Images

IMAGES

BASIC R.C. BELIEF The Roman Catholic church claims that those who kneel before images are praying to the saints represented by them. However, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “The same reverence should be given to the image of Christ as to Christ Himself.” Cardinal Bonaventura, a canonized saint, said, “We pay the same reverence to the image of the Blessed Virgin as to the Virgin herself, and so to the other saints.”

POST VATICAN II The Vatican II document SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM (12/14/63) states: “The practice of placing sacred images in churches, so that they may be venerated by the faithful, is to be maintained. Nevertheless, their number should be moderate. Otherwise they may foster devotion of doubtful orthodoxy.”