Perhaps the most significant fact about the new Pope is that he is a Jesuit of 55 years standing – the first of his order to occupy the papal throne. After becoming a priest, he was the director of Jesuit novices in Argentina, a post thought by Jesuits to be one of the most important in the order. He was never a parish priest but taught in Jesuit schools and colleges, and is therefore expert in initiating aspiring Jesuits into the mysteries of Jesuit sophistry. He was also Provincial, or head, of the Jesuit order in Argentina from 1973 to 1979.
By taking the name Francis on elevation to the papacy he is as much identifying with the “evangelising zeal” of the co-founder of the order, Francis Xavier, as with the legendary humility and poverty of Francis of Assisi. It is not insignificant that the title of his authorised biography is The Jesuit.
That Jorge Bergoglio is no ordinary Jesuit was also shown in 1978 when the Jesuits in Latin America were reined in by the then Pope because most of them had espoused Marxist liberation theology, which brought Rome into disfavour with Argentina’s rulers, Bergoglio adroitly “sided with the Pope against the Marxist faction within his own order”. His loyalty to the papacy did not go unrewarded. He was promoted step by step until he was made Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and a Cardinal in 2001. We may presume then that Bergoglio is wily and skilful in operating in the corridors of power, both ecclesiastical and secular, and that his avuncular bonhomie masks the focused authoritarian, while behind the soft voice is steely determination.
Bergoglio is a not inappropriate head of a system which, as The Protestant Truth Society says, “has the uncanny knack of hypnotising a naive and gullible world” and “retains the respect and adulation of media, politicians and the ecumenical movement”. One of his colleagues in Argentina, Rafael Velasco, a Jesuit and rector of the Catholic University of Cordoba, said, “Jorge is a political man with a keen nose for politics”.
Undoubtedly he will beguile many, including professing Protestants, and to a certain degree will “prosper and practise” (Dan 8:24), as was prophesied in Scripture of one who prefigured the Antichrist. All the more reason to pray that we be kept from being deceived by the plausibility of Jesuitical Popery, but also for the predicted destruction of the whole delusive system, and especially for the worldwide extension of Christ’s Kingdom, of which He and no other is the Head. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). NMR
New Pope’s Devotion to Mary
As one would expect, Jorge Bergoglio, SJ, now Pope Francis, is an idolator like his predecessors. It is reported that he “opened his first morning as pontiff by praying . . . at Rome’s main basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary”. He arrived there “just after 8 am and left about 30 minutes later”. His devotion to Mary was shown in his first short speech in front of the applauding crowd in St Peter’s Square, when the most-quoted figure was the Virgin Mary, to whom he committed himself and his predecessor”. In concluding, he said, “I’m going to go pray to the Madonna tomorrow”.
Rome would have us believe he was not worshipping her. One Roman Catholic website says that he went to “venerate the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ‘Salus Populi Romani’ (‘Protectress of the Roman People’)”. There is no question about it: prayer is worship.
When Bergoglio was fighting against proposed same-sex marriage legis-
lation in Argentina he called for prayer to Mary among others. “Let’s look,” he said, “to St Joseph, Mary, and the Child to ask fervently that they defend the Argentine family in this moment.” Another indication of his mariolatry is that “in Germany he saw the painting ‘Mary, Untier of Knots,’ in Augsburg and brought a copy of the painting to Argentina where it has become an important Marian devotion”.
The point is that Rome continues, and will continue, to be the idolatrous system it has been for centuries. She professes to worship God, but to give a lesser devotion to Mary and an even lesser devotion to saints, images and relics. Yet what is that lesser devotion but idolatry? May many in her fold yet hear and heed the call, “Flee from idolatry” (1 Cor 10:14). NMR
Pope “Would Have Accepted” Civil Partnerships
An intriguing report about the Pope is in circulation – that in private he supported civil partnerships. The story, according to The New York Times and CNN, is that in 2010, when Jorge Bergoglio was Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and when same-sex marriage legislation was being prepared by the Argentinian Government, he proposed at a bishops’ meeting that they would gain advantage in the debate by endorsing the lesser evil of civil partnerships. In the event he was outvoted, the only defeat he experienced in that forum, we are told.
Roman Catholic theologian and homosexual activist, Marcelo Marquez, has said that, to his surprise Bergoglio, told him, “I’m in favour of gay rights and in any case, I also favour civil unions for homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay marriage law”. Andres Albertsen, a former pastor of the Danish Church in Buenos Aires, says that Bergoglio “showed himself to be very open . . . He told me that he would have accepted a civil union.” And Sergio Rubin, Bergoglio’s authorised biographer, wrote, “He proposed . . . that the Church discreetly accept the intermediate alternative of the civil union”.
These reports indicate to some how Bergoglio might operate as Pope. The New York Times states that, when “he faced one of the most acute tests of his tenure as head of Argentina’s church, he showed another side as well, supporters and critics say: that of a deal-maker willing to compromise and court opposing sides in the debate, detractors included” – which is not an unexpected method of operation for a cardinal who is also a Jesuit. CNN reckons that “the Pope’s reported willingness behind the scenes to accept civil unions as a compromise may offer new insight into how he will lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics”. Be that as it may, the reports remind us that “the mystery of iniquity” has not yet ceased to work. NMR