Public Veneration of Peter’s Bones.

“Pope Francis on Sunday will preside over a Mass in St. Peter’s Square at which an urn containing the relics [supposedly the bones of Peter] will be shown for public veneration. The urn is usually kept in the Apostolic Palace for private veneration by popes, but it will be publicly displayed for the first time to mark the end of the church’s ‘Year of Faith’” (Associated Press, November 18, 2013). The Catholic Church has long claimed that Peter was the first pope and that he died in Rome, yet, the facts of history tell a different story (see our articles “The Petrine Deception” and “Papal Primacy?”).

The Catholic Church has venerated the bones of saints for centuries.  However, the practice of enshrining and venerating the bones of the dead has long been a pagan religious ritual. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the mummified bodies of pharaohs.  Satan tried to obtain the body of Moses, apparently to make it an object of worship, but God did not allow this to happen (Jude 9). When King Josiah purged the nation of Judah from paganism, he burned the bones of pagan priests on their altars (2 Kings 23:20; 2 Chronicles 34:3-5).  Pagans also placed the bones of sacrificed children in the foundations of their cities (1 Kings 16:34).

According to the Scriptures, we are not to worship bones or people, because God alone is holy (Revelation 15:4) and worthy of worship (Matthew 4:10)! For more information on how this and other practices made their way into modern Christianity, read our booklet, Satan’s Counterfeit Christianity.