Pope Francis Exploits World Religion and Government
By Richard Bennett and Stuart Quint
Pope Francis labeled adherents of all religions as “children of God”. His video dated January 6, 2016 featured representatives of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Catholicism from his native Argentina.[1]
The Bible contradicts the Pope. Only those who have repented and put their trust in Christ alone are true “children of God”: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”[2]
Pope Francis’s absurd claim reveals Rome’s two-pronged strategy to subjugate the world through globally unified religion and government.
Rome’s Efforts to Seduce Both Christians and Non-Christian Religions
Prior to Vatican Council II, the Roman Catholic Church saw no need to curry favor with other religions, let alone true Bible believers. Vatican II marked a turning point in Rome’s strategy, though not its goals or core beliefs in its ultimate supremacy.[3] Nostra Aetate, one of the three major declarations of Vatican II issued in 1965, instructed Catholics to recognize the merits of other world religions and engage them in interfaith dialogue.[4] Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council written in 1964, opened the door for Rome’s ecumenical outreach to unsuspecting Bible believers by appealing to them as “separated brethren” rather than condemning them as heretics.[5]
Recent popes like John Paul II and Benedict XVI have led ecumenical[6] (courting professing Christian denominations) and interfaith (outreach to non-Christian religions) prayers and dialogues.[7]
Pope Francis has continued and even intensified these efforts. One example of Francis’s outreach to other religions was his prayer at the 9/11 memorial in New York in September 2015, where he echoed the words of global interfaith group United Religions Initiative (URI).[8]
This is not new, as Francis was supporting the URI well before he had become Pope:
“In 2007, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina, invited the visiting Episcopal Bishop of California, William Swing, to bring his assorted syncretistic colleagues to the Cathedral for an interfaith service with him. Swing’s group was part of the United Religions Initiative, and the purpose of the syncretistic worship was to celebrate the URI’s 10th anniversary of its installation in Latin America.”[9]
The URI appeals to the United Nations as ultimate authority to enforce its agenda.[10] Currently, the URI boasts 600,000 members in 91 nations[11]. Members gathered in Sarajevo, Bosnia in September 2017 and participated in the G-20 summit of political leaders in Potsdam, Germany.[12]
A darker agenda of the URI’s efforts is to stifle the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “… there will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each [religion] will be honored but an agreed upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing, condemning, murdering, or dominating.”[13]
Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have actively abetted the growth of the URI. One key player is Gerard O’Rourke, now Director Emeritus of Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.[14] O’Rourke along with 7 other prominent Catholic priests attended the signing of the URI’s Global Charter.[15]
Francis Evokes Secular Powers to Enforce His Agenda
Pope Francis has also appealed for world government to promote his agenda. He writes in his papal encyclical “Laudato Si” dated June 25, 2015: “…the Earth Charter asked us to leave behind a period of self-destruction and make a new start, but we have not as yet developed a universal awareness needed to achieve this. Here, I would echo that courageous challenge…”[16]
The Earth Charter presents itself as “an ethical framework for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.”[17]
However, the Earth Charter comprises a comprehensive network of global ethics and a political blueprint for world government. The Earth Charter was initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union, and Maurice Strong, head of the UN’s Rio Sustainable Development Summit and Chairman of the Earth Council.[18]
The Earth Charter commands global governance as defined by the United Nations Commission on Global Governance (1995) and other UN commissions. “In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.”[19]
Pope Francis spoke of the need for secular powers to establish global control over areas including finance under the pretext of environmental disaster:
“We are living in a time of crisis; we see it in the environment, but above all we see it in men and women. The human person is in danger: this much is certain the human person is in danger today, hence the urgent need for human ecology! And the peril is grave, because the cause of the problem is not superficial but deeply rooted. It is not merely a question of economics but of ethics and anthropology. The Church has frequently stressed this; and many are saying: yes, it is right, it is true… but the system continues unchanged since what dominates are the dynamics of an economy and a finance that are lacking in ethics. It is no longer man who commands, but money, money, cash commands.”[20]
Vatican Power Continues through Concordats
Control of civil law and law among European nations is what the Catholic Church thrived on through the Middle Ages. This control was the primary underpinning of her power during the six hundred years of the Inquisition and in the growth of her religious power system generally throughout the centuries. Rome exploits civil power to suppress the Gospel and to advance her position as keeper of the ubiquitous, highly sensuous, and most effective sacramental system known to modern man.
Without the Gospel, Catholics through their fear of death were subject to her bondage, for Roman Catholic Church teaching both then and now is that there is no salvation outside the Church. Woe to the ruler who resisted the papal will! Subjects could be released from their oaths of allegiance; whole states could be, and were placed under interdict. Since early in the 20th century under Pius XII, Rome has enhanced such control mechanisms.
A “concordat” is an international binding contract between the nation involved and the Vatican. It guarantees the Roman Catholic Church the right to run its affairs autonomously. A concordat also secures rights such as that of defining doctrine, establishing Roman Catholic education, negotiating laws regarding property, appointing bishops, and recognizing Roman Catholic law regarding marriage and annulment. Such legal issues are agreed on in civil law between the “Holy See” and the other nation.
Concordats often encroach upon issues of national sovereignty.[21] The Attorney General of Colombia was unable to prosecute Catholic bishops for illegal contact with rebel FARC guerrillas because they were immune from state prosecution under the Roman concordat.[22] Its concordat with Peru enforces “preferential treatment to the Catholic Church in education, tax benefits, immigration of religious workers, and other areas.”[23]
Currently, Rome has signed concordats with 210 nations throughout the world.[24] Vatican control can be seen very clearly in those nations where concordats long established in Europe. For example, Germany still abides by the concordat negotiated between Pius XII and Hitler. The Vatican has sought to expand concordats with nations in the Mideast, Africa, and Asia.
Moreover, the Church of Rome has much influence in national and international laws, particularly in the nations in which she has papal nuncios as ambassadors. At present she maintains diplomatic relations with 172 countries at embassy level. The Catholic Almanac explains the special diplomatic status of papal representatives:
“[They] receive from the Roman Pontiff the charge of representing him in a fixed way in the various nations or regions of the world… An apostolic nuncio has the diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. Traditionally, because the diplomatic service of the Holy See has the longest uninterrupted history in the world, a nuncio has precedence among diplomats in the country to which he is accredited and serves as dean of the diplomatic corps on state occasions.”[25]
The State of Affairs of the Present Day
Papal Rome has stood in direct opposition to the Gospel of Christ, and the judgment of the Lord God will ultimately come upon her. The duty to withdraw from Papal Rome and her ecumenical followers has never been more compelling than now. Rome’s iniquity corrupts and intoxicates the nations with a counterfeit head of the Church and a sham gospel.
The voice of the Lord thunders from the course of ages and reverberates throughout the world. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”[26]
Bible believers of old recognized the Apostate Church from the pages of Scripture and were prepared to both expose and confront her in the strength and wisdom of the Lord. They knew the precision of Scriptures regarding both the true bride of Christ and the Apostate woman “drunken with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs.”
May we have the courage of Bible believers of history who recognized and rejected the allurement of Rome. Let us join those secured by the proof that the Lord God is with us and ensures the final victory. Let us imitate Paul “…having done all, to stand. Stand therefore”[27].
The certainty of the final triumph should animate us in our efforts and encourage us in our struggles. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”[28]
Richard Bennett and Stuart Quint of “Berean Beacon” Website: http://temp.bereanbeacon.org
Permission is given by the author to copy this article if it is done in its entirety without any changes.
[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/in-first-video-message-pope-francis-stresses-unity-we-are-all-children-of-god-39381?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email accessed on October 16, 2017. For the actual video, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI0tiN88ldE accessed on October 16, 2017.
[2] John 1:12-13. Authors’ emphasis. Unless otherwise stated, all Bible verses are cited from the King James Version on www.biblegateway.com .
[3] See https://bereanbeacon.gospelnerd.com/2017/10/20/the-bishops-oath-prior-to-vatican-council-ii/ accessed on October 24, 2017.
[4] “The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.” Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions Proclaimed by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965 on http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html accessed on October 21, 2017.
[5] https://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2ecum.htm accessed on October 24, 2017.
[6] Ecumenical involves Rome’s courting of other professing “Christian” denominations. See https://bb.berea.edu.pl/new-blog/2015/10/17/the-catholic-lutheran-accord , https://bb.berea.edu.pl/new-blog/2015/6/13/where-do-evangelical-ect-signatories-now-stand , and https://bb.berea.edu.pl/new-blog/2017/9/29/vatican-fake-news-the-reformation-is-over accessed on October 23, 2017.
[7] See http://www.cccb.ca/site/Files/Pope_Ecumenism.html and http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/pope-benedict-xvi-and-ecumenism-a-retrospective.cfm
accessed on October 21, 2017.
[8] “Pope Francis Praises Interfaith Work”, September 25, 2015 on http://www.uri.org/the_latest/2015/09/pope_francis_praises_interfaith_work accessed on October 30, 2017.
[9] Cornelia R. Ferreira, “Pope Francis and the United Religions Initiative: Pope Francis Encourages the One-World Church? 09/09/14”, Catholic Family News on http://www.cfnews.org/page88/files/4414cfe2eee76e5a00f3be03226bfcf2-260.html accessed on October 21, 2017.
[10] http://www.uri.org/files/resource_files/URI_Charter_UK_English.pdf accessed on October 24, 2017.
[11] http://www.uri.org/the_latest/2015/09/pope_francis_praises_interfaith_work accessed on October 24, 2017.
[12] http://www.uri.org/the_latest/2017/07/g20_interfaith_summit_of_2017 accessed on October 24, 2017.
[13] William Swing, The Coming United Religions, (Conexus Press: 1998) cited on http://www.virtueonline.org/liberal-episcopal-bishops-dream-gains-ground-lee-penn accessed on October 30, 2017.
[14] Sharon Abercrombie, “Fr. Gerry O’Rourke Interfaith advocate for including everyone at the table”, Catholic San Francisco (Publication of the San Francisco Archdiocese: May 2004) cited on Mastery Foundation, http://www.masteryfoundation.org/people_orourke.html accessed on October 30, 2017.
[15] Carl Teichrib, “Blending of the Gods – The United Religions Initiative Global Charter Signing”, The John Ankerberg (2000) on https://www.jashow.org/articles/guests-and-authors/carl-teichrib/blending-of-the-gods-the-united-religions-initiative-global-charter-signing/ accessed on October 30, 2017.
[16]“The Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Earth Charter, 2015.06.25” on http://earthcharter.org/news-post/the-encyclical-laudato-si-and-the-earth-charter/ accessed on October 21, 2017.
[17] “What Is the Earth Charter?” on http://earthcharter.org/discover/what-is-the-earth-charter/ accessed on October 30, 2017.
[18] http://earthcharter.org/about/mikhail-gorbachev/ accessed on October 30, 2017.
[19] http://earthcharter.org/discover/the-earth-charter/ accessed on October 31, 2017. Authors’ emphasis.
[20] Paragraph 5, Transcript of Pope Francis’ General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 5, 2013 on https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130605_udienza-generale.html accessed on October 31, 2017. Authors’ emphasis.
[21] For examples, see Concordat Watch on http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showsite.php?org_id=843 accessed on November 1, 2017.
[22] “The Nuncio Defends the Position of the Bishops”, El Tiempo, April 6, 1994 on http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-94606 accessed on November 1, 2017.
[23] United States Department of State, 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom – Peru, October 25, 2009 on http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ae861146e.html accessed on November 1, 2017.
[24] Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Facolta di Diritto Canonico on https://www.iuscangreg.it/accordi_numeri.php?lang=IT accessed on November 1, 2017.
[25] Ed. Matthew Bunson, Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Almanac, (Huntington, Indiana, USA: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001) 277.
[26] Revelation 18:4
[27] Ephesians 6:13,14
[28] Romans 8:16-17
