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| Historical Supplement Issue #199 March-April Supplement 2005 Revelation: Historical Supplement
In centuries past Christianity was defined as Roman Catholicism.
Its supremacy was successfully challenged by dissenters in the 16th century
in what came to be known as the Protestant movement—people protesting
against the excesses, oppression, and unbiblical assertions of the popes
and the Church as an institution. The Jesuits As a reaction to Protestant revolts, the Jesuit Order was founded in 1540, answerable only to the Pope. Their members were required to perform “spiritual exercises” for the purpose of giving up their will entirely. We have a word for it today. We call it brainwashing. Ex-Jesuit, Malachi Martin describes it for us in The Jesuits, p. 197,
They were essentially a secret society having open membership as well as secret agents to infiltrate and subvert governments. By the mid-1700’s they were hated by virtually all European governments for their ungodly tactics. Kings threatened to break away from the Roman Church in the same manner as the Church of England had done earlier. Finally, in 1773 Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuit Order, and for this he died of poison the next year. With the rise of revolutionary Freemasonry at the same time in history, the Jesuits found common cause with them in punishing the Roman Church. Adam Weishaupt, an ex-Jesuit, funded by Jewish banking interests, established his Illuminati and infiltrated the Masonic lodges. France soon was lost to the Roman Church, and Pope Pius VI was furious. Anger gave way to fear, however, when Napoleon took the Pope captive. He died in exile in 1799 and was replaced by Pius VII. When Napoleon fell, the “Holy Alliance” was formed in 1815 at the “Congress of Vienna.” The papacy emerged once again, its deadly wound healed (Rev. 13:12). However, it arose no longer as the superpower of Europe, but as one of the powers. For this reason the Church found it necessary to compromise in a power-sharing arrangement. Each of these powers, of course, competed with the others to gain a greater share of power. But no one nation or king or pope reigned supreme. The Prisoner of the Vatican In 1870 the Church suffered another catastrophe when Victor Emmanuel took the Papal States from papal control and united Italy as one nation. Pope Pius IX retreated into the Vatican in a self-imposed exile, calling himself a “prisoner of the Vatican.” He was hoping, no doubt, that Catholics everywhere would sympathize with him, come to his rescue, and restore his civil power. It did not happen. By this time too many Catholics were disillusioned with the Church. So the Popes stewed in the Vatican for the next 70 years until finally Pope Pius XI made a treaty with Mussolini that established Vatican City as a City State. Mussolini paid the Vatican $90 million to compensate the Church for its loss of the Papal States in 1870. The investments from the “donation of Mussolini” had increased to $2 billion by 1939. The money was used to create the Institute for Religious Agencies (the Vatican Bank) on June 27, 1942. The Lateran Treaty, as the Concordat with Mussolini was called, was a major turning point in the history of the Roman Church. It brought the Vatican back as one of the major players in international affairs, and it gave them the funds to do so—or at least a way to start building up their funds once again. The Church in Poverty Although the Church had much wealth, it was nearly all tied up in art and buildings. The Church had a serious money shortage in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Paul Williams tells us in The Vatican Exposed, p. 23,
On page 24 he continues,
Paul Williams tells us on page 15,
After Benedict XV died, Pope Pius XI was determined to change things. He came out of exile. The Church Re-enters the World Stage Pius XI began to complain that the Church had never been compensated for the loss of the Papal States in 1870. He then made a series of agreements with Mussolini, which brought the dictator to power and established fascism in Italy. The most important agreement (June 9, 1923) was for the leader of the Catholic Populist party to resign his position and to disband the party. The next year the Pope ordered all Catholic priests to resign from the party, and in 1926 the party was declared illegal. Williams says on p. 27,
The fascist state was assured. Vatican diplomacy with Mussolini culminated in the Lateran Treaty on Feb. 11, 1929. Williams says on p. 26,
When the Vatican Bank was established, the pope appointed Bernardino Nogara as its manager. He had been the financial wizard who had reorganized the Reichsbank in Germany. He agreed to do work for the Vatican under the condition that he be given complete control over all the investments and to be completely independent of all other Vatican bureaucracies. Usury banking suddenly lost its historic sinful status. Paul Williams says on page 37,
Thus were the seeds of change planted, which came to full fruition with the 21st Church Council called Vatican II (1962-1965). By 1958 the Vatican controlled more than 90 out of 180 of Italy’s credit, banking, and insurance companies. By the time Nogara died in 1958, a few weeks after the death of Pius XII, the Vatican had come to be known as “Vatican, Inc.” The Vatican and Hitler Shortly after the accord with Mussolini, Pius XI made a similar agreement with Hitler in Germany (July 22, 1933). As he had done with Mussolini, the Vatican agreed to disband the Catholic Center Party, withdraw from labor unions, and throw its support behind Hitler. This was negotiated over a three-month period in 1933 by German Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen (who was a Catholic). Thus, the Catholic Center Party was disbanded and Catholics were instructed to vote for Hitler—not because they agreed with his personal or nationalist policies, and not even because he opposed Jews, but because he was considered to be the best hope of destroying Communist Russia. Avro Manhattan tells us in Vatican Imperialism in the Twentieth Century, p. 205,
Eugenio Pacelli, the friend of von Papen, was the Vatican’s representative in Germany, the Papal Nuncio, who was soon to become the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and finally (in 1939) he became Pope Pius XII. Those German priests who objected to the Vatican policy on moral grounds were persecuted by Hitler, and the Vatican turned a blind eye. Their opposition to official Church policy had brought them outside the protective umbrella of the Church. In turn, Hitler offered to give the Church a Kirchensteuer, or “Church tax” levied on all practicing Catholics in Germany. The tax was deducted from their paychecks and gave the Vatican billions in revenue. The Murder of Pope Pius XI Finally, in January 1937 three German cardinals and two bishops came to the Vatican to protest to Pius about the Nazi harassment and restrictions. The Pope was old and sick, but he apparently began to regret his alliance with Hitler. He then ordered an encyclical called Humani Generis Unitas to be prepared. Williams writes on p. 51,
Pacelli’s murder of Pope Pius XI was rewarded with the papal hat. Pope Pius XII was as ruthless as he was anticommunist. Under his pontificate, Americans heard Father Caughlin’s radio anticommunist broadcasts and the political charges from Sen. Joe McCarthy. Both were Catholics. World War II and Catholic Croatia One may forgive the Popes for backing Hitler and Mussolini on the grounds that they represented the best hope to defeat Communist Russia. However, the Popes had another very important motive. It was defeat of the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches. Most of this warfare took place in the Balkans during World War II. The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 had overthrown not only Russia but also the Russian Orthodox Church, whose power depended upon the Czar, “Protector of the Church.” At first, the Vatican rejoiced, thinking that they would be able to “evangelize” Russia when the violence ended. But when this dream evaporated, they became anticommunist. The Orthodox Church was now divided and weakened. The Greek Orthodox Church, cut off from its Russian younger-but-bigger brother, was vulnerable to Rome. Hitler invaded Yugoslavia in 1941 and divided the country. Catholic Croatia was split from Orthodox Serbia. Croatia was given official “Aryan” status and made into an independent Catholic Kingdom under Pavelic and his followers, known as the Ustashi. They appointed Tomislav II as their puppet king. Croatia immediately began to cleanse the nation of all “Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and dogs.” Paul Williams says on pages 65-72,
The murderous dictator, Pavelic, was captured by American forces at the end of the war. During his trial, Pope Pius XII arranged for Pavelic to be sent to Vatican City, where he was given sovereign protection. Likewise, the gold from Croatia’s treasury was sent to the Vatican for “safe-keeping.”
In addition, the Vatican “rat-line” provided Vatican passports for thousands of fleeing Nazis—for a price, of course. They had to pay 40 to 50 percent of their money to the Vatican for their services.
Violent anticommunism was the primary doctrine of Pope Pius XII for as long as he was alive. He did not know to what extent the Church and the Vatican itself had been infiltrated by freemasons. 1958: End of an Era When Pope John XXIII (the so-called “pink pope”) was elected in 1958 at the death of Pius XII, the freemasons knew their time had come. They came to power, and Vatican II was their great success in eroding centuries of Roman Catholic traditional teaching. There has been a conflict between the “traditionalist” Catholics and the new Church ever since that time, but the average Catholic remained confused, irritated, and even angered. The only pope who seriously attempted to oppose them was John Paul I in 1978. He lasted just 33 days before being poisoned by his own Secretary of State, Cardinal Jean Villot, masonic name “Jeanni,” Lodge #041/3, Zurich, August 6, 1966 (Williams, p. 152). After seeing his Secretary of State on the list of Vatican officials who were Masons, John Paul made the mistake of informing him that he was going to be dismissed the next day. Pope John Paul died by poison that same night. Cardinal Villot seized his papers and had him embalmed immediately. The hostile takeover of the Vatican would never again be seriously challenged. God’s
Kingdom Ministries |