# On Priestcraft explained — Lavengro

> Chapter companion for Lavengro by George Borrow.

## What happens

The author explains his personal vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church, which he equates with Buddhism and calls 'the great lie of the world.' He details his motives for writing against Rome, asserting his independence from any society or clerical ambition, and defends his lack of bigotry while condemning the cruelty and hypocrisy of Popish converts and priests.

## Themes in this chapter

### Religion and Priestcraft

The entire chapter is a polemic against Roman Catholic priestcraft, equating it with Buddhism and condemning its hypocrisy and cruelty.

### Honor and Morality

The author insists his enmity to Rome stems from 'the abhorrence of an honest heart for what is false, base and cruel,' framing his opposition as a moral duty.

## Character check-ins

### Lavengro

The author/narrator speaks in first person, declaring his lifelong hatred of Rome and his independent motives for writing against priestcraft.

### The Priest

Mentioned as the learned but unprincipled priest with whom the hero converses in the dingle, revealing Rome's secret history.

## Key lines

> Popery is the great lie of the world; a source from which more misery and social degradation have flowed upon the human race, than from all the other sources from which those evils come.

The author declares Roman Catholicism the world's greatest falsehood, responsible for more human suffering and social decay than any other cause.

_Central thesis of the chapter, equating Popery with ultimate evil._

> It is the oldest of all superstitions; and though in Europe it assumes the name of Christianity, it existed and flourished amidst the Himalayan hills at least two thousand years before the real Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea; in a word, it is Buddhism.

The author claims that Roman Catholicism is merely a disguised form of Buddhism, predating Christianity by millennia.

_Key argument linking Popery to Eastern paganism._

> No sooner is a person converted to Popery, than his principal thought is how he can bring the hands and feet of his brethren, however harmless they may be, and different from the giants, to the 'holy priests,' who, if he manages to do so, never fail to praise him.

Converts to Roman Catholicism are eager to betray their own family and friends to the priests, who reward such treachery.

_Illustration using Pulci's poem to criticize Popish convert behavior._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters/ii-on-priestcraft
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/lavengro_se/chapters