The Pope’s Abiding Legacy
Following the unexpected news of a papal resignation which left many speculating about potential reasons behind those given publicly, assessments of Ratzinger’s legacy in office have been widely aired. (The media were also bewildered at a double lightning strike on the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome just hours after the announcement.) Many speak of a tainted legacy marked by controversies from which he could not be separated: ineffective handling of the child abuse and “Vatileaks” scandals, together with corruption and money-laundering claims and the failure to reform Vatican bureaucracy. The historian Michael Walsh described his legacy as “disastrous”. Ratzinger himself saw it as the “new evangelization”, a war of ideas with modern secularism where Roman Catholicism would emerge in Western society as the voice of moral authority. Some see his decision to resign as his most significant legacy, both in influencing the choice of his successor and in making the office less of a lifetime vocation.
There is, however, a legacy which he passes on that has been unnoticed by the media and the world at large. We find it clearly described in the pages of Scripture. He passes on claims to infallibility and titles that blaspheme each member of the Godhead, such as Vicar of Christ (the office of the Holy Spirit), Most Holy Father (Jn 17:11) and Supreme Pontiff (Christ is the only High Priest). He “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God” (2 Th 2:4) especially by the blasphemous lying wonder (2 Th 2:9) of the mass. His legacy is an anti-gospel of salvation by human endeavour (Gal 1:6-9) and soul-damning doctrine – “all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Th 2:10). It is a legacy of the greatest apostasy (falling away (2 Th 2:3)), from the gospel of grace established in the apostolic Church, through the adoration and invocation of the Virgin Mary.
Some have mistakenly thought that “the man of sin” must refer to one individual man, not a succession of men. Scripture can often speak of many holding the same office, using an expression that seems to refer to one individual – for example, “the man of God” (2 Tim.3:17) or “the high priest” (Heb 9:7). It is a legal person, one continuous man, so to speak. The four beasts of Daniel 7-8 are mentioned as four kings, but they are really successions of kings within a kingdom. The power withholding (holding back) the appearance of the man of sin, “he that now letteth” (2 Th 2:7), was the Roman emperor, a succession of men through several centuries. When this becomes clear, it is also clear that the man of sin, described later as “he that sitteth”, would also
be a succession of men holding the same office. The title, “son of perdition”, is one also given to Judas Iscariot (Jn 17:12), which shows that it is possible for more than one man to be referred to as the man of sin.
On the other hand, the Lord Jesus Christ’s legacy is that He will be with His Church to the end of the world (Mt 28:20) and that He shall build His Church and destroy the man of sin with His Word of truth (2 Th 2:8). MV