If you are familiar with Swedenborg's work, it's likely that you've come across at least one offensive thing he wrote about another church or people. The Catholic Church was no exception. Solomon consolidates what exactly Swedenborg condemned in the Catholic faith and practice of the 18th century. He then investigates what changed therein as a result of Vatican II. It's obvious that the church Swedenborg was pointing his finger at has taken on a new form. Look for the resolution of this essay next week when we publish Part 2. -Editor.

Has the Catholic church changed because of the second coming? I think so. Recently I studied some of the major reforms that took place in the Catholic church because of the Vatican II council in the 1960s, which was about 200 years after the second coming. I believe it’s really important for readers of Swedenborg to be aware of the fact that the Catholic church of the 20th and 21st centuries is now very different from the Catholic church that Swedenborg described in the 18th century. From a “New Church salvation history” point of view, the changes made by Vatican II could be seen as symptoms of the presence of the New Church within all churches because of the Lord’s second coming.

But aside from that, I think it is important to know exactly where Swedenborg’s descriptions of Catholicism are still accurate in today’s world, and where Swedenborg’s descriptions of Catholicism no longer apply because of Vatican II. In other words, it’s important to know where Swedenborg’s descriptions of Catholicism would be anachronistic if applied to modern Catholicism. This is not to say that the Writings are not true, but rather that if we are not careful, we could be in a position to abuse those truths in anachronistic misapplication.