Church of God News

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Pvasiliadis)

COGwriter

Got an email from CGOM’s James McBride of COGUK today that said the following:

Greetings from England.
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Saw a reference to Pope Francis :
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Reuters March 20 reports Francis met with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and addressed him as ‘my brother Andrew’. Does he imply he, Francis, is ‘Peter’? Bartholomew isn’t by birth called Andrew, nor is it his ceremonial name.
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James

The Eastern Orthodox claim that there “see” was established by the Apostle Andrew, while the Roman Catholics claim that the Apostle Peter established their “see” (though neither have the type of succession that they claim, for documented details, please see the article Apostolic Succession).  So, the implication from Francis is that if Patriarch Bartholomew is Andrew, then Pope Francis is Peter or “Peter the Italian” (as Pope Francis is of Italian heritage, while the Apostle Peter was not).  This is interesting for many reasons, including ecumenical ones.

Here are some statements from the Reuters’ article:

Pope Francis urged members of all religions and those belonging to no church on Wednesday to unite to defend justice, peace and the environment and not allow the value of a person to be reduced to “what he produces and what he consumes”.

Francis, elected a week ago as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, met leaders of non-Catholic Christian religions such as Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists, and others including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.

“The Catholic Church is aware of the importance of furthering respect of friendship between men and women of different religious traditions,” the Argentine pontiff told the religious leaders in an audience at the Vatican…

Before his address, the pope had a private meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew from Istanbul, who attended Francis’s inaugural Mass on Tuesday.

It was the first time the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians had attended a Roman pope’s inaugural Mass since the Great Schism between western and eastern Christianity in 1054.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Francis called Bartholomew “my brother Andrew,” a reference to the apostle who was the brother of St Peter and was the first bishop of the Church of Byzantium.

Francis also held a private session with Metropolitan Hilarion, the foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest in the Orthodox world.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/20/us-pope-idUSBRE92D05P20130320

The above article strongly shows that Pope Francis himself has an ecumenical bent.

Notice that the cover of Time magazine has called him the “New World Pope”:

And while that is considered a reference to the fact he was born in the Western hemisphere, it also seemingly suggests that he has a view of the world different than his predecessors have.  Here are some comments, from another news source, about how Francis started out as pontiff:

From the moment he became Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio started adding to an already impressive list of firsts: the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires was the first New World pope ever, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, the first Jesuit pope, the first pope since 913 CE to choose to be known by a name never used by one of his predecessors. When he emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter’s to receive the acclaim of a crowd 100,000 strong, Francis was not wearing the traditional—and monarchical—red papal cape; when he left for the night, he hopped on a minibus rather than in the papal limo; the next morning, he dropped by his hotel to pay his bill, now that he was no longer only visiting the bishopric of Rome. Perhaps most disconcerting of all, he’s been displaying open flashes of humour from the start, beginning with his remark to the cardinal electors—“May God forgive you.”…

(Bergoglio is a dedicated proponent of interfaith co-operation, to the extent he once scandalized many in his diocese by joining a soccer stadium full of Protestant evangelicals—much reviled in some sectors of the Latin American church as powerful rivals for adherents—for an ecumenical prayer session.)  http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/26/man-of-the-people-2/

If he is the final antipope of Catholic prophecy and the final antichrist of biblical prophecy, or he at least sets the stage for that person, then his “May God forgive you” comment to his electors should definitely be considered as serious and not truly a joke (no matter how he may have intended it).

Notice also the following article:

Is Pope Francis Laying The Groundwork For A One World Religion?

April 14, 2013

Does Pope Francis intend to help the global elite achieve their goal of uniting all of the religions of the world under a single banner?  Will he be instrumental in establishing a single global religion for the glorious “new age” that the global elite believe is coming?  After he was elected, the cover of Time Magazine declared Pope Francis to be the “New World Pope“, and since his election Pope Francis has made it abundantly clear that he is going to make ecumenical outreach a top priority.  He has spoken of his “determination to continue on the path of ecumenical dialogue“, and he has already held a number of very high profile ecumenical meetings.  Not only has he worked hard to reach out to leaders from various Christian traditions, he has also made it a point to try to acknowledge the mutual bonds that he feels with all other religions.  For example, in one recent address he made it a point to say that he believes that Muslims worship and pray to the “one God” that he also worships…

If there is going to be a one world religion, there will have to be a bond formed between Roman Catholicism and Islam…That is one reason why what Pope Francis has already had to say about Islam is so noteworthy.  The following comes from remarks that he made during his very first ecumenical meeting…

I then greet and cordially thank you all, dear friends belonging to other religious traditions; first of all the Muslims, who worship the one God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you. I really appreciate your presence: in it I see a tangible sign of the will to grow in mutual esteem and cooperation for the common good of humanity…

But of course Pope Francis is not just reaching out to the Islamic world.

He has also been working hard to “intensify dialogue” with other Christian traditions.

In particular, he seems quite interested in improving relations with the Orthodox churches of the east…

For now, Pope Francis just seems to be laying the groundwork for the one world religion that is coming.  There is a 900-year-old prophecy that indicates that Pope Francis could be the last Pope.  If that prophecy is true, then it will be very important to watch the actions of this Pope very carefully.  http://marketdailynews.com/2013/04/14/is-pope-francis-laying-the-groundwork-for-a-one-world-religion/

The 900-year-old prophecy referred to above is that of Irish Bishop and Catholic saint Malachy.  If that list is complete, and not missing any pontiffs, then Pope Francis is number 112 on the list (Benedict XVI was 111, the second to last), which makes him the last pope, also known as Peter the Roman.  So, the comment Francis made to Bartholomew about him being Andrew  is interesting in the light of the fact it implies that Francis considers himself Peter (which, other pontiffs have also believed), especially in view of the Malachy writing about the last pope.

Malachy’s list was written in Latin.  Here is what he wrote about the last pope on his list:

In persecutione extrema SRE sedebit. Petrus Romanus, quipascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, et Iudex tremendus iudicabit populum suum. Finis.

Here is an English translation from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

“In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.”

Here is a slightly different version of it (with the word “Rome” inserted by Catholic Priest Culleton):

St. Malachy (12th century): During the persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit upon the throne, Peter the Roman…the City of Seven Hills (Rome) will be utterly destroyed and the awful Judge will then judge the people. (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Prophets and Our Times. Nihil Obstat: L. Arvin. Imprimatur: Philip G. Scher, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno, November 15, 1941. Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 138)

Notice that the final Pope sits on the City of Seven Hills (which the Roman Catholic writer G. Culleton labeled Rome above), obviously the same one that Babylon the Great sits on in Revelation 17:9, that God has destroyed in verses 14-18.  And he is considered to be “Peter the Roman,” which sounds a lot like an Italian who may be called Peter.

If Pope Francis is truly the last pope, and that is not clear yet, he will ultimately allow the Church of Rome to be betrayed and will work to bring in the Muslims.  Notice some statements from my book The Last Pope: Do Biblical and Catholic Prophecies Point to Pope Francis?:

Although the Bible predicts that an age of peace will come, it (along with certain non-biblical sources) actually predicts that a horrible militaristic dictator will first come upon the scene and implement a false ecumenical religion with the assistance of a “miracle-performing” religious leader while enforcing a militaristic “peace” upon the world…

The Bible suggests, that for a time (cf. Revelation 13:4), that Islam may temporarily accept some ecumenical Catholicism, before engaging in a battle with the nominally Catholic King of the North (Daniel 11:40).

The Bible (Daniel 11:40-43), Catholic prophecy (Connor, Edward. Prophecy for Today. Imprimatur + A.J. Willinger, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno; Reprint: Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford (IL), 1984, p. 36), and certain Islamic prophecy all suggest that the forces of Islam will lose (Glasse C. New Encyclopedia of Islam: A Revised Edition of the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition, 2008, pp. 143, 316; Ibn Zubair Ali, Mohammed Ali. The minor signs of Last Days from: The Signs of Qiyamah. http://www.islamawareness.net/Prophecies/minor.html viewed 06/21/09).  Biblical (Daniel 9:27; 11:27) and Islamic prophecy (Ibid) indicates this happens after some type of “peace deal“ and during the time of the final Antichrist…

As far as ecumenical tendencies, the Bible shows that the False Prophet, who supports the Beast of the Sea (Revelation 13:1-10) and final King of the North (Daniel 11:28-45), will be successful in getting people in the world to worship (Revelation 13:4,8) in a different way (cf. Daniel 11:36-38).   Certain Catholic prophecies suggest that this leader will try to suggest that this way is the original catholic faith, which it will not be.  It will likely call itself Catholic.  Yet, according to biblical and Catholic prophecies, he will betray the city of seven hills (Rome).

Since Pope Francis I has not performed the types of signs and wonders that Revelation 13:13-16 requires (to cite one example) it is not clear that he is the last pope.  But, because of the timing of his election and other factors, if he lives long enough, he could be…

The Bible specifies that the someone/something is a city that rules over the world. Since the time of Jesus, what are the only organizations that ruled over much of the old Roman Empire from a seven-hilled city?

They would include the old Roman Empire, the Church of Rome, and to a lessor degree, the Eastern Orthodox Church (Constantinople/ Istanbul is on seven-hills, similar to Rome and had a certain prominence for about 1,000 years). They have had relations with world rulers that have not always lived up to New Testament ideals and actually are the only ones that could possibly fit the historical record…

This destruction of Rome is consistent with various Catholic private prophecies that suggest that a top Roman clergy member (like a pope) would betray their church and oversee the destruction of Rome…

For years I have believed that the last pope would not truly be Catholic. He would be a different type of “antipope” (most antipopes occurred because of disputed elections, but I have suggested that a pontiff who does not hold too many of the core beliefs of the Church of Rome would also seem to fit the definition of an antipope).

Will Pope Francis I end up being that pontiff?

(Thiel B. The Last Pope: Do Biblical and Catholic Prophecies Point to Pope Francis? Nazarene Books, 2013, pp. 9-10, 19-20, 21,86-89)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Prophecy, Religious News.

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