Catholic Prophecy [Why some Catholics anticipate the return of Monarchy]

The Catholic Knight Blog ^ | The Catholic Knight

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Catholic Prophecy

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  Sit down my readers, grab a cup of tea and I'll tell you a story about your future.  Actually it's our future, and the future of our children, and their children.  You'll want to pay close attention, because if you're under the age of fifty, you're likely to see these events transpire within your lifetime.

If you've been watching the news lately, you've probably noticed that it seems like the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  Well, you're a very perceptive person, because it truly is.  You see the bad news is that for the short term, things are only going to get worse, much worse.  Oh sure, we'll probably have some brief respites when things settle down a bit, but they'll be followed by calamities even worse.  I'm talking about the man-made kind actually, not the natural disasters, as we have always had those.  I'm talking about such man-made disasters as economic crisis, civil unrest, wars and famine.  You're probably wondering what went wrong?  Why is the world so screwed up?  What ever happened to the good ol' days?

Well, let me lay this out for you in very simple terms.  The good ol' days ended a long time ago, long before any of us were born, and long before anyone alive today can remember.  Would it surprise you to learn that our time was prophesied centuries ago with alarming accuracy?  Here, let me give you an example...

After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognisable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, peoples minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonour and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognisable. Peoples appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to there shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents or elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society.

-- St. Nilus, 430 AD

I bet that got your attention!  A man writing some 1,600 years ago accurately predicted our present age down to the half century.  He states that this change in humanity will begin around the middle of the 20th century, and then he goes on to accurately describe the change in vivid detail.  Sure enough, during the 1960s (about the middle of the 20th century) the whole Western World underwent the a change that has been called the "sexual revolution," which radically altered our lives, habits, fashions, and appearances.  About the same time the crime rate skyrocketed, just as the early medieval prophet foretold so many centuries ago.

You'll notice in St. Nilus' prophecy a reference to Antichrist.  Now I should point out here that Nilus did not say the Antichrist would come in the 20th century, nor in the 21st century.  He specifically said "when the time for the advent of the Antichrist approaches."  In other words, when it is getting close to that time, but not necessarily the actual time itself.  That's important to remember, because our Evangelical Christian friends (God love 'em) actually believe the time of the Antichrist is here, and he'll make is presence known any day now.  Of course a lot of them believe they're going to be "raptured" as well, in a supernatural event that will snatch them out of this world so they will not have to endure the temptations of Antichrist.  Now, that's a pleasant thought, but totally unbiblical.  The early Church Fathers, those Christians who lived closest to the Apostolic age, knew nothing of this "rapture" as it is commonly taught, that is allegedly supposed to spare modern day Evangelicals from the same kind of hardship endured by the early Christians under the Roman persecutions.  It's no matter though, because in a very short time Evangelicalism will no longer exist.  For that matter, neither will any Protestant denomination or sect.  All of the pluralism we see in Christianity today will soon be extinct.

Now comes the journey.  I hope you're comfortable, because I'm about to reveal something to you that very few Christians today know, but was once common knowledge back in the early days of the Church.  It all centers around the time period leading up to the Antichrist, and in order to understand the Antichrist, we must first understand the centuries leading up to it, of which the 20th century marked the first.  We are now in the second - the 21st century.  What I don't know is how many centuries we have left to go.  What I do know is the time is short, and there are not many centuries left, but the one we currently live in will by far be the most interesting, the most terrifying and the most wonderful.  Are you sitting down?

And after these shall arise Antichrist and having by the signs and lying wonders of his magical deceit, beguiled the Jews as though he were the expected Christ, he shall afterwards characterize himself by all kinds of excesses of cruelty and lawlessness…and he shall perpetrate such things for 3 years and 6 months

"Antichrist will exceed in malice, perversity, lust, wickedness, impiety, and ruthlessness and barbarity all men that have ever disgraced human nature. Hence St. Paul emphatically calls him `the man of sin the son of perdition, the wicked one, whose birth and coming is through the operation of Satan, in all manner of seduction and iniquity.' (2 Thess., 2). Through his great power, deceit and malice he shall succeed in decoying or forcing to his worship two thirds of mankind; the remaining third part of men will continue true to the faith and worship of Jesus Christ most steadfastly. But in his satanic rage and fury, Antichrist will persecute these brave and devout Christians during three years and a half, and torture them with such an extremity of barbarity, with all the old and newly invented instruments of pain, as to exceed all past persecutors of the Church combined. He will oblige all his followers to bear impressed upon their foreheads or right hands the mark of the Beast and will starve to death all those who refuse to receive it."

This one shall seize the power of the Roman Empire and shall falsely style himself Christ. By the name Christ he shall deceive the Jews who are expecting the anointed and he shall seduce the Gentiles by his magical illusions.

-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 386 AD

Now as these writings get closer in proximity to the time of the Apostles, we can safely assume that what we are reading is not so much a mystical prediction of private revelation, as it is a faithful passing on of oral tradition from the Apostles themselves.  A lot is said about the Antichrist by the early Church Fathers, and from this we learn a lot about him.  We learn that he will deceive the Jews.  From other contemporary writings we learn that he will be a Jew himself, born in the Middle East somewhere in present-day Iraq, and will come to power in the area we now call Israel.  As a Jew he will deceive the Jewish people into believing he is the Messiah, and two-thirds of the world will follow him.  We do not know how long his actual reign in Jerusalem will be, but it is suspected that he will reign for a fairly long time (perhaps decades), but it is the last 3 1/2 years of his reign that is most interesting.  This is when he seizes control of the "Roman Empire."  It is during this time he unleashes the most ferocious persecution of Christians the world has ever known, rivaling that of all the Roman emperors in ages past, and the Communists and Muslims to today.   Let us understand something here.  Many evil men have reigned over various territories in the past, and it is likely that many more evil men are to come, but just being "evil" is not what makes one the Antichrist.  The word "Antichrist" is a biblical term.  It has religious underpinnings and outside of religion it means nothing.  The word "Antichrist" is the Greek rendering of a 1st century Jewish concept of the Anti-Messiah!  The Anti-Messiah is a false Messiah, and to be sure, the Jews have seen many anti-messiahs in their history. However, this one foretold in Christian Scripture and Tradition is a special case.  It is an Anti-Messiah (false Messiah) that is so convincing that he not only dupes almost all the Jews, but two-thirds of the world's population as well.  Christian Scripture and Tradition tell us he doesn't act alone, but he is aided by none other than the devil himself. All of this is extremely important to remember, because if we are to properly understand the Antichrist, we must do so strictly in Jewish terms.

Now it is the last portion of St. Cyril's record that is of particular interest to us.  He states the "this one" meaning Antichrist "shall seize the power of the Roman Empire."  Now that is interesting since the Roman Empire ceased to exist some 1,500 years ago in the West and some 550 years ago in the East.  Our Evangelical brethren, once again hot on the trail of a supposed present-day Antichrist, have pointed out the reunification of Europe under the European Union, and assume this must be the return of ancient Rome.  Once again that's a quaint idea but in order to truly have an empire you must first have an emperor - a single monarch who's rule is absolute.  Nothing like that exists today.  St. Cyril tells us the Antichrist "shall seize the power of the Roman Empire," implying that he just takes it, as if it is not rightfully his to begin with.   How then?  How does a man steal some nonexistent thing, from somebody who clearly does not exist?   The answer is simple.  The emperor and empire still have yet to come...

The Great Gaulish Monarch, who shall subject all the East, shall come around the end of the world. These things, then, coming to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but' the coming of our Lord and Saviour from heaven, for whom we have looked in hope? who shall bring the conflagration and just judgment upon all who have refused to believe on Him

"Christ arose from among the Hebrews, and he (Antichrist) will spring from among the Jews. Christ showed His flesh as a Temple, and raised it up on the third day; and he, too, will raise up again the Temple of stone in Jerusalem.

-- St. Hippolytus, 236 AD

You'll notice we're going further back in time now.  This writing comes to us from the early third century, while Christians were still being thrown to lions under the Roman persecutions.  St. Hippolytus' grandfather would have been old enough to remember the Apostle John.  The teachings of the apostles about these things still would have been fresh in Church memory.  The context is in reference to the Antichrist, and indeed these early Church fathers did preoccupy themselves with the Antichrist in many of their writings.  Once again we learn a few new traits of this man of sin.  It is however, the first sentence that is of most interest to us now.  "The Great Gaulish Monarch, who shall subject all the East, shall come around the end of the world."  Notice the vague reference to time.  He shall come "around the end of the world."  It's not at the end of the world, or even immediately before the end of the world, but "around" that time.  So it is sometime in the centuries prior to the end of the world, and likewise the coming of Antichrist.  According to St. Nilus' prophecy above about the end times beginning around the later half of the 20th century, that would put the coming of this "Great Gaulish Monarch" sometime in our immediate proximity.  In case you're wondering, "Gaul" was what the ancient Romans called a certain portion of Western Europe.  Today we call it France.  In the centuries to follow, more Christians gave testimony to this tradition presumably coming from the Apostolic era...

A Frankish King will one day rule over the entire Roman Empire."

-- St. Augustine, 5th Century

He shall reign over the entire ancient Roman Empire."

-- Remy, 5th Century

Okay, so we now know that the early Christians believed there would one day come a French king who would rule over the entire Roman Empire, and that this will happen toward the end of the world, or more specifically in the centuries leading up to the time of Antichrist and the end of the world.  We currently live in an age of Republics right now.  Western monarchies are effectively neutered these days - little more than national figureheads.  There is no Roman Empire to speak of, because there is no Roman emperor.  Right now Europe is united as a loose confederacy of republics.  There is no central figurehead, and there is not likely to be under the constitutional system now set up.  So how can this happen?  Another 4th century saint gives us a clue...

A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: "We have subjected the earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands." Then a Roman Emperor will arise in great fury against them... Drawing his sword, he will fall upon the foes of Christianity and crush them. Then peace will reign on earth, and priests will be relieved of all their anxieties.

In the latter days of the world, Christians will become ungrateful for the great favours they will receive through the coming of the great Monarch, by reason of the long period of peace and prosperity on earth which they will enjoy under his reign. Many man will then begin to doubt if the Christian faith is the only really sanctifying faith and will think perhaps the Jews are right because they are awaiting the Messiah.

--St. Methodius of Olympus, 311 AD

Okay, so now we have a chronology.  First a great time of trial for Christians comes.  Then the Great French Monarch comes to save the day, putting down the enemies of Christianity.  In turn however, because of the great peace he delivers that lasts a very long time, people will start to take it for granted.  As a result there will be a great apostasy, eventually leading two-thirds of the world's population away from Christ, and resulting in the rise of Antichrist. 

So now we have the big picture.  The reason why the Antichrist will eventually be able to steal the power of the Roman Empire is because the Roman Empire is coming back.  This time not as a Pagan system, but as the medieval Holy Roman Empire restored!  Only after a long period of such rule will the Antichrist come and attempt to steal it away.

As we look around us, we can see that the fall of democratic republicanism in our time is inevitable now. The Socialist-Islamic (IslamoSocialist) alliance in Europe has successfully exploited the weakness of our democratic system, and the problem will only get worse in the years (or decades) ahead. That coupled with the moral decline and economic decline of the western world, signals the end of the American and European republics.

(Zenit.org) - On an official visit to Italy this week, the Libyan chief of state caused a few ripples by stating that Europe should convert to Islam. The general public was perhaps more shocked, however, by his request for a few billion dollars to stop African immigration.

However, a missionary priest did call for taking seriously Muammar al-Qadhafi's statements on religion, saying a European conversion to Islam just might happen if the continent continues denying its Christian roots.

Father Piero Gheddo of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and founder of the missionary news agency AsiaNews, said that far from being "folklore," al-Qadhafi's summons could become a reality in a few decades....

read full story here

--------------------

(CBN) Friday in Paris. A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.

This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene. 

It shows that even though some in the French government want to get tough with Muslims and ban the burqa, other parts of the French government continue to give Islam a privileged status. 

An ordinary French citizen who has been watching the Islamization of Paris decided that the world needed to see what was happening to his city. He used a hidden camera to start posting videos on YouTube. His life has been threatened and so he uses the alias of "Maxime Lepante."

read full story here

The only counter to this IslamoSocialist infiltration is a healthy and robust Christianity - particularly CATHOLIC Christianity - as it is the only form of Christianity that abhors artificial birth control and has successfully repelled Islam in the past (in the crusades!).  What these ancient prophecies tell us is another crusade is coming.  It will be the last and final crusade - the mother of all crusades - that will deliver a death blow to the whole IslamoSocialist regime in Europe and the IslamoShariah system in the Middle East.

Before this can happen however, all of the Catholic prophecies and the teachings of the most ancient Church Fathers agree there must first be a crisis - a Chastisement of God - that will cause the present system of things to crumble.  The Chastisement marks the last epic of human history, starting with a calamity that changes the world, resulting in the longest period of peace the world has ever known.  It will be the last reign of Christian kings, with a Great Monarch ruling over a revived Holy Roman Empire, from Iberia to Siberia, that will far surpass everything that has previously existed.  This will last for an unspecified amount of time.  Catholic prophecies seem to indicate at least a couple centuries is likely.  During the latter part of that time period the world will fall back into it's depraved state, and it is at that time the Antichrist will arise, steal the power of the revived Holy Roman Empire for himself and use it in an attempt to destroy the Church.  He will nearly succeed before he is killed and sometime after that Jesus Christ will return to raise the dead and judge the nations.  We are now living in the time just before the Chastisement.

We don't know much about the Chastisement, but this we do know...

1. It is brought upon us by our worldwide sins against God ranging from artificial contraception to abortion to euthanasia, to sexual sins of various types (including homosexuality, adultery and fornication), as well as Socialism, Atheism, Hedonism and indifference toward the poor.  To summarize, it is caused by our personal and cultural abandonment of the Christian gospel message.
2. It consists of two parts.  The first part is man-made, the second part is God-made.
3. It begins with riots, civil unrest and war - particularly in Europe.
4. It is marked by an event that causes the pope to flee Rome and eventually be assassinated while in exile.
5. It results in the election of another pope (in exile) who crowns a new French king to save France from anarchy - this man later becomes the Great Monarch of the Holy Roman Empire.
6. It ends with three-days of strange darkness that will cover the whole world, poison the air, and leave 2/3 to 3/4 of the world's population dead.  The result of this ecological catastrophe leaves the enemies of the Great Monarch powerless to resist him.

7. It concludes with the Great Monarch restoring the Holy Roman Empire and ruling the whole world.  He abolishes all democratic republics and restores a system of monarchy over all the regions of the world.  In total, twelve monarchs will rule the entire planet, under the direction of the Great Monarch.  For Christians it will be the greatest time of peace and missionary outreach the world has ever known.

These seven events await our immediate future.  They could come as soon as tomorrow, or possibly as late as thirty years from now, but they will come - most certainly!

The American republic is slowly dying and European democracy will soon fade away.  According to the prophecies this Great Monarch is coming soon. Within our lifetime. I am sure of it....

Prophecies on the Rise of the Great Monarch

Rudolph Gekner, 17th Century: "His sword will be moved by Divine power..."

Monk Adso (10th Century): "Some of our teachers say that a King of the Franks will possess the entire Roman Empire. He will be the greatest and last of all Monarchs. After having wisely governed his kingdom, he will go into Jerusalem and will lay his sceptre and his crown upon the Mount of Olives. Immediately afterwards, Antichrist will come."

David Poreaus (17th Century): "The Great Monarch will be of French descent, large forehead, large dark eyes, light brown wavy hair, and an eagle nose. He will crush the enemies of the Pope and will conquer the East."

St. Francis of Paola (15th Century) "By the grace of the Almighty, the great Monarch will annihilate heretics and unbelievers. He will have a great army, and angels will fight at his side. He will be like the sun among the stars. His influence will spread over the whole earth. All in all, there will be on earth twelve Kings, one Emperor, one Pope, and a few Princes. They will all lead holy lives."

St. Augustine, 5th Century):" A Frankish King will one day rule over the entire Roman Empire."

Old Saxon prophecy: "He will come from the Fleur-de-Lis..."

St. Cataldus, 5th Century: "... a King of the House of Lilies..."

St. Caesar, 5th Century: "He shall recover the Crown of the Lilies....."

St. Hildegarde, German Abbess, 12th Century: "The White Flower again takes possession of the Throne of France."

Bishop Ageda, 12th Century: "He shall inherit the Crown of the Fleur-de-Lis"

Busto (15th Century): "The angelic Pope shall place an imperial crown on his head."

Remy (5th Century): "He shall reign over the entire ancient Roman Empire."

Aystinger: " ... by whom the ancient glory of the Empire shall be restored. He shall be Emperor of Europe."

St. Francis de Paola (15th Century): "(He and the Holy Pontiff) shall obtain dominion over the whole world.

Holzhauser: "He will restore everything."

St. Hildegarde:"Peace will return when the Lily ascends the Throne again. The land will be very productive."

St. Bridget: "And the earth shall enjoy peace and prosperity."

St. John-Mary Vianney, Cur‚ of Ars (19th Century): "This shall re-establish a peace and prosperity without precedent."

(Old German prophecy): "He will be lame afoot ... "

(Anne-Catherine Emmerich, 19th Century): "God touched the sinew of his hip. He was in great pain and from that day on, he walked with a limp ... "

(Peasant Jasper, Germany): "This Prince shall mount his horse on the right-hand side, because he limps from one foot .... "

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, July 12, 1820: "I had a vision of the holy Emperor Henry. I saw him at night kneeling alone at the foot of the main altar in a great and beautiful church . . . and I saw the Blessed Virgin coming down all alone. She laid on the altar a red cloth covered with white linen. She placed a book inlaid with precious stones. She lit the candles and the perpetual lamp . . . Then came down the Saviour Himself clad in priestly vestments. He was carrying the chalice and the veil. Two Angels were serving Him and two more were following . . . His chasuble was a full and heavy mantle in which red and white could be seen in transparency, and gleaming with jewels . . . Although there was no altar bell, the cruets were there. The wine was red as blood, and there was also some water. The Mass was short. The Gospel of St. John was not read at the end. When the Mass has ended, Mary came up to Henry (the Emperor), and she extended her right hand towards him, saying that it was in recognition of his purity. Then, she urged him not to falter. Thereupon I saw an angel, and he touched the sinew of his hip, like Jacob. He (Henry) was in great pain, and from that day on, he walked with a limp . . . "

The Catholic Knight laments the fall of the republics, but hails the return of the kings, particularly the great Christian king who will rule virtually all the world.  Within our lifetimes we shall likely see him.  Prepare yourselves, and prepare you children, for he will come, but only after a terrible Chastisement from God. If you would like to learn more about these events from one of the most reputable sources ever put to print, The Catholic Knight would like to invite you to read "Trial, Tribulation and Triumph" by Desmond Birch.

There are many books written on the coming Chastisement and the following Tribulation of Antichrist, but none offer such a well researched, exhaustive and orderly presentation of APPROVED Catholic prophecy than this book by Desmond Birch. If you read anything about End Times eschatology, than this is a book that belongs in your library. There are many other books out there, but in the opinion of The Catholic Knight, this one is the BEST!

[sasportas]

> **Russia will be converted back to Christianity en mass, and the Orthodox churches will be reunited with the Roman Catholic Church, and all non-Catholic (protestant, reformed, evangelical and fundamentalist) churches will cease to exist.** This should be of interest to many fellow FReepers.

Very interesting, indeed. You (and the many other interesting posts on this thread by Catholics) have confirmed what I have long suspected the prophetic scriptures may be trying to tell us. Is a return to the totalitarian tyrannical Papal system in our future? The Roman legs and feet of Daniel’s metal man, Dan. 2? The Roman fourth beast of Dan. 7? If it were left to Catholics, it would. Maybe history really does repeat itself.

Not just a return to the Roman Papacy by itself, oh, no, we see on this thread that Catholics are salivating over a return to European monarchy also, the Papacy’s medieval co-partner in tyranny. And a “ceasing to be” of all non-Catholics. If this isn’t totalitarian tyranny I don’t know what else to call it. Catholics have no room to disparage Communism.

Are you suggesting this “ceasing to be” of non-Catholic dissent is a return to the medieval measures used by the Papacy in dealing with non-Catholics?

As if we didn’t have enough to fight, OWS Socialist-Communistsm, and Islamic terrorists, now we see a bid for a return to Papist-Monarchy totalitarianism!

> This should be of interest to many fellow FReepers.

Yeah, right, since my understanding that this website is all about a FREE Republic, what you have posted is indeed very interesting to us freedom loving FReepers. As an advocate for a return to medieval totatitarianism, what you advocate is not in keeping with what this website (as I understand it), and FReepers, are supposed to be all about.

[Rashputin]

"Bonhoeffer?"

I'm a big fan of Bonhoffer, "The Cost of Discipleship" in particular and have given away quite a few copies of that book over the years. Having spent most of my life as a Lutheran, though, I'm under no illusions about the fact that Bonhoffer and a few others were exceptions to the rule. Years ago the Lutheran church I attended had several speakers come on a couple of Sundays in a row and speak on how the vast majority of the Lutheran Church in Germany had gone along with Hitler and ignored what they knew or thought might be going on with the Jews and Gypsies. These were Lutheran pastors who had lived through the war, not some second hand researcher or academic, but the people who admitted that they, too, were guilty and were warning people about being overly dedicated to Luther rather than to what the Lutheran Church taught regarding Scripture.

These speakers were talking about what was wrong with the Lutheran past both historically and in more recent history and every one of them mentioned that almost every Lutheran Church in Germany preached about and recommended Luther's "The Jews and Their Lies" when some Reich ministry requested that they do so no long after the "Kristallnacht". They helped dampen down the negative public reaction to the first waves of open attacks on Jews and they helped their flock keep going by regularly preaching about what Luther had to say with regard to always supporting those in power over you, no matter what.

There were a lot of individual Lutherans who wanted to do something or who when given the chance, helped hide or otherwise help Jewish families, but all in all, the Lutheran Church in German has nothing to be proud of in the way it interacted with the Nazi regime in that era. They aided them as much as they could both prior to the War and during it.

Regards

[Rashputin]

I advocate Christ as King of the earth and ruling as such so that makes me a Monarchist. Do I advocate men organizing a monarchy of any sort prior to that? NO. Do I hope to see Europe return to monarchy? No. But, they probably will because since the collapse of the monarchy system they wallowed in for so long they haven't been able to keep from slaughtering one another unless some outside power was keeping them from doing so.

Without the slimy servitude system they don't have any self-restraint nor can they keep from blaming the problems they cause on some other country rather than dealing with their own problems. They're going to have to deal with Islam in Europe and it won't be pretty when they do. Unlike so many others, I don't think Islam will take over Europe, I just think it will return to what was the status quo for so many centuries and under one guise or another reestablish the Hapsburg Empire, the British Nobility as a ruling class, and the French Nobility ruling the masses in France while pretending to be their representatives. I doubt they're going to call this a set of monarchies at first, but that's what it'll be and in many ways already is since the entire EU is not much more than a nobility dictating to the member nations. The only thing missing, really, is the heredity aspects of a monarchy and as we saw with the Kennedy klan in this country, it's not too tough to get fascist style socialists to accept heredity titles of nobility. In fact, ever since the EEOC basically mandated that only a degree of some sort is an acceptable criteria to hire some by, that's all the current crop of expedited and assured degrees for select favored groups are in this country. Titles of Nobility by another name.

JMHO

Regards

[metmom]

Well . . . to be fair, this is what some of them themselves teach ("the rapture").

LOL

Touche'

Well, if the evangelical churches do all cease to exist and the RCC is looking forward to a time of peace and rule during that time, and it is the Rapture, then they are completely being set up to be used by the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ is a deceived and will come promising peace.

His true colors won't be revealed until he's in power. Nobody is going to know who he is until it's too late. He'll deceive them into following him and then turn on them.

As is his usual MO.

[TSgt]

I’m not a fan of pornography and it wasn’t the reason why your clergy raped tens of thousands of children. Ho do you reconcile your argument of pornography as driving factor when documented child rape cases go as far back as the 40’s?

[TSgt]

Please identify what I said that wasn’t factual.

Cardinal’s Law and Mahony were not immediately removed when it was discovered that they participated in the cover-up of child rape. These are the facts.

[TSgt]

A purely external religion...

[TSgt]

This is the official Vatican symbol concerning child rape.

[daniel1212]

"The Protestant Church was completely Nazified during the Third Reich, not to mention under the Communists"

This exaggeration is a overreaction (including the entire period) against like statements about Rome, but while the majority of both did not oppose Hitler (and the Protestant church was not a monolithic entity), there was resistance among relative few brave souls on either a doctrinal or moral basis. (Note, the German word for denomination is Konfession) But it is always a minority.

"At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." (2 Timothy 4:16)

I think the below can help provide some balance.

Religion in Nazi Germany

The Protestant Church and the Third Reich until 1935

For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest Against Hitler

Hitler's Evolution Versus Christian Resistance

Adolf Hitler's religious views

[this is my country]

for later

[daniel1212]

First, the prophecy of St. Nilus was posted here in 2004: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1275467/posts, and in which its authenticity or translation is doubted (begin about post 20)

But as for torture, it is a fact that this was officially supported by Rome, though now condemned.

► Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), on "Respect for bodily integrity".

#2298. In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture.

► The Church has the right, as a perfect and independent society provided with all the means for attaining its end, to decide according to its laws disputes arising concerning its internal affairs, epecially as to the ecclesiastical rights of its members, also to carry out its decision, if necessary, by suitable means of compulsion, contentious or civil jurisdiction. It has, therefore, the right to admonish or warn its members, ecclesiastical or lay, who have not conformed to its laws and also, if needful to punish them by physical means, that is, coercive jurisdiction. — Catholic Encyclopedia Jurisdiction http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08567a.htm

►Pope Innocent IV, Bull Ad Exstirpanda (May 15, 1252). This fateful document introduced confession-extorting torture into tribunals of the Inquisition. It had already been reinstated in secular processes over the previous hundred years, during which Roman Law was being vigorously revived. Innocent’s Bull prescribes that captured heretics, being "murderers of souls as well as robbers of God’s sacraments and of the Christian faith, . . . are to be coerced – as are thieves and bandits – into confessing their errors and accusing others, although one must stop short of danger to life or limb." — Bull Ad Extirpanda (Bullarium Romanorum Pontificum, vol. 3 [Turin: Franco, Fory & Dalmazzo, 1858], Lex 25, p. 556a.)

►Pope Innocent IV, Ad extirpanda (named for its Latin incipit):

A papal bull, promulgated on May 15, 1252, by Pope Innocent IV, which explicitly authorized (and defined the appropriate circumstances for) the use of torture by the Inquisition for eliciting confessions from heretics.[1]

The bull was issued in the wake of the murder of the papal inquisitor of Lombardy, St. Peter of Verona, who was killed by a conspiracy of Cathar sympathizers on 6 April 1252.

The bull argued that as heretics are "murderers of souls as well as robbers of God’s sacraments and of the Christian faith ...", they are "to be coerced—as are thieves and bandits—into confessing their errors and accusing others, although one must stop short of danger to life or limb." [2] The following parameters were placed on the use of torture:[1]

that it did not cause loss of life or limb (citra membri diminutionem et mortis periculum)

• that it was used only once

• that the Inquisitor deemed the evidence against the accused to be virtually certain.

The requirement that torture only be used once was effectively meaningless in practice as it was interpreted as authorizing torture with each new piece of evidence that was produced and by considering most practices to be a continuation (rather than repetition) of the torture session (non ad modum iterationis sed continuationis).[1]

The bull conceded to the State a portion of the property to be confiscated from convicted heretics.[3] The State in return assumed the burden of carrying out the penalty. The relevant portion of the bull read: "When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podestà or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them."[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_extirpanda) Translation of Ad extirpanda http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~draker/history/Ad_Extirpanda.html

► Innocent’s Bull prescribes that captured heretics, being "murderers of souls as well as robbers of God’s sacraments and of the Christian faith, . . . are to be coerced – as are thieves and bandits – into confessing their errors and accusing others, although one must stop short of danger to life or limb." — Bull Ad Extirpanda (Bullarium Romanorum Pontificum, vol. 3 [Turin: Franco, Fory & Dalmazzo, 1858], Lex 25, p. 556a.)

Tertullian (3rd century): [S]hall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs?" De Corona, 11, emphasis added.

St. Augustine lives under and comments upon in The City of God:

[The accused] is tortured to discover whether he is guilty, so that, though innocent, he suffers most undoubted punishment for crime that is still doubtful; not because it is proved that he committed it, but because it is not ascertained that he did not commit it. Thus the ignorance of the judge frequently involves an innocent person in suffering [and even in death, when the accused falsely confesses a capital crime out of sheer terror of unendurable pain]. — The City of God, 19: 6 ("Of the error of human judgments when the truth is hidden").

Catholicism has now been explicitly and emphatically the Roman state religion since the imperial edict of February 28, 380,6 but the laws remain to a great extent in fundamental continuity with the old pagan legislation – including its reliance on interrogatory torture (quaestio) as a standard part of judicial practice for serious crimes. It was even prescribed, under certain circumstances, for witnesses, not just those accused of a crime.7 Infliction of severe bodily pain is also included in the Code as punishment for those duly convicted of crime. We read, for instance, that corrupt public officials are to suffer "the punishment of flogging and torture".8 As for those guilty of crime against the Emperor in person (lèse-majesté), "tortures shall tear them to pieces".9 All in all, the Theodosian Code provides for torture, either as quaestio or as punishment for convicted criminals, in no less than 40 legally specified situations.10 However the higher clergy are exempt: bishops and priests (but not "clerics of a lower grade") "shall be able to give their testimony without the outrage of torture, that is, without corporal punishment"11

The treatment of heretics and schismatics in this original Christian respublica was severe, but milder than in subsequent mediaeval times. They were not put to death, but were reduced to poverty by the confiscation of their property, and were subject to legal disabilities (incapable of making testaments)...

Only Catholic houses of worship, however, could be dignified with the name of "churches"...

It is declared in the Constitutions that torture should be considered neither as always trustworthy, nor as always untrustworthy. And as a matter of fact it is a fickle and dangerous business that ill serves the cause of truth (etenim res fragilis est et periculosa, et quae veritatem fallat). For there are not a few who are possessed of such powers of endurance, or such toughness, that they scorn the pain of torture, so that there is no way the truth can be wrung from them. Others, however, have so little resistance that they will make up any kind of lie rather than suffer torment; and that can lead them to keep changing their story, even incriminating others as well as themselves. (Justinian; Digest, 48: 18, article 23 - translation).

By the time Augustine wrote The City of God (between 413 and 427), Catholic Christianity had been emancipated for over a century and had been the official and dominant religion of the Empire for nearly half of that period. In trying to discern what, if anything, the Church’s magisterium said about torture in the patristic era, we must add to Augustine’s explicit shoulder-shrugging resignation the silence of other successors of the Apostles before and after him, including, it seems, all the Bishops of Rome for as long as the abominable practice remained legal. It seems that as long as the old Western Empire lasted, many of its basic legal procedures and institutions – including slavery, of course, as well as judicial torture – were generally accepted without protest as facts of life and/or necessary evils by most of the Church’s pastors and faithful.

St. Thomas Aquinas (13th century). The Angelic Doctor never treats of torture in secular judicial inquiries. However, without mentioning the word, he does justify the contemporary Inquisition’s use of torture (recently introduced in 1252 by Pope Innocent IV... in considering whether unbelievers may be "compelled" to the faith, he first acknowledges that those who have never been Christians (i.e., Jews, pagans and Muslims) may not be forced to embrace the faith, but then continues: "On the other hand, there are unbelievers who at some time have accepted the faith, and professed it, such as heretics and all apostates: such should be submitted even to bodily compulsion, that they may fulfil what they have promised, and hold what they, at one time, received".

Pope Leo X, Bull Exsurge Domine (June 15, 1520), censuring certain opinions of Martin Luther:

Condemned proposition #33: "Burning heretics is contrary to the will of the Spirit".35

Pope Benedict XVI, in a speech of 6 September 2007.."In this regard, I reiterate that the prohibition against torture 'cannot be contravened under any circumstances'". — Torture and corporal punishment as a problem in catholic theology, September 2005: Living Tradition ORGAN OF THE ROMAN THEOLOGICAL FORUM, Editor: Msgr. John F. McCarthy, J.C.D., S.T.D., Living Tradition, Oblates of Wisdom, P.O. Box 13230, St. Louis, MO 63157, USA

Excerpts, Living Tradition, Oblates of Wisdom: http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt119.html

[redgolum]

For the State church you are by in large correct. Much like the state church today will not speak out against its members who are in power for fear of loosing its tax exempt status.

[stfassisi]

Ho do you reconcile your argument of pornography as driving factor when documented child rape cases go as far back as the 40’s?

It's been around since photography and was circulated by organized crime before the 40's

Sexual perversion goes back very far.It has infiltrated all religions,governments,private industry etc..It is the devil's greatest tool!

[TSgt]

Please explain how pornography caused the Vatican and it’s leadership to cover up the abuse?

[NYer]

Ping!

[Alex Murphy]

I could have made it a Catholic Caucus thread ;-)

Unsuccessfully.

[achilles2000]

I agree with you entirely regarding the lack of appropriate action concerning the pedophiles. The deeper problem is that the RC relaxed its traditional standards towards sodomites thinking that it was being modern and humane. The result is an infestation of sodomites who exploit their positions sexually and financially. The has happened or is happening in other denominations and secular organizations with the same results.

[stfassisi]

The words of Saint John Chrysostom should help you to understand what happens when priests and Bishops don’t do what is right in abuse cases

“The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.” ~ St. John Chrysostom

[vladimir998]

You’re tacitly admitting you were wrong earlier. The Church sought to protect herself - even you now admit it - and not to aid Hitler.

[Alex Murphy]

The words of Saint John Chrysostom should help you to understand what happens when priests and Bishops don’t do what is right in abuse cases

"Leave 'em in charge and support them in inflicting as much harm as possible, until they die or retire of old age."