"It has served us well, this myth of Christ" - Pope Leo X. Do you agree that this quote is proof that.........

Question

...the Christian religion is a scam used to create profit and power, and was designed to keep this power in the hands of a few to manipulate and enslave the masses?

To Warrior Pooflinger: You conveniently left out the other 4 definitions of the word Myth:

2. stories or matter of this kind: realm of myth.
3. any invented story, idea, or concept: His account of the event is pure myth.
4. an imaginary or fictitious thing or person.
5. an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.

To the people looking for a source: Google it. It's everywhere. One of the most famous papal quotes in history.

Answer 1

No.

“It has served us well, this myth of Christ."

Although widely attributed to Leo X, the earliest known source of this statement is actually a fiercely antipapal work by the ex-Catholic Anglican priest John Bale “Acta Romanorum Pontificum usque ad tempora Paulo IV” (Basel 1538; Frankfurt 1567; Leiden 1615) which was first translated from Latin into English as "The Pageant of the Popes" in 1574:

"For on a time when a cardinall Bembus did move a question out of the Gospell, the Pope gave him a very contemptuous answer saying: All ages can testifie enough howe profitable that fable of Christe hath ben to us and our companie."

The Pope in this case being Leo X.

There are no authenticated documents that state that the real Pope Leo X actually said this.

http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/b/Bale,John/life.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
"It has served us well, this myth of Christ" - Pope Leo X. Do you agree that this quote is proof that.........
...the Christian religion is a scam used to create profit and power, and was designed to keep this power in the hands of a few to manipulate and enslave the masses?

Answer 3

In our 6.000.000 year of existence (when our DNA was enough separated from chimpanzees for reproduction) we have been indulged in monotheistic faith for some 4.000 years. That is 0,07% of our entire existence as homo sapiens. Does any of you REALLY believe that ANY religion is part of REALITY? What an arrogant thought. Religion separates people. Religion is fascism. It is just another historical fad. It too will pass like a butterfly wing-stroke in Amazonas.

Answer 4

If ever a man was produced by the Italian Renaissance it was Giovanni de' Medici. He was born at Florence in 1475, the son of the magnificent Lorenzo. Marsilio Ficino and Politian saw to his humanist education. Destined for the Church, he was tonsured at the age of seven or eight and soon became abbot of several monasteries. A cardinal at thirteen, he was pope at thirty-eight. Yet Giovanni had his troubles too.

His family was expelled from Florence in 1494. Appointed legate in Romagna by Julius II, Giovanni was taken prisoner by the French in the War of the Holy League. But then fortune's wheel spun. The Medici recovered control of Florence in 1512, and the very next year Giovanni entered the conclave a dark horse to emerge as Pope Leo X. Leo faced the crushing responsibility of spiritual leadership with a light heart. He loved shows and games, and many a play and ballet was performed for the Pope's amusement. A keen sportsman, Leo spent much time hunting. He was careless of the morals of the humanists he patronized as long as their Latin was Ciceronian. Yet Leo had no scandal in his own life, before or after becoming pope. He was charitable, said his prayers regularly, and even fasted three times a week.

His open-handed extravagance made Rome a happy hunting grounds for humanists, but it so seriously embarrassed the papal treasury that Leo was forced to stoop to unworthy devices to secure necessary funds. In politics Leo played a shifty game without much ability and usually reaped only embarrassment. He completed the Fifth Lateran Council called by Julius. But, though excellent reform decrees had been passed, little enough came of them. Leo's most famous achievement was the Concordat of Bologna, an agreement with Francis I of France signed in 1516 which put an end to the semischismatical policy intermittently followed by the French since the Council of Basel. This agreement, which allowed the king to name bishops and abbots, gave him so great a stake in French church wealth that greed would not tempt the French monarchs, as it did others, to leave the Church so that they could confiscate its wealth. These advantages, however, were dearly bought, for the concordat left an open avenue to corruption in the French church. Leo X had been elected by the younger cardinals, and these made so many demands on him that he could not satisfy all. One of the disgruntled dignitaries, Cardinal Petrucci, plotted to poison the Pope. Leo discovered the plot, had Petrucci executed, and then at one sitting created thirty-one new cardinals, a wise step which ensured a loyal college. Leo had appointed Raphael to proceed with the building of St. Peter's, but lack of funds forced the great artist to chafe in idleness.

The Pope granted an indulgence to all who under the usual conditions contributed to the building of the basilica. Tetzel, preaching this indulgence in Germany, stirred a stormy Augustinian to challenge him and indulgences on October 31, 1517. From 1517 to 1521 Martin Luther drifted into open rebellion against the Catholic religion. Leo was quite patient with him, but at last in 1520 he condemned Luther's errors by the bull "Exsurge Domine." Condemnations were not enough. By December 1, 1521, when Leo X died, Germany was aflame. It was the time's misfortune that when the Church needed a Hildebrand on the papal throne all it got was a Medici. .

Answer 5

Where is the proof of the quote?
* When did Leo make this statement (the year is enough)?
* To whom did Leo make it, and who heard it?
* What was the context that prompted Leo to make this statement?
* In what document did those who heard it, report it?
* What reaction, if any, was there to this statement?
* In what contemporary works is all of this reported?
* Based on the above, show what in context the "fable" Leo refers to -- the entire existence of a man named Jesus? Not his existence, but just certain events? Etc.

Answer 6

I'm not a Christian. But where is your substantiation that your quote is indeed a fact. List a website to substantiate your claim, or some other source that can; so that we don't have to take your claim as the absolute truth. Can you?

Notate it in "Add Details" if you would please.

Thanks,

Wotan

Answer 7

I don't believe that any true religion is a scam as you put it but I do agree that certain unnamed denominations within the Christian faith have used the hold that they have over people for personal and political gain throughout history and are doing so as we speak.

Answer 8

Myth does not equal fiction. The definition of mythology is the story of how something came to be, and does not connote or denote fiction as a prerequisite.

Answer 9

How do the words of one sad, imperfect man prove so much?

If your father were to make the statement that having you served him well in tax benefits and free help around the house and the family business, would that make fatherhood a sham and scam?

Or would your father have just not understood?

You seem to be in a lot of pain over the Christian religion, do you mind if I inquire about it?

Answer 10

Please provide reference for this quote. You can't judge millions of people by what one says. There have been atheists who have converted to Christianity so by your logic all atheists are Christians just waiting to come out.