In 1586, Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine published volume 1 of his defense of the Roman Catholic Faith and Papacy, entitled
Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos [Controversies concerning the Christian Faith which We Dispute with the Heretics of our Time]. It is in Book 3,
On the Roman Pontiff, that “Bellarmine shows the many contradictions and faulty reasoning used by the first Protestants in arguing that the Pope is Antichrist while also giving exposition to the authentic understanding of the passages of Scripture that speak of Antichrist. After covering presenting the testimony of Scripture and the Fathers on the signs that must precede Antichrist, Bellarmine shows how none of this agrees with the Roman Pontiff” (
Source).
One of the arguments used by Bellarmine concerns Daniel 11:31:
And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and they shall place there the abomination unto desolation. The Catholic interpretation demands the continual Sacrifice of the Mass must first be abolished as a sign Antichrist has come. The Sacrifice of the Mass continues; therefore Antichrist has not yet come; ergo, the Pope is not Antichrist.
In 1603, Anglican Bishop George Downame, D.D., published
A Treatise Concerning Antichrist, Divided in Two Books, The Former, Proving the Pope is Antichrist, The Latter, Maintaining the Same Assertion Against All the Objections of Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit Cardinal of the Church of Rome.
Downame explains how Bellarmine’s arguments using Daniel 11:31 are based on unproven assumptions, not the least of which is his assumption that “the service of God has not been taken away under the Pope; nor has the sacrifice of Christians ceased.” “But,” Downame counters, “if by the public service of God he means his true worship and service in Spirit and truth: assuredly, it hath been taken away by the Papacy; unless will-worship, superstition and idolatry be [considered] the true worship of God. As touching Christian sacrifices, we acknowledge the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of a contrite and broken heart, the sacrifice of obedience wherein we offer ourselves, the sacrifice of alms whereby we offer our goods. These sacrifices no Antichrist can wholly take away.
“As for the Sacrifice of the Mass, we hold it to be a monstrous abomination, wherein the holy sacrament of the Lord’s supper is turned into an abominable idol. Seeing, therefore, there is no soundness of truth either in the proposition or assumption, must we admit the question concluded [as Bellarmine asserts]? And yet, upon these grounds Bellarmine does not only infer the question in hand, but two more besides. ‘From hence,’ saith he, ‘three things may be gathered.’ First,
‘that Antichrist is not yet come, because the daily sacrifice yet continueth.’ He might as well have concluded with the Jews that Christ is not yet come: for He was to abolish the daily sacrifice, Daniel 9:27; partly by His own sacrifice, unto which the shadows of the Law were to give place; and partly by the overthrow of the Temple, in which, and not elsewhere, it was to be offered.
“His second conclusion is
‘that the Pope of Rome is not Antichrist, but rather his adversary, seeing the Pope doth adore and maintain this sacrifice, which Antichrist is to abolish.’ Nay, rather [the truth of the matter is] by ordaining this propitiatory sacrifice, and erecting a new priesthood to offer the same, the Pope showeth himself to be Antichrist. For by this priesthood,
· Christ is denied to be our only Priest;
· By this sacrifice, His sacrifice on the Cross is supposed not to be sufficient;
· By this sacrifice, the humanity of Christ [i.e. His fleshly atonement] is overthrown;
and a god of bread set up in His place to be worshipped and adored. In this sacrifice Christ is made inferior to every mass- monger who make their Creator by breathing out a few words, so when they have made him in their conceit, they offer him up to God as a propitiatory sacrifice both for the quick and the dead.
“Bellarmine’s third conclusion is
‘that the heretics of this time, above all others, are forerunners of Antichrist because they desire nothing more than the overthrow of the Sacrifice of the Mass.’” Downame responds, “Nay, rather
they show themselves the limbs of Antichrist by overthrowing the sacrament of the Lord’s supper by upholding this Mass and mountain of all abominations and sacrilegious idolatry. And how does Bellarmine prove his case? Incredibly, because Daniel had prophesied that Antiochus was to take away for a time the daily sacrifice of the Jews; therefore, Antichrist is not yet come; therefore, the Pope is not Antichrist; therefore, those who dislike the Mass are forerunners of Antichrist!”