Catholic Traditions Absent in the Early Church

Traditionalists like to make lofty claims as if Church history is massively on their side and therefore theirs is the one true Church. They often yell it so confidently, like only simpletons could deny the facts. However, here are just a couple of examples of doctrines completely absent in the early church and foreign to it.

• Icon veneration
• An “infallible church” or magisterium
• Infallible tradition
• The office of bishop being higher in authority to elder/pastor
• Peter as pope/head of the Church, or Apostle of apostles
• Papal primary
• Monarchical episcopacy – the pope has absolute and supreme power over the universal church
• Papal succession
• Papal infallibility
• The sinlessness of Mary
• The immaculate conception
• Mary as queen of heaven, co-mediatrix and co-redemptrix
• The assumption of Mary
• Purgatory
• Indulgences for the dead
• Absolution through the priestly confessional and penance instead of heart-repentance
• Extreme Unction
• Latin language in public prayers and mass
• Celibacy of the priesthood

Roman Catholic apologists will assert these doctrines were believed by the church since the Early church, but that is not correct! These traditions of men are not biblical. Due to the principle of ‘development of doctrine’ which was articulated by Newman, the Roman Catholic church can add new doctrine, all the while claiming they do not add new doctrine! It is a case of the Emperor with no clothes!

I would challenge Roman Catholics to give me one example in any saint or early church writer where Peter is described as the pope, head or supreme pontiff of the universal church within the first 500 years of Church history. Shouldn’t be hard if this was such a well-known dogma in those days, even essential to our salvation.