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November 25, 2016 |
| Pope Francis | ||
Pope Francis is trying to introduce change into the Roman Catholic Church but he is creating deep divisions within it. In this lesson we will look at who he is, where he came from, what he is trying to change, a prophecy about him, and what his destiny may be.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents were from Rome, Italy and had moved to Argentina to avoid the fascist government of Benito Mussolini. He chose the name Francis when he became Pope, in honor of Francis of Assisi, whose father was named Pietro (Peter).
Argentina, and almost anywhere in South America, is a hotbed for Marxist thought. This has seeped into the churches there. While not usually identical to Marxists in thinking, the result of this syncretism is what the church calls liberal thought.
This was known to be true of Pope Francis before he was elected Pope. As a liberal Christian there are expected doctrinal differences with conservative Christians. The primary differences are an acceptance of anyone despite their beliefs about Christianity and rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God. This leads to a church where parts of the Bible are rejected by some people because those parts don't fit with the thinking of the people.
Liberal churches are very strong in feeding the hungry, helping the poor, etc. However this comes out of a belief in Salvation By Works - the belief that salvation can be earned by doing good things. The Roman Catholic Church believes that salvation comes by both faith and works. So the Pope's thinking does not match theirs but it's closer to them than to most Protestant churches, who believe salvation comes by faith alone and works are proof of that faith.
He became Pope after the previous Pope, Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger), abdicated (gave up) his position after 8 years. Only once before, in 2000 years of history, has a Pope abdicated. That Pope was immediately locked up in a tower by his successor and stayed that way for the rest of his life. That has not happened with Benedict XVI. In fact he has worked with and even coauthored with Pope Francis.
At the time that the previous pope, Ratzinger, was being elected Pope, it was known that the Roman Catholic Church's cardinals had been infiltrated by liberals. That election was the first effort by them to see if they were enough to choose the Pope. "The Italian magazine Limes published claims that Bergoglio had been the runner-up and main challenger to Cardinal Ratzinger at that conclave"1. The liberals didn't have sufficient numbers to elect Bergoglio at the time. When this was realized, many of their votes switched to Ratzinger.
By the time that Bergoglio was being elected Pope, there were enough liberals among the cardinals and he was elected. Since then he has brought in more liberal cardinals and driven out some non-liberals.
From the start Pope Francis made comments that showed he didn't accept some church teachings. He believes in Universalism, the doctrine that everyone, if they do good works, will be saved. He accepts any definition of marriage including homosexual partnerships and marriages the church considers adultery. He hates right and wrong absolutes in the teachings of the church, considering them to be rigid and legalistic.
As with all the liberal churches, modern thought is part of their religion. So it was no surprise when Pope Francis said that harming the environment was a sin against God.
His acceptance of everyone who calls themselves a Christian makes him the perfect Pope for ecumenism, the effort to merge all Christian believers into one church. The Roman Catholic Church has sought to do this for more than a thousand years. They want this to be done by bringing them back into the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis doesn't care what they believe or practice.
Ecumenism sits right at the heart of Pope Francis. In his time in office a major focus has been building relationships with other Christian groups and even non-Christian groups in an attempt to unite them. He has made some significant advancements in this area. The Lutheran Church, which is probably the closest in belief and practice to the Catholic Church, have worked out a lot of their theological differences.
In 1595 a prophecy was published that was attributed to Saint Malachy from the 1300s. The prophecy describes every Pope in sequence from his time to the last Pope. The descriptions are short cryptic Latin phrases. Some of these are easy to relate to the Pope being described, others are much harder.
People have been watching this prophecy for a long time. Pope Benedict XVI was the second last Pope on the list. That would make Pope Francis the last on the list except that the format of the prophecy changes there and an extra line is added. This line could be interpreted to mean there would be additional Popes between Benedict and the last Pope. The most natural reading of it, though, shows the line belongs with the description of the last Pope. Thus there are no additional Popes.
This is how Malachy described the last Pope:
In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit [i.e., as bishop].
Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills [i.e. Rome] will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The End.2
This is generally understood to mean that the last persecutor of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) would be the Pope himself - an evil Pope. So people have been watching to see what Pope Francis would be like and he is fulfilling the evil Pope role very well so far.
Even many Catholics are seeing the problems with Francis. There are web-sites that openly refer to him as the False Prophet. This is a reference to a person and organization described in Revelation.
This verse from Revelation describes the second beast as it ascends. The second beast is also referred to as the False Prophet. The verses that follow describe its character as it ascends.
And I saw another Beast that ascended from the Earth, and it had two horns and was like the Lamb and was speaking like the Dragon. (Revelation 13:11).
This verse provides us with four characteristics we can look for that will help us to recognize the False Prophet and his organization. One of these characteristics will tell us when it arises.
Points 1, 3 and 4 are easy to match to the RCC, an organization that came out of the believers, claims to be Christian, but teaches against Christianity.
Point 2, though, seems to be a problem. The RCC has only ever had one leader at a time, the Pope. There were a couple times when there was more than one person claiming to be Pope. These were resolved by declaring all but one of them to be false Popes so there was never a time when the RCC had two leaders.
Except for right now in history, never have there been two Popes working together. They have collaborated on documents and Pope Francis says that he feels this is a very natural way for the RCC to be lead.
Remember though that the verse above is a description of the second beast / False Prophet as he rises. Nothing says that this two Pope situation will continue to exist. In fact, at the time of the second coming, there is a strong indication in Revelation that there is a single leader.
Revelation has much more to say about the False Prophet and his organization. It is through him and his organization that the mark of the beast is required.
His organization becomes a one world religion. This would be very natural for Pope Francis.
His organization is destroyed. This agrees with Malachy's prophecy.
If Pope Francis is the False Prophet of Revelation, his future is not bright. When the Messiah returns, his first act is to throw the anti-Christ and False Prophet into the Lake of Fire
This year, Pope Francis published his second apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, remarking on love within the family. It uses deceitful wording that can be interpreted as allowing those in adulterous and homosexual marriages access to communion.
This requires explanation for non-Catholics. The Apostle Paul talks about the importance of being right before God before taking communion.
For every time that you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you commemorate the death of our Lord, until his coming. 27 Whoever therefore eats from the bread of the Lord Yahweh and drinks from his cup and is unworthy of it, is guilty for the blood of the Lord Yahweh and for his body. 28. Because of this, let a man search his soul, and then eat of this bread and drink from this cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks from it being unworthy, eats and drinks a guilty verdict into his soul for not distinguishing the body of the Lord Yahweh. (1 Corinthians 15:26-29)
The Protestant churches read this as each man is responsible for ensuring he is worthy. The Catholic Church reads it as the church is responsible for making sure that no unworthy person takes communion. Part of this is because they believe the drink and the bread become the actual blood and body of Jesus. This is a serious enough matter that it could split the RCC.
He would allow people who live in sin to be full members of the church. He justifies this by claiming he is showing God's mercy and everyone who disagrees is being judgmental, inflexible and mean. He doesn't intend to bring them into the church to convert them. He has said specifically that conversion isn't necessary. In fact trying to convert them would be the same as telling them they were doing something wrong.
Four cardinals are currently challenging the Pope through a church process that is used to get clarifications on church teachings. He has refused to respond directly. There are reports that he is very angry at being challenged. He did an interview with an Italian newspaper that asked him about the questions in the challenge. His answer was essentially "Such things are not black or white. God is all about love and mercy and not legalism. We are called to discern." He doesn't mean the church should allow each man to discern for himself. He means that God is so loving and merciful that God doesn't care who takes communion.
Cardinal Burke, one of the four cardinals, has said "There is, in the tradition of the Church, the practice of correction of the Roman Pontiff. It is something that is clearly quite rare. But if there is no response to these questions, then I would say that it would be a question of taking a formal act of correction of a serious error."
Cardinal Burke is referring to a process in the church where a majority of the cardinals can correct what a Pope has taught. It is doubtful that he can get the votes needed to do that. It seems certain that this will proceed to a showdown that will cause another schism (split) in the RCC.
November 29, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) - […] the dean of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the highest court of the Church, says that they might lose their Cardinalate. […] Mons. Vito Pinto explained during a conference in the Ecclesiastical University of San Dámaso in Madrid, Spain. […] "Which Church do these Cardinals defend?" Pinto reproaches. "The Pope is faithful to the doctrine of Christ." "What they have done is a very serious scandal that could lead the Holy Father to remove them from the Cardinalate, as it has sometimes happened in Church history," Vito expounds.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes