Coffee and Catholicism or Java Papa

The other day I posted about an example of the "loosing and binding" authority of the Church, given to Peter and his successors by Christ himself. Without that authority of Peter, we would have a mish-mash of multitudinous contradictory creeds. We Catholics worship the triune God in exactly the same way the early Christians did believing the very doctrines they did with no modifications because of this authority given by God to lead us into all truth.

But a lesser known benefit of this papal authority is the gift of coffee that the western world now enjoys. Yes! Without the actions of Pope Clement VIII in the 16th century, we would probably not be drinking coffee. Read this story below:

"A Tribute to Pope Clement VIII
Ippolito Aldobrandini (1536-1605), better remembered in history as Clement VIII, was the son of an Italian lawyer who rose to the position of Pope in 1592. Clement VIII gained a reputation as a man of high character, a remarkable testimony considering that his recent predecessors, Julius II, Leo X and Clement VII, all proved to be incompetent rascals.

Clement was known as the first of a series of “restorer” popes and he had an impressive list of achievements to his credit. Among these was the preparing of the Treaty of Vervins, bringing peace between France and Spain. Just three years later he negotiated the Treaty of Lyons, brokering peace between France and Savoy. Other achievements included a revision of the Vulgate that contained some three thousand corrections. He also ordered the revision of several other service books of the Roman Catholic church. He built a monumental altar within St. Peter's Basilica over what is believed to be the burial site containing the Apostle Peter's body. Only the pope can celebrate mass at this altar.

Clement VIII initiated many other reforms and was incredibly popular. His popularity is demonstrated by the fact that in the year 1600 he was acclaimed by three million pilgrims to Rome.

Among these achievements one papal act set Clement VIII apart from all other popes. The benefits of this act continue to filter through history to bless all Christendom. During this time, Christianity had denounced coffee as “the hellish black brew” and, even worse, as a “Satanic threat to the soul”. However, this peace loving, clear thinking man of high character found coffee to be so delicious that he baptized it and declared it a Christian beverage, saying, “Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious. It would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it and making it a truly Christian beverage.” Obviously, the Christian world has grounds to honour Pope Clement VIII."
(from Pacific Bible College's Clement Cafe)

Now go brew yourself up a fresh roasted cup and thank the Lord for his Church and that "Java Papa" And don't forget to support the Mystic Monks Coffee or Jewel of the Caribbean Coffee.

Finally a Note Bene:
The next time you are in Starbucks sipping on your cappucino(which you shouldn't because they support Planned Parenthood), you can thank the Catholic Church again! Cappuccino is named for its resemblance to the color of the robes of the monks of the Capucchin order. What's not to love here?