Pope Benedict's resignation: the fallout continues & Vatican is furious

It has been interesting to see the number of potential reasons surface for Pope Benedict 's resignation.

Did the pope resign due to a Vatican gay sex scandal? USA Today reports, "The Italian media is reporting that Pope Benedict XVI resigned after receiving the results of an internal investigation, delivered in a 300-page, two-volume dossier, that laid bare a sordid tale of blackmail, corruption and gay sex at the Vatican. The respected Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported Friday that the report stamped "Pontifical Secret," contained "an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish" inside the Holy See. The newspaper said the findings of the nine-month investigation, headed by Spanish cardinal, Julian Herranz, with the assistance of Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, former archbishop of Palermo, and Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, was delivered to the pope on Dec. 17, 2012. "It was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision he had mulled over for so long,'' the newspaper said."

No, no, of course there is not a gay lobby inside the Vatican, the Vatican asserts, denies, and in all ways refuses to discuss, said The Guardian

Was it because of illness? The Pope may be much sicker than we thought. Pope Benedict had a pacemaker. The news of its existence shocked the world. In another shocker, the Pope apparently hit his head hard enough to break the skin, and has had a few resulting issues since then. But the Vatican predictably denies that it led to his retirement.

Or how about a good old money laundering scandal? The Times Union reports, "the Vatican has been accused for decades of secrecy in its financial dealings. The most famous was the Banco Ambrosiano scandal in the 1980s, in which the Vatican's private bank — formally known as the "Institute for Works of Religion" — was implicated in money-laundering for the Sicilian Mafia. Since 2010, the Vatican bank has once again been caught up in a series of financial scandals, including $29 million being seized by Italian authorities and being placed on the U.S. State Department's list of countries that are home to money laundering. Even J.P. Morgan closed one of the bank's accounts this past year when the Vatican could not provide information about the large sums of money moving in and out of its account. In an attempt to clean up its finances in order to bring them in line with European standards and to get ahead of any future scandals, the Vatican has hired outside advisers to address their adherence to financial regulations. However, in a series of released documents now known as "VatiLeaks," it was exposed that elements within the Vatican have continued to try to sidestep financial money laundering regulations that might threaten its banking operations."

The Vatican is situated in Vatican City, a sovereign nation located in Rome, Italy. It is "a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It has an area of approximately 110 acres, and a population of just over 800. This makes Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population."

You must understand that the pope is an absolute monarch. He is elected by the Cardinals, but once elected, he assumes absolute power for life. The only other absolute monarchies in the world today are Swaziland, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which is a federation of absolute monarchies.

The Pope is the only absolute monarch in Europe.

The Vatican is increasingly furious that the world's attention is turning from the papal resignation to what caused the resignation- in other words, digging up the scandal.

Vatican denies swirling rumors as pope prepares to step down
"The Vatican sought Saturday to tamp down rumors involving sex, money and gay priests that have been swirling in the Italian media and have been linked by some to Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign. The strongly-worded denial came on the eve of the pope's last Angelus blessing, expected to draw huge crowds of the faithful, before he stands down on Thursday. Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said it was "deplorable" that as the time for the Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope approaches, a rash of "often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories" has appeared."

"Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with stealing leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting."

St. Peter's Basilica
I want us all to understand something. The rumors of infighting, backbiting, betrayals and political jockeying are not unexpected. The cardinals who live in the micro-nation of Vatican city are living in a heated pot of intrigue, personal selfishness and depraved sin all within 110 little acres. How do I know this? They are not saved.

Picture "Survivor" on steroids, because the prize is an absolute monarchy in the wealthiest place on the planet. It is the world's top prize. And competing for it are men who are whitewashed tombs, having an appearance of godliness but denying its power. (Matthew 23:28). If one is not under the grace of Jesus, one is under the control of satan, and these men are under satan's influence. Of course there is a scandal, and of course men are willing to go to any length to obtain the prize. To think otherwise is to fail to understand sin.

The only higher prize than to be pope (in terms of unaccountability in power and living in immeasurable wealth) is the coming antichrist. The antichrist will have control of the entire planet, not just 1/7th of it.

One extreme of current speculation is that the pope would be a likely candidate for false prophet to the antichrist. (The Pope already IS a false prophet, but may morph into THE false prophet).  The other extreme is that perhaps Catholicism all but disappears as the elements of Islam and Gnosticism and paganism dilute it so much into the one world religion (Revelation 17) that it is essentially gone. Who knows?

Pope Pius XII, in the papal mantum and wearing
the 1877 Papal Tiara, is carried through St. Peter's Basilica
on a sedia gestatoria.
Whatever happens in the next three weeks will be interesting. Will the new pope be installed by Easter? He would have to be elected by March 17 and installed that day at latest, because installations only can occur on Sundays, and Holy week begins March 24 and concludes on Easter, March 31. On the other hand, the Lord may have in mind that there be no new pope, or something equally amazing. His works are mysterious and wondrous. I do not know what He will do in this situation but I know that it will be amazing, and perfect.

Keep watching this most interesting development.

Comments

  1. Do you happen to know or have any idea or have maybe read something, about when a new pope would be chosen and how long after that is there a ceremony making him officially the new pope?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi J.L.

      The rules for the conclave state that they meet no earlier than 15 days and no later than 20 days after the last pope dies. This gives them time to mourn, the funeral, and time to travel to Rome. However, that rule presupposes that the last pope actually died. As we know, no pope has voluntarily resigned in 600 years (and that one was because there were two popes battling it out between Rome and Avignon). The last pope to simply resign under normal circumstances was in the 1200s I think. Anyway, the current rules say the earliest conclave can meet is March 15.

      This presents a problem- Easter is early this year. The other rule is that once the cardinals elect a pope, they install him on a Sunday. So if they meet March 15, they would HAVE to elect him and get him installed by March 17- the last Sunday before Holy Week. It's a time crunch. They are trying to tweak the rules so that they can meet earlier, since they already know the date of the pope's departure

      more here
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/new-pope-conclave-benedict_n_2725126.html

      Delete
    2. Very interesting. Thank you. I'm curious to see how all these interesting events play out, and how they may be related to Scripture and end times.

      J.L.

      Delete
    3. Hi J.L.

      I am curious too. I know that there has been a great movement the last three years in changes at the global leadership level. Many have fallen, and not just the middle east- Europe saw quite a few resignations and government collapses after 2009.

      Psalm 75:7 says but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

      Just think of Gaddafi's ignominious end on that one.

      and Daniel 2:21 says "He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;"

      As for other scriptures, I'm interested to see how the pope's resignation plays out in light of the future events of Revelation 12 and Mystery Babylon. Many think that is the Roman Catholic Church depicted there, while others believe it is RCC absorbed into all false religions under one name. We will see.

      Delete
  2. Hi Elizabeth,
    Do you see a correlation or at least an interesting coincidence between the Pope enthronement date and Obama´s visit to Jerusalem at the same time as the Lord´s triumphal entry into the city that some report as blasphemous and deliberate.

    It looks like the devil is trying to get all the world´s attention as his minions and their activities are being uncovered.
    What´s your take on it.

    BTW, In your post "In defense of eschatology", one of your last sentences should read "109 prophecies on the 1st coming". Blame it on my translator proofreading habit. :) Bless you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jean Louis,

      Thanks so much for the proofreading note! Fat finger syndrome

      I do not see a correlation between the Papal Conclave and the trip to Israel by Obama. I am sure there is one, but that is veiled and in heaven.

      I do think it interesting Obama refused to go to Israel for 4 years and is going now. But I don't know what is on his mind nor what the LORD is doing.

      I did read of a "prophecy" interpretation regarding the fact that Obama thinks he is divine, is the leader of the donkey party and will be going to Israel during the week before Easter (he arrives on March 20) and since Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey that all this MEANS something. But that is exactly the kind of stupidness I was talking about in the essay "In defense of eschatology." It may or may not mean something but we can't connect dots that aren't there.

      Delete
  3. re correlation between pope and obama, it would have to be statistically significant, which it isn't. stop being a dope. the point about the pope resigning is that its breaking rank and a very rigorous workout for the Vatican pr machine. this is a job you're supposed to die in. health and coherence isn't that important when you've got a hot line to god. these comments assume that that the blog title and content is a little bit tongue in cheek. please tell me it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you don't regularly attempt to make a point by calling the person you're engaged in conversation with "a dope." It is not a really successful tactic.

      That aside, the blog is not tongue in cheek. I am deadly serious. The end of days is here and Jesus will return soon. He will judge the living and the dead for their sins.(2 Timothy 4:1).

      The pope does not have a hotline to God. The pope is an unbeliever who is an enemy of God. (James 4:4).

      Delete

Post a Comment