we must call Ritualism. In the early days of the century the services in St. Paul’s Cathedral were performed behind the heavy organ screen, where the singers could scarcely be heard, and the few worshippers could scarcely be seen. How changed all this is now need scarcely be told.

But the influence of the Jesuit is by no means limited to that which he secures through the opportunities which he possesses of forming the character of those who are destined to be our future statesmen. With keen insight into the needs of the times, the heads of the Order make a speciality of training young men for the Press. It behoves us then to inquire whether these future editors and writers are embued with high principles of patriotism and honour, and whether they are afforded every opportunity of intellectual culture and advancement. Are they encouraged to think out the weighty problems of the age? Is the past history of their Jesuit masters, as educators, such that we can leave the future in their hands and believe that the honour of England is safe in their keeping? These are serious questions. The man who cares so little for his country as to pass them by lightly, can only blame himself if his neglect proves the ruin of his immediate posterity.

Since the fact that the Jesuit has been banished again and again from every country where he has had power cannot be denied, it is surely most important to know what are the charges made against him, and how it is that he continues to exist despite such persistent repression. What are his principles, and how far do they differ from those of his co-religionists? How is it that he has been denounced in such terms of scathing reprobation by one pope, and reinstated in all his ancient privileges by another? What shall we say of a church which so vacillates between praise and blame? What shall we say of a religious order which prides itself on being called by the name of the Saviour of mankind, and yet has made the practice of untruth a fine art, and reduced the practice of lying to a science? It may be objected that these are strong expressions. The question is, not whether the words which we use are strong or feeble, but whether they are true or false. Is it not of the gravest importance to know why a body of men, who are educating the English speaking men of the future, were denounced by the head of their own infallible Church as a Society which was “far from bringing any comfort to the Holy See, or any advantage to the Christian world?” As we shall go fully into the question of the suppression of the Jesuits by the supreme authority of the Church which they have been founded to uphold, we shall not now enter into this subject more fully. It may, however, be noted in passing that the chief points of complaint against the Society have been the same at all times, and in all countries. They have been accused of scandalous political intrigues which they have carried on for the advancement of the Order; they have been accused of teaching a lax morality, to put the accusation in its mildest form; they have been accused of quarrels amongst themselves; they have been accused of gross insubordination to ecclesiastical authority; and they have been accused of sanctioning idolatry, if they did not encourage it, amongst the heathen whom they were supposed to convert to the Christian religion. All these accusations are made in the infallible Bull of Pope Clement XIV., and in this Bull he expressly declares that he has examined all these charges, which were no new matter, as they had been brought before other popes, and that, he was fully assured that they were substantiated.

The history of the Jesuits should also be studied in connection with the extraordinary influence which the Order has had in adding to the dogmas of the Church.

The dogma of the immaculate conception was admittedly their work, the new doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope, which has been the cause of so much secret revolt in the Church of Rome, is credited to them, assisted no doubt by the spiritual ambition of Pius IX.

That still further changes in the creed of the Roman Church are imminent, there can be no question, and this is another reason why the history of the Jesuits demands special attention at the present day. Rome always feels her way for some years before the announcement of a new dogma. Efforts are made to obtain favourable opinions on the subject, so as to prepare the faithful, and to avoid the appearance of a sudden decision. Little books are issued recommending the subject, and making it appear as if the new doctrine about to be defined had always been believed in the Church; though, perhaps, if mentioned at all by theologians, it had either been reprobated, or warmly disputed. Naturally those who are anxious for preferment or ecclesiastical approval, would lend themselves to a work which would secure what they desired.

The new dogma at present incubating in the Church of Rome is the divine right of the Pope to temporal power. Statesmen who are wise enough to foresee the stupendous and far reaching effect which this dogma must have, will deserve well of their country. Some long prepared for, but apparently sudden, call will be made on the loyalty (to the Pope) of the Roman Catholic body, and then the definition will come.

In the decades which preceded the birth of Luther and Loyola, predisposing causes were at work which were destined to throw a flood of intellectual light on European nations. The conquest of Constantinople, in 1453, had scattered learned Greek professors all over the continent of Europe. The old habits of thought still existed, but new subjects of research were opened up. Such learning as there had been was confined, until now, to the priesthood, and naturally their studies were limited to a few classical authors, and to a very large field of metaphysical theology, which made that science rather an intellectual pastime than a religious study. The Humanistic movement, which revived the study of classical authors, had begun, and was not without its effect in inducing larger views of life and literature. Learning, or that which was its substitute in medieval ages, was no longer confined to monasteries. Johannes Reuchlin and Desiderius Erasmus were the leaders of the new Humanism and the new Renaissance. New thoughts were in the air. And if all were not thinkers, all, or nearly all, were in touch with those who were. Astrological conjecture was giving place to astronomical research. and if the latter had its victims, they were the precursors in the paths of science, always watered with the tears, if not stained with the blood, of the pioneers. But it was in religion, that deepest faculty of the human soul, that the change was most keenly felt. Men were prepared for a revolt against the demand for money in return for exemption from the penalty of sin. (The Roman Catholic practice of selling indulgences.) They could read now for themselves in the Book which records the words of Him who spoke as never man spoke, and they saw for themselves with amazed eyes, and felt with joyful hearts that the kingdom of God was within them.

The power of the Church was also seriously shaken by important social changes. Land was no longer the sole source of capital, and, therefore, was no longer, as it had been practically for the greater part, in the hands of the clergy. The dying baron who desired to assoilise (absolve) his soul could give money to the Church in lieu of the broad acres which he could not take with him to the bourne (destination) whither he was reluctantly going. Justice between man and man is the offspring of knowledge, and it began to be dimly seen that justice was not all on the side of the Church. When the acquisition of land ceased to be a paramount object to the Church the acquisition of money took its place, hence the system of Jesuit theology framed to facilitate the obtaining of what was now so desirable. Hence, also, the downfall of the Society in more than one continental country, as the result of sharp practice in this matter.

Coming into active life amongst all these conflicting elements and changes, Loyola formed an association in which he preserved all the worst features of a decaying condition of society, and stereotyped all the worst evils of the past; Luther, looking to the dawn of the coming day, shouted with joy as the son of the morning, and if some trails of the darkness of the passing night from which he emerged shaded the full radiance of his glorious career, he at least cried “Excelsior!’ and pressed onwards and upwards towards the noontide and the light.

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