John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
Ver. 16. The latchet of whose shoes, &c.] By this expression the Baptist acknowledgeth Christ's godhead, as did also Mary by washing his feet. But what doth the pope that holds forth his feet to be kissed? Is not this he that sits as God in the temple of God? Is not this Dominus Deus noster Papa? The Lord God our Pope. Learned he not this abominable insolence of Diocletian, that bloody persecutor? who as he was the first Roman emperor that would be worshipped as God, so he was the first that wore shoes embellished with precious stones, and held forth his feet to be kissed of his prostrate suitors. (Eutropius.)