![]() Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII are the latest editions to Rome’s mythical sainthood. The Vatican Information Service reported that half million people crowded into St. Peter’s Square and the surrounding area to witness the canonization ceremony on the morning of April 27. Delegations attended from over 100 countries. There were 20 heads of state and many figures from the world of politics and culture, including the king and queen of Spain, the king and queen of Belgium, the president of the European Union, and the president of the European Commission. Special hymns were written and sung to both popes. Pope Francis made the following pronouncement: “We declare and define Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II be Saints and we enroll them among the Saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church.” John Paul II was put on a fast track to sainthood because of his great popularity and his role in vastly increasing the stature and popularity of Roman Catholicism in this generation. Both popes had a massive role in promoting end-time ecumenism. John XXIII was the convener of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s which opened the door for Rome’s ecumenical relations with Protestants and Baptists and prepared the way for the creation of the apostate one-world “church” described in Revelation 17. Both popes were great venerators of Mary. Engraved in John Paul II’s wooden coffin, viewed at what has been called “the world’s largest funeral,” was a large letter M for Mary (The Evening Standard, London, Apr. 8, 2005). When elected pope in 1978, he dedicated his papacy to Mary, taking as his episcopal motto the Latin words “Totus Tuus,” meaning “Totally Yours” (“John Paul II’s Devotion to Mary,” Inside the Vatican, special insert, May 1996). He had these words of blasphemous devotion to Mary embroidered on his papal robes. In his autobiography Crossing the Threshold of Faith, which sold four million copies the first year alone, he said: “During the Second World War, while I was employed as a factory worker, I came to be attracted to Marian devotion. ... Mary is the new Eve, placed by God in relation to Christ, the new Adam ... the Mother of God shares in a unique way in the Resurrection and in the Glory of her own Son...” The Bible condemns this heresy in the clearest terms. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8). (Friday Church News Notes, May 2, 2014, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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