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.