Who Made the Change?

Who officially moved the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week? The Catholic Church claims to have done so. In an attempt to save the crumbling Roman Empire, well-meaning church leaders compromised and attempted to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday . A representative catechism of the Roman Catholic Church reads:

“Q. Which is the Sabbath day?

“A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

“Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

“A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church . . . transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”—Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957 edition), page 50.

The Catholic Mirror of September 23, 1893, reported:

“The Catholic Church for over 1,000 years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”

Here are two additional statements by Roman Catholic leaders:

“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”—James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 89.

“The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday . . . not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church’s sense of its own power. . . . People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.”—Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit, Saint Cathrine Catholic Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995.

Nothing could be plainer. The Catholic Church proudly announces that human church leaders made the change.