Images

 BASIC R.C.BELIEF

The Roman Catholic church claims that those who kneel before images are praying to the saints represented by them

In 726, the Emporer Leo III, the Isaurian, launched a campaign against the veneration of sacred images and relics, called Iconoclasm (image-breaking). It caused turmoil in the East until about 843. In 731, pope Gregory III and a synod at Rome condemned Iconoclasm, with a declaration that the veneration of sacred images was in accord with Catholic tradition (Editor's Note-small "t" supplied by THE CATHOLIC ANSWER). In 754, a council of more than 300 Byzantine bishops endorsed Iconoclasm. This council and its actions were condemned by the Lateran synod in 769, and by the Second Council of Nicaea (787). Revived by Armenian Emporer Leo V in 813, it persisted until about 843.

It has been suggested by Roman Catholic apologists that the cherubim which God commended to be made for the Tabernacle were much the same as images in a Roman Catholic Church. There is no record of anyone's kneeling before or praying to a cherub. When the children of Israel burned incense to the brazen serpent, which Moses made in the Wilderness, King Hezekiah had it destroyed. (II Kings 18:4).

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."

From THE CODE OF CANON LAW (1983), Canon 1188: "The practice of displaying sacred images in the churches for the veneration of the faithful is to remain in force..."