The following report is received from a friend in Italy who is studying the Roman Catholic Church as it relates to the happenings in that country. This person has lived in the U.S. and is keenly aware of the ignorance of many North Americans of the true machinations of the Roman Catholic Church. This comment was written June 28, 2005.

 

My dear friend,

 I send this article below as a brief example, in the pope’s own words, of what ecumenical dialogue and unity mean for the Roman church. The first citation below in blue shows the method used by the Roman Catholic Church to achieve ecumenism: “to use concrete gestures which enter hearts and stir consciences.” (This is accomplished by the Roman Church through means of anthropological issues: abortion, stem cell research, homosexuality, marriage, and the family, issues that the pope uses to bring consensus to his “moral” crusade, and therefore to himself and the church hierarchy and away from the Bible as the authority for the believer. It is a moral crusade which the large part of the evangelical world has yet to realize is not as biblical as it seems, and has the consequence the closing of the Bible, and with it, the closing of the American mind.)  “Conversion” is defined here in terms of conversion to the church, not “turning to God from idols to serve the true and living God, the God of Jesus of Nazareth (I Thess. 1:9). Conversion is the giving up of the freedom of conscience, of  “freedom of inquiry” into the Scriptures, and to create a hierarchical (medieval) society, with the pope and the church at the top.

 The second quote defines “unity”, and says that to desire unity is to desire the church.  Where is the Bible as authority and that which defines this search for unity?  It is completely absent because in Romanism the Bible is hidden within the hierarchy, and is not an outside authority to which it must submit. (In the Roman system, the church establishes the Word, and not vice versa.)   This leads us to ask about the meaning of “to desire the church”: Which church?  Which hierarchy? Which magisterium? What are the political, social, economic consequences of this “desire of the church”?  (Many who read this are aware that in the American evangelical world there is an obsession with the church, with perfecting the church, her structures, and defiining Christainity in terms of the church instead of in terms of Christ and His Word. I call this American evangelical move toward Roman Catholic thinking “salvation by ecclesiology”.) Note the use of Jesus in service to the hierarchy, as Jesus’ prayer for unity is interpreted as a prayer of global submission to the church hierarchy, to the pope. (The Muslim term “dhimmitude”, global “submission” to Islamic sharia law, is the same concept, except that the Roman system makes use of gradual integration and the Muslim system uses brute force through Jihad wars.) Please notice that the second quote in the article below, from the papal encyclical Ut Unim Sint, was a reiteration by John Paul II of the spirit of Vatican II. Here is the introductory sentence of John Paul II ’s encyclical Ut Unim Sint, from 1995, showing you that this Roman Catholic ecumenical movement was at the center of Vatican II, and is reiterated by John Paul II here, and now by Benedict XVI, the current pope, in the article below. First from John Paul II:

 “Ut unum sint! The call for Christian unity made by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council with such impassioned commitment is finding an ever greater echo in the hearts of believers, especially as the Year 2000 approaches, a year which Christians will celebrate as a sacred Jubilee, the commemoration of the Incarnation of the Son of God, who became man in order to save humanity.”

And from the same encyclical:

“Full unity will come about when all share in the fullness of the means of salvation entrusted by Christ to his Church.”

The intention of Vatican II from its outset, “Christian unity”, reiterated by John Paul II, was “to open wide the doors” to let the whole world into the church, or as the Vatican II motto says, “The Catholic Church is embarking on a grand movement so that no one can say he is not catholic.”  (This includes the Jewish, Muslim and Protestant world too.)  Roman Catholicism is the COMPLETE ABSENCE OF OTHERNESS, of diversity, of pluralism, in the name of God. This is why it is a blasphemous system, antiChrist, because God’s very nature is relational, is understood in relational terms of “otherness”, diversity, as is the human being’s. No culture will survive where the Bible is closed in the name of “unity”. Sadly, Italy has the choice only between chaos and dictatorship because it is not permitted to open the Bible. E pluribus unum has one meaning for the American founding fathers, and a very differet one for the pope. One is a biblical vision of unity in diversity, the other is a totalitarian vision of unity as the absence of diversity, based in papal infallibility, as represented by Ut unum sint. I will leave it to you to define where the current American “culture wars” are leading us.

Code: ZE05061624

Date: 2005-06-16

Papal Address to Secretary-General of World Council of Churches

Church's Commitment "to the Search for Christian Unity Is Irreversible"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered today to the Reverend Samuel Kobia, secretary-general of the World Council of Churches, and his entourage.

* * *

Dear General Secretary,

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:2). With these words of Saint Paul, I gladly welcome you and the members of the delegation from the World Council of Churches. After your installation as General Secretary you had planned to visit my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II. Though this hope was never realized, I thank you for representing the World Council of Churches at his funeral, and I express my gratitude for the message which you sent to me on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of my own ministry as Bishop of Rome.

Relations between the Catholic Church and the World Council developed during the Second Vatican Council, where two observers from Geneva were present at all four sessions. This led in 1965 to the establishment of the Joint Working Group as an instrument of ongoing contact and cooperation, which would keep in mind the common task of unity in answer to the Lord's own prayer, "that they may all be one" (John 17:21). Next November an important consultation on the future of the Joint Working Group will be held to mark the fortieth anniversary of its founding. My hope and prayer is that its purpose and working methodology will be further clarified for the sake of ever more effective ecumenical understanding, cooperation and progress.

In the very first days of my Pontificate I stated that my "primary task is the duty to work tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers." This requires, in addition to good intentions, "concrete gestures which enter hearts and stir consciences … inspiring in everyone that inner conversion that is the prerequisite for all ecumenical progress" ("Missa pro ecclesia," 5).

Pope John Paul II often recalled that the heart of the search for Christian unity is "spiritual ecumenism." He saw its core in terms of being in Christ: "To believe in Christ means to desire unity; to desire unity means to desire the Church; to desire the Church means to desire the communion of grace which corresponds to the Father's plan from all eternity. Such is the meaning of Christ's prayer: 'Ut unum sint'" (Encyclical Letter "Ut Unum Sint," 9).

It is my hope that your visit to the Holy See has been fruitful, strengthening the bonds of understanding and friendship between us. The commitment of the Catholic Church to the search for Christian unity is irreversible. I therefore wish to assure you that she is eager to continue cooperation with the World Council of Churches. Again, I offer a special word of encouragement to you, Mr. General Secretary, to the members of the Central Committee and to the entire staff, as you work to lead and renew this important ecumenical body. Please know that you are in my prayers and that you have my unfailing goodwill. "May grace and peace be yours in abundance" (2 Peter 1:2).

[Original text: English]