Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Vatican’s Pact With Islam

by Giulio Meotti and John D. Keyser

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Meets Saudi King Abdullah

It’s an ethnic cleansing of monumental proportions that makes it clear why the Vatican’s submission to political Islam, along with its religious anti-Israel stance, will be remembered as one of the greatest moral failings of the 21st Century.

A New Pope

On Monday February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, surprised the world by saying he would resign at the end of the month "because of advanced age." It's the first time a pope has stepped down in nearly 600 years. "Strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," said Benedict, 85, according to the Vatican.

The news startled the Catholic world and led to frenzied speculation about who would replace him, including a debate about the merits of naming a pontiff from the developing world, where the church continues to grow, versus one from Europe, where it has deep historical roots. But that decision was not made by Benedict, who left his post at 8 p.m. on February 28.

Pope Francis

With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday March 13, 2013 -- choosing the cardinal from Argentina, the first South American to lead the church. The new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (pronounced Ber-GOAL-io), will be called Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years and the first member of the Jesuit order to lead the church. In choosing Francis, 76, who had been the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the cardinals sent a powerful message that the future of the church lies in the global south, home to the bulk of the world’s Catholics. Also, the fact that he chose the name Francis is an indication that he will continue the church's outreach to Islam -- further validating the prophecies found in the Bible.

Leaders of the Islamic community in Buenos Aires welcomed the news of Bergoglio's election as pope, noting that he "always showed himself as a friend of the Islamic community," and a person whose position is "pro-dialogue." Bergoglio visited both a mosque and a school in Argentina, visits that Sheik Mohsen Ali, the Director for the Diffusion of Islam, called actions that strengthened the relationship between the Catholic and Islamic communities. Dr. Sumer Noufouri, Secretary General of the Islamic Center of the Republic of Argentina (CIRA), added that Bergoglio's past actions make his election as pope a cause within the Islamic community of "joy and expectation of strengthening dialogue between religions." Noufouri said that the relationship between CIRA and Bergoglio over the course of a decade had helped to build up Christian-Muslim dialogue in a way that was "really significant in the history of monotheistic relations in Argentina.

Francis of Assisi

Bergoglio took the name of the Italian mystic St. Francis of Assisi -- who founded the religious order known as the Franciscans.

St. Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182 -- the exact year is uncertain; died there, October 3, 1226. His father, Pietro Bernardone, was a wealthy Assisian cloth merchant. Of his mother, Pica, little is known, but she is said to have belonged to a noble family of Provence. Francis was one of several children. St. Francis wasn't as saintly as the Vatican would like you to belief, and his true nature was suppressed by the Bollandists who wrote the Vatican's FICTITIOUS Acta Sanctorum -- a massive collection of books containing the lives and acts of every saint in the Holy Roman Calendar that later became the foundation of all investigation in hagiography and legend. 

The Bollandists supposed that St. Francis's mother was so religious she bore him in a stable so that his birth would resemble the Gospel story of the Messiah. The stable story dates from the fifteenth century only. At baptism the "saint" received the name of Giovanni, which his father afterwards altered to Francesco, through fondness it would seem for France, where business had led him at the time of his son's birth.

The Bollandists also failed to mention that Francis was "a madman through and through, a danger to the public safety." [1] Francis was not very studious, and his literary education remained incomplete. Although associated with his father in trade, he showed little liking for a merchant's career, and his parents seemed to have indulged his every whim. Thomas of Celano, his first biographer, speaks in very severe terms of Francis's youth. It is certain that the saint's early life gave no presage of the future role he was to play according to the Bollandists.

St. Francis grew up "a debauched youth" [2] and having robbed his father, was disinherited, but seemed not troubled by it.

According to the Bollandists, no one loved pleasure more than Francis; he had a ready wit, sang merrily, delighted in fine clothes and showy display. Handsome, gallant, and courteous, he soon became the prime favorite among the young nobles of Assisi, the foremost in every feat of arms, the leader of civil celebrations, the very king of frolic. But even at this time Francis showed an instinctive sympathy with the poor, and though he spent money lavishly, it still flowed in such channels as to indicate a large magnanimity of spirit. The truth of the matter is that Francis was a spendthrift, his dress was that of a beggar, his looks were haggard and his eyes were "glazed in a frightening stare." [3]

According to Joan Acocella, "Francis was scrawny and plain-looking. He wore a filthy tunic, with a piece of rope as a belt, and no shoes. While preaching, he often would dance, weep, make animal sounds, strip to his underwear, or play the zither. His black eyes sparkled. Many people regarded him as mad, or dangerous. They threw dirt at him. Women locked themselves in their house." [6]

When about twenty, Francis went out with the townsmen to fight the Perugians in one of the petty skirmishes so frequent at that time between the rival cities. The Assisians were defeated on this occasion, and Francis, being among those taken prisoners, was held captive for more than a year in Perugia. A low fever which he there contracted appears to have turned his thoughts to the things of eternity -- at least the emptiness of the life he had been leading came to him during that long illness.

With returning health, however, Francis's eagerness after glory reawakened and his fancy wandered in search of victories; at length he resolved to embrace a military career, and circumstances seemed to favor his aspirations. A knight of Assisi was about to join "the gentle count", Walter of Brienne, who was then in arms in the Neapolitan States against the emperor -- and Francis arranged to accompany him. Around 1205, he joined the Catholic army in the Crusade established to annihilate the gentle Cathars, but was later dismissed because of his mental condition.

His biographers tell us that the night before Francis set forth he had a strange dream, in which he saw a vast hall hung with armor all marked with the Cross. "These", said a voice, "are for you and your soldiers." "I know I shall be a great prince", exclaimed Francis exultingly, as he started for Apulia. But a second illness arrested his course at Spoleto. There, we are told, Francis had another dream in which the same voice bade him turn back to Assisi. He did so at once.

Although Francis still joined at times in the noisy revels of his former comrades, his changed demeanor plainly showed that his heart was no longer with them; a yearning for the life of the spirit had already possessed it. His companions teased Francis on his absent-mindedness and asked if he intended to be married. "Yes", he replied, "I am about to take a wife of surpassing fairness." She was, of course, none other than Lady Poverty -- whom even now he had begun to love. After a short period of uncertainty he began to seek in prayer and solitude the answer to his call; he had already given up his frivolous attire and wasteful ways. Shortly afterwards Francis made a pilgrimage to Rome.

In the autumn of the same year (1212) Francis's burning desire for the conversion of the Islamic Saracens led him to embark for Syria, but having been shipwrecked on the coast of Slavonia, he had to return to Ancona.

During the year 1214 Francis set out for Morocco, in another attempt to reach the infidels and, if needs be, to shed his blood for the Gospel. However, while still in Spain he was overtaken by so severe an illness that he was compelled to turn back to Italy once more.

In 1219, accompanied by another friar and hoping to convert the Sultan of Egypt to Catholicism -- or win martyrdom in the attempt -- Francis went to Egypt where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta two miles (3.2 kilometers) upstream from the mouth of one of the main channels of the Nile. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta, unable to relieve it. A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the Christians on August 29, 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire which lasted four weeks. It was most probably during this interlude that Francis and his companion crossed the Saracen lines and were brought before the Sultan -- remaining in his camp for a few days. 

The visit is reported in contemporary Crusader sources and in the earliest biographies of Francis, but they give no information about what transpired during the encounter beyond noting that the Sultan received Francis graciously and that Francis preached to the Saracens without effect, returning unharmed to the Crusader camp. No contemporary Arab source mentions the visit. 

According to some late sources, the Sultan gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that Francis and his companion left the Crusader camp for Acre, from where they embarked for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure, later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed baptism as a result of the encounter with Francis. 

The Franciscan Order has been present in the Holy Land almost uninterruptedly since 1217 when Brother Elias arrived at Acre. It received concessions from the Mameluke Sultan in 1333 with regard to certain Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and (so far as concerns the Catholic Church) jurisdictional privileges from Pope Clement VI in 1342.

Francis's visit to Egypt and attempted rapprochement with the Muslim world had far-reaching consequences -- long past his own death -- since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of the Catholic Church.

Pope Innocent III (died 1216) described St. Francis as "the most strange visitor, and was very much calmed when he left my office." [4] Professor P. J. Lennox of the Catholic University of America related that St. Francis, "while his eyes burnt with a strange fire, he wandered about his native town of Assisi, followed by a crowd of children who hooted and jeered at the madman which they knew him to be." [5]

St. Francis was never ordained a priest, and while fasting, starved himself to death around the age of 45.

It should be noted that the Acta Sanctorum is another Vatican forgery that was presented to the world as fact, and the Bollandists were still industriously creating more forgeries in the 1930s. Today, access to the Acta Sanctorum is not easily obtained, and one suspects that the Vatican is withholding the volumes because of the embarrassment their invented nature would cause if released into the hands of the media or judicious modern-day authors. The new pope wanted to honor St. Francis of Assisi by adopting his name, saying that the saint was an admirer of nature and a servant to the poor and destitute. However, like everything else in Catholicism, the story of St. Francis of Assisi’s piousness is another Vatican fabrication that even the new Pope appears to have been deceived into believing.

This is the man Pope Francis wants to emulate; and it is this history of accommodation between the Franciscans and Islam that the new Pope brings to his papacy.

The Two Beasts of Revelation

Revelation 13 indicates that there will be two beasts at the time of the end -- one from the sea and one from the land. While the beast from the land is indeed Islam, the beast from the sea represents the nations controlled by the Vatican.

Beast From the Sea:

The apostle John wrote, in chapter 13, about a frightening beast that came up out of the sea, which had "ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were TEN royal crowns....To it the dragon [Satan] gave its power, its throne and great authority" (Revelation 13:1-2). In the vision John was instructed as to the MEANING of the great beast that came up out of the sea --

"I will tell you the hidden meaning...of the beast with seven heads and TEN horns...the seven heads are SEVEN HILLS on which the WOMAN is sitting; also they are SEVEN KINGS -- five have fallen, one is living now and the other is yet to come....The TEN horns you saw are TEN KINGS who have not yet begun to rule, but they receive power as kings for one hour, along with the beast. They have ONE MIND, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will go to war AGAINST THE LAMB [the Messiah] but the Lamb will defeat them...and those who are called, chosen and faithful will overcome along with him" (Revelation 17:7, 9-10, 12-14).

"As for the TEN HORNS that you saw and the beast, they will hate the WHORE [the woman], bring her to ruin, leave her naked, eat her flesh and consume her with fire. For God put it in their hearts to do what will fulfill his purpose, that is, TO BE OF ONE MIND and give their kingdom to the beast until God's words have accomplished their intent. And the woman you saw is the GREAT CITY that rules over the kings of the earth" (verses 16-18).

The WOMAN or WHORE of Revelation 17 pictures a great religious power that gives birth to other false religions and works against the TRUE religion of YEHOVAH God! This woman is in CONTRAST to the woman of Revelation 12 -- who is arrayed with the sun and moon and has twelve stars on her head. There she represents the TRUE church of YEHOVAH God which issued forth the Messiah to the world. The scarlet woman (or WHORE), on the other hand, is a picture of the FALSE church that issues forth other false churches.

This scarlet woman is also called "the GREAT CITY" that rules over the kings of the earth." This is not the city of Rome itself but Vatican City IN Rome. She is the whore of Babylon riding the power of the Roman Empire and became the beast as the EIGHTH form of Roman government at the same time. The Vatican is the city that makes no pretensions about her claim to the right to govern kings and kingdoms. This she has never repented of.

John mentions that the TEN HORNS -- or ten kingdoms of Psalm 83 -- are "to be of one mind." The word mind, in this instance, means "point of view" or "opinion." What "point of view" or "opinion" is that? THE POINT OF VIEW OF ISLAM! These ten kingdoms will be motivated by their common adherence to the tenets of Islam and its founder Muhammad! In reality, there is the same basic motivating force behind both the woman and the ten horns -- that of SATAN THE DEVIL!

Beast From the Land:

Earlier, in Revelation chapter 9, John saw an army of locusts come out of the smoke that issued out of the bottomless pit. So, what was John talking about when he described the army of locusts? Christians of the past, who knew history better than most of us do, saw this army of locusts as a prophecy of the rise and spread of Islam. 

The army of locusts came forth from a dark cloud of smoke that rolled out of the bottomless pit. The "bottomless pit" in Greek is abussos, the source of our English word abyss. Some English Bibles simply translate it "the abyss." It is remarkable that Abul A'la Mawdudi, one of Islam's most prominent scholars of the 20th century, used the very word abyss when writing about the beginnings of Islam. In a book written to introduce English-speaking people to the basics of Islam, Mawdudi tells his readers that Muhammad and his message came out of "Arabia -- the Abyss of Darkness." These are his exact words, and they appear in bold print as a sub-heading in his book. It is no mere coincidence that this outstanding Islamic author unwittingly identified Islam's source, in bold print no less, as "the Abyss of Darkness," using the very same word that appears in Revelation.

Why an army of locusts to represent an army of Arabs? About 900 years before John's Revelation, the Prophet Joel had symbolically described an invading, attacking army as a swarm of locusts. Any large, invading army might be compared to a swarm of locusts, but the Arabs and Muhammad have a unique connection to the locust: "In the Bedoween romance Antar, the locust is introduced as the national emblem of the Ishmaelites (one of the ancestors of the Arabs). And it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Muhammad, bearing on their wings this inscription -- 'We are the army of the Great God."' 

As we saw a Muslim writer unwittingly connect Islam's beginnings to the Abyss, here we see Muslim writers unwittingly connect Islam to the locusts that come from the Abyss.

"Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth [abyss]; and HE HAD TWO HORNS like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."

What is this two-horned governing beast? Among the 6,666 verses of the Qur'an (Koran) -- the sacred book of Islam -- are found the words "Dhul-Qarnayn," which literally mean "He of the two horns." This is found in verses 18:83 to 18:98. It tells the story of the two-horned one who will take the religion of Islam from the East to the people of the utmost West. It will then be determined by the two-horned one whether to show kindness to the people or to punish them -- depending on whether or not they will accept Islam. Here is a direct translation from the Qur'an:

"The Story of Dhul-Qarnayn Allah says to His Prophet,

"(And they ask you) O Muhammad,

"(about Dhul-Qarnayn.) i.e., about his story. We have already mentioned how the disbelievers of Makkah sent word to the People of the Book and asked them for some information with which they could test the Prophet. They (the People of the Book) said, 'Ask him about a man who traveled extensively throughout the earth, and about some young men who nobody knows what they did, and about the Ruh (the soul),' then Surat Al-Kahf was revealed. Dhul-Qarnayn had great Power.

"(Verily, We established him in the earth,) means, 'We have given him great power, so that he had all that kings could have of might, armies, war equipment and siege machinery.' So he had dominion over the east and the west, all countries and their kings submitted to him, and all the nations, Arab and non-Arab, served him. Some of them said he was called Dhul-Qarnayn (the one with two horns) because he reached the two 'Horns' of the sun, east and west, where it rises and where it sets.

"(and We gave him the means of everything.) Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Sa'id bin Jubayr, 'Ikrimah, As-Suddi, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others said, 'This means knowledge.' Qatadah also said,

"(and We gave him the means of everything.) 'The different parts and features of the earth.' Concerning Bilqis, Allah said,

"(she has been given all things))27:23(, meaning all things that monarchs like her are given. Thus too was Dhul-Qarnayn: Allah gave him the means of all things, meaning the means and power to conquer all areas, regions and countries, to defeat enemies, suppress the kings of the earth and humiliate the people of Shirk. He was given all that a man like him would need. And Allah knows best.

"(85. So he followed a way.) (86. Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of Hami'ah. And he found near it a people. We said: 'O Dhul-Qarnayn! Either you punish them or treat them with kindness.') (87. He said: 'As for him who does wrong, we shall punish him, and then he will be brought back unto his Lord, Who will punish him with a terrible torment (Hell).') (88. 'But as for him who believes [in Islam] and works righteousness, he shall have the best reward, and we shall speak unto him mild words.')"

We also know that the great symbol of Islam is the crescent moon with two sharp horns. Has the two-horned beast risen up from the earth in the Western nations, including the United States? It is dark, Satanic religion that demands the death of all who will not convert to it. It is a religion of fierce cruelty that also has another symbol -- the scimitar or curved sword. It is a religion of beheading, terrorism and bloody torture.

The most fundamental article of faith in Islam is a belief in strict monotheism (tawhid). The opposite of tawhid is known as shirk, or associating partners with Allah. This is often translated as polytheism. Shirk is the one unforgivable sin in Islam, if one dies in this state. Associating a partner or others with Allah is a rejection of Islam and takes one outside the faith. The Qur'an says:

"Verily, Allah forgives not the sin of setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom He wills sins other than that. And whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far from the path" (4:116).

The "people of Shirk" in the passage above are, therefore, the people of those who support polytheism -- in other words mainstream paganized "Christianity" that is prevalent today.

The Mark of the Second Beast

We read the following in Revelation 13:16-18:

"And he [the beast from the land or abyss] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand [or arm] or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666 [Chi Xi Stigma]" (NKJV).

The apostle John was told to write what he saw. I believe he did just that. I believe he wrote exactly what he "saw". It is as literal, simple and direct as that. He said people would wear a "666" on their foreheads and right arms. But, what exactly, did John see? Did he see "666" as we do today? No. We use Arabic numerals. In the Greek text, "666" is represented by Greek letters that also have numerical values, specifically: Chi Xi Stigma -- or "Six-hundred, three-score and six".

So what John saw was something that looked like "Chi Xi Stigma" being worn on the foreheads and right arms of the "multitude" who belong to the Beast. What does "666" mean? Is it something we can look at today and say, "There it is!" Is it something we can see? And the answer is, "yes you can".

The Greek letters Chi Xi Stigma also spell a phrase in another language. And that language is Arabic. The word it spells is "Bismillah" which means (literally) "In the name of Allah".

Next to it is a something from the beginning -- from Cain. See the "mark"? The cross? Tilt it about 45 degrees -- because it is just enough off kilter to be like what Satan does to the truth of YEHOVAH God. The mark found in Revelation 13 is like that of Cain. It is contained within the symbol that is the name of the Beast itself. The mark of Cain is coded inside the Chi Xi Stigma that spells "in the name of allah"!

Now, go back and re-read Revelation 13:18 ("Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666") inserting "bismillah" in place of Chi Xi Stigma or 666. It reads:

"Here is knowledge! Let him with understanding decipher the multitude of the beast, for it is a multitude of people and is the same as the number of a man, and his number is "in the name of Allah".

Where do you see this today? It is what is written on the green banners and green arm-bands that Muslims wear at protests, rallies, parades, dancing in the streets on 9/11, etc. It is also what the Martyrs for Islam wear on their heads and right arms when then blow themselves-up yelling "Alla Akbar" -- or "God is great". It is on the new Muslim coinage. And everything in Islam is done, "In the Name of Allah".

Simon Altaff, a Christian who was once a former Terrorist, and Walid Shoebat, also a Christian who was a Terrorist, saw the New Testament manuscripts at separate times and places. Immediately, they both recognized this character as Arabic. Other Christian Arabs make the same claim that the Bismillah symbol in this photograph of the Codex Vaticanus is the symbol for "in the name of allah".

This Arabic character spells the Arabic word "Bismillah" which means "in the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most kind".

The second Beast of Revelation 13 is Islam. The Beast's prophet is Muhammad. And The Mark of the Beast is that infernal Arabic writing across their Jihad head and arm bands, which is "the name of Allah" -- called the "bismillah" in Arabic. For more information, read our article The REAL Mark of the Beast!  

Revelation 13 indicates that there will be two beasts -- one from the sea and one from the land. While the beast from the land is indeed Islam, the beast from the sea represents the nations controlled by the Vatican. The Vatican and Islam will forge a partnership that will shock the world and plunge the nations into turmoil -- bringing on the return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah to usher in the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God and to finally bring peace to a war-weary and Satan-controlled world.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism.

Footnotes:

[1] De Antiqua Ecclesiae Disciplina, Bishop Lewis Du Pin, Catholic historian.

[2] Ibid.

[3] "Life of St. Francis", Demonologia.

[4] The True Story of the Popes, Robert H. Benson, London, 1922.

[5] History of St. Francis, Prof. P. J. Lennox, Catholic University of America, 1911.

[6] Rich Man, Poor Man: The Radical Visions of St. Francis, Joan Acocella, "The New Yorker," 2013.

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