The next Pope?

An article found in the Dominion Newspaper, 31 January 2001,
reads Cardinal Secrets.

"After months of speculation over the list that lay on
the writing desk in his study high above St Peter's Square, and weeks of nail
biting among potential candidates for preferment, the ailing 80-year-old Pope
has finally made his fateful choice, shaping the body that will elect his own
successor.

From next month there will be 42 new boys -– a record -– in
what Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, has called "the most exclusive club
in the world". A club, moreover, with a history stretching back almost 1000
years: the College of Cardinals...

The smart money is on Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the
Archbishop of Genoa. More likely still, given the Pope's emphasis on choosing
cardinals who reflect the global reach ("universality" in his term)
of Catholicism, is that the next pontiff will be an archbishop used to dealing
with the daily problems of one of the populous, poverty stricken and tension -–
ridden cities of Latin America: Norberto Rivera Carrera, for example, the
Archbishop of Mexico City...

Perhaps the most powerful Curia figure is Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger of Germany, the soft-voiced "Grand Inquisitor" who, as the head of
the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, guards the purity of church
doctrine and roots out dissent.

The department head most often at the Pope's side, Cardinal
Ratzinger apart, is Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 73, the secretary of state, in
effect the papal prime minister.

If the next conclave is deadlocked, or decides not to go for
too young a pope ("We don't want another one who, will reign for more than
two decades," one insider tells me) he is deemed a likely stopgap choice.

His most formidable challenger among the Italian cardinals is
probably Giovanni Battista Re, one of the new red hats, who at 67 is undoubtedly
the Pope's own preferred choice.

Since last September, he has headed the Congregation of
Bishops, which gives him control of a worldwide church network. Two years ago,
in what was seen as a papal "laying on of hands", the Pope visited Re's
home at Borno, a mountain village near Brescia in northern Italy.

Of modest origins, he is referred to in the Vatican corridors
as "the carpenter's son", a sobriquet with obvious Biblical resonance, and
may be acceptable to both conservatives and liberals...

The climax of any cardinal's career is the meeting in the
Sistine Chapel when ballots are burnt in a stove and -– eventually -– white
smoke emerges from the chimney to announce that a new pontiff has been chosen.

After each ballot, cardinals are supposed to retire in prayer
and contemplation to seek divine inspiration.

In reality, as factions form and dissolve, there are modern
equivalents of the 1458 conclave recorded by the historian Eamon Duffy, at which
Pius II, emerged after "endless plotting in the lavatory block"...

No pope has voluntarily stepped down since Celestine V in
1294...." End Quote.

The question may now be asked, "Why include such an
article in this born-again Christian magazine?"

And the answer is that the Catholic church is spoken of very
clearly in the book of Revelation 17 as being the city on the seven hills.

We read from Revelation 17:9:

"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth."

Verse 18. "And the woman which thou sawest is that great
city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."

This church is referred to in Scripture as the whore or
prostitute, which is the very opposite of a pure bride who is waiting for their
bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ.

A careful reading of Revelation 17 describes the papacy:

Revelation 17:4-6: 'and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet
colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup
in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her
forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the
saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw here, I
wondered with great admiration."

For many years this writer has wondered as to the reason why
so many people attend that church without looking into what they teach.

For example one of the symbols of that particular
denomination is a body which hangs upon a cross. This is in direct opposition to
an empty cross which the Bible teaches is the truth today.

The people of that denomination are not encouraged to ask
questions such as: "Why is there a body still hanging on the cross when Christ
is already risen from the dead?" In our book Second Warning, on page
114 we quote an article taken from a book called This is the Catholic church,
published by the Catholic information service, Knights of Columbus,
Imprimatur Most Reverend John F. Whealon, Archbishop of Hartford.

"Sacrifice is the very essence of religion. And it is only
through sacrifice that union with the creator can be perfectly acquired. It was
through sacrifice that Christ himself was able to achieve this for man. It is
only through the perpetuation of that sacrifice that this union may be
maintained.

What makes the Mass the most exalted of all sacrifices is the
nature of the victim, Christ himself. For the Mass is the continuation of
Christ's sacrifice which he offered through his life and death. Jesus then
is the priest, the offerer of the sacrifice. But Christ was not only the priest
of this sacrifice (of the Cross), He was also the victim, the very object of the
sacrifice. The mass is thus the same as the sacrifice of the cross. No
matter how many times it is offered, nor in how many places at one time, it is
the same sacrifice of Christ. Christ is forever offering himself in the mass.

Then over to the Council of Trent. Passed in session XXII.
CAP. II

No. 4, "If any one shall say that a blasphemy is
ascribed to the most Holy sacrifice of Christ performed on the cross by the
sacrifice of the mass -– let him be accursed."

Well, that is what I am saying.

A careful reading of the book of Hebrews will deliver any
Roman Catholic from the lies that have been told regarding the power of Jesus
death and resurrection. Hebrews 7:27:

"Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the other people's: for this
he did once, when he offered up himself.

Hebrews 9:12.

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us."

Hebrews 9:26

"For then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

Hebrews 9:28.

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation."

Hebrews 10:10-13

"By the which will are sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. But his man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, sat down on the right hand of God

Hebrews 10:14.

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified."

We thank the Lord that Christ said these words on the cross,
"It is finished." And when he said "It is finished", He meant completely
finished. The full price for sin has been paid. It is a blasphemy to say that He
is still hanging on the cross for He has risen by the power of the Holy Spirit
and is now seated at the right hand of Almighty God.

Therefore anybody who attends a mass in future after reading
this article is committing a deliberate blasphemy. Our advice is leave the
system, receive Christ, be born-again and live the life that God intended us to
live in fellowship with Him through the blood of His son the Lord Jesus Christ.