Faith Declines in the USA
The Hill wrote on May 22:
“Only half of Americans now say they are sure God exists… Not quite 50 percent of Americans say they have no doubt about the existence of God, according to the 2022 survey… As recently as 2008, the share of sure-believers topped 60 percent…
“That is not to say Americans are not spiritual. Nearly three-quarters of people believe in life after death…
“Mainline Protestantism, the backbone of faith in many American communities, is ‘collapsing’… nearly 15 percent of the population reports no religious upbringing…”
With these figures, there is no wonder that the USA is collapsing.
US Bank Branches Collapse
MSN wrote on May 21:
“Bank branches are going the way of video stores and pay telephone booths, and there’s nothing financial consumers can do about it.
“In Philadelphia, Wells Fargo has closed 17% of its local bank branches since 2020. Regional kingpin PNC is not far behind, shuttering 15% of its branches in the Philadelphia area… Bank of America has gotten into the act, closing 5% of its physical locations in the region, as well.
“Big banks are closing branches in New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Washington, D.C., Illinois, and Michigan, as well as out west in Nevada, California, and Arizona… If the trend of current bank branch closings continues there may be no bank branches left in 10 years…
“This aggressive drawdown of in-person service will have negative consequences everywhere – but especially in rural, lower-income, and majority-minority communities…”
It’s plain stupidity. Whatever ignorant, corrupt and greedy people and companies can do to accelerate the downfall of the USA!!!
The Fight Surrounding the Debt Ceiling
AFP wrote on May 24:
“The White House and Congressional Republicans are still locked in crunch talks to try and avert the first debt default in US history, which Treasury officials have warned could come as soon as June 1. The U.S. borrows more than it brings in through taxes, and so Congress periodically has to authorize an increase to the US debt limit, known as the debt ceiling, which currently sits at more than $31 trillion.
“While the probability that policymakers fail to lift or suspend the debt ceiling remains low, the risks of the United States stumbling into a situation where it cannot meet all its financial obligations — known as the ‘X-date’, rises with every day that passes.
“If the US Treasury hits the debt ceiling and — as many analysts predict — it prioritizes debt repayments, it will be forced to pause spending on federal programs that provide crucial financial support to tens of millions of Americans… Deferring payments, even for a few days, could have severe consequences for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs which help tens of millions of people with pension and healthcare costs…
“On June 1, for instance, the Treasury is due to make a payment of $47 billion to Medicare providers, with $25 billion in Social Security payments due the following day. Further such payments are scheduled over the next few days. Past and present military personnel would also likely be hit if the US misses the X-date, as a large share of their pay and benefits are paid on the first of the month…
“Pausing or delaying payments may help the US government survive a few days on the other side of the X-date, but it will only work for so long. If the tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats continues, the federal government may need to consider an even less palatable scenario: choosing which bills to pay and which to skip. Such an eventuality could have severe knock-on effects for the most vulnerable Americans, including pensions going unpaid, healthcare providers refusing to take care of patients with Medicare or Medicaid, and insurance premiums rising…
“With many of the Treasury’s options after the X-date unpalatable to politicians on both sides of the aisle, both parties are backing the talks between Biden and McCarthy, and hoping negotiators can secure a deal before then.”
Fox News added on May 24:
“It appears very unlikely there is any chance to get a deal on the debt ceiling over the next couple of days.”
“Travel Advisory for Florida”?
Newsmax wrote on May 21:
“The NAACP, the liberal civil rights organization, over the weekend issued a travel advisory for Florida warning potential tourists that recent laws and policies championed by DeSantis and Florida’s Republican-held supermajorities in the state legislature are ‘openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.’
“The move appears part of a growing leftwing effort to censor and boycott government states, organizations and companies that disagree with woke ESG and other ‘inclusion’ policies.
“‘What a joke,’ DeSantis said in response during a speech Sunday. ‘We’ll see how effective that is. You know, just remember, during COVID, these people would be on CNN and all this stuff, slamming Florida, saying we were so bad, don’t go to Florida, and then they would end of being spotted on the beach somewhere, vacationing in Florida.’…
“The NAACP… joined the League of United Latin American Citizens… and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group, in issuing travel advisories… The liberal civil rights organizations also said DeSantis’ efforts to ban promotion of gay and transsexual lifestyles in elementary schools contributed to their decision.”
This is SO ludicrous and blatantly hypocritical! BUT, the promotion of gay and transsexual lifestyles in elementary schools should be banned!
DeSantis Announced His Candidacy for President
The Associated Press reported on May 24:
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday with firm words but a disastrous Twitter announcement that did little to counter criticism that the 44-year-old Republican may not be ready to take on former President Donald Trump. While he tried to project confidence, DeSantis’ unusual decision to announce his campaign in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk ultimately backfired. The audio stream crashed repeatedly, making it virtually impossible for most users to hear the new presidential candidate in real time…
“In choosing Twitter on Wednesday evening, DeSantis tried to take a page out of the playbook that helped turn businessman-TV celebrity Trump into a political star. It did not go as planned…
“DeSantis, who likely would not have become the Florida governor without Trump’s endorsement, has adopted the former president’s fiery personality, his populist policies and even some of his rhetoric and mannerisms… Aware of DeSantis’ draw, Trump has been almost singularly focused on undermining his political appeal for months. Trump and his team believe that DeSantis may be Trump’s only legitimate threat for the nomination….”
At this point, Trump has a 31-point lead over DeSantis. According to CNN, 53 percent of Republicans support Trump.
Unrepentant FBI Gets an “F”
On May 21, the New York Post published the following article by Miranda Devine:
“It’s been a horrendous week for the FBI. With its credibility already at rock bottom, each day brought a fresh scandal, and yet from the bureau’s unctuous public statements, there is no remorse…
“Here are the top scandals of the week:
“1) The Durham report. Here is the official record, for the history books, that the FBI’s ‘Russia collusion’ investigation was cooked up by Hillary Clinton to denigrate Donald Trump by tying him to Russia ‘as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server’ — and that, despite knowing it was bogus, the FBI went ahead and launched the ill-fated Crossfire Hurricane investigation, while dropping four probes into the Clinton Foundation…
“2) On Thursday, three wrongfully suspended FBI employees testified to the House weaponization subcommittee about the shocking abuses they observed, and the vicious retaliation they suffered from the bureau after they made protected whistleblower complaints… The three men accused the FBI of targeting Catholics, pro-life groups and parents attending school board meetings; of cooking the books on domestic terrorism; of unconstitutionally using SWAT teams to intimidate nonviolent January 6 suspects; of investigating Americans for nothing more than taking a bus to Washington to hear their president speak; of coercing Bank of America to turn over credit card transactions of anyone who came to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, whether they went to the Capitol or not…
“3) On Friday, a FISA court order revealed that the FBI has been misusing a surveillance tool almost 300,000 times in 2020-2021, including doing 23,000 searches on Jan. 6 suspects and 20,000 searches on a congressional candidate’s donors. The FBI also refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee to hand over a document alleging that Joe Biden accepted bribes to change US policy while he was VP.
“In the light of just one week of FBI shame, the latest Harvard Harris Poll showing deep public mistrust in the FBI comes as no surprise. Not only do 69% of voters believe the FBI violated its own standards in the Russia collusion probe, 70% are concerned that the bureau will interfere in future elections.
“The FBI is out of control and everyone knows it.”
It would be high time to get rid of the FBI altogether. In the world tomorrow, organizations such as the FBI will not be allowed anymore to exist.
Biden’s Major Mistake?
MSN wrote on May 19:
“… the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Joe Biden want South Carolina to hold the first primary in 2024, but New Hampshire has a law that says it is the rightful first primary. Now it looks like Joe Biden may not even be on the ballot in New Hampshire and that could allow Democrat White House hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson to be potential winners of the primary. That would be a big embarrassment for the president…
“… the Biden campaign tried to reward South Carolina Democrats for giving the president his critical primary victory in 2020 that launched him successfully toward the nomination. He and the DNC want South Carolina to hold the first primary and then New Hampshire and Nevada to have their contests on the same day a week later. However, the governor and legislators from the Granite State… say they will not change the law that requires New Hampshire to hold the first presidential primary.
“There’s a June deadline for alleviating this mess, but Democrats in New Hampshire show no signs of changing the statute that requires New Hampshire to be first. Now members of the DNC are thinking of giving New Hampshire more time to decide to do the ‘right thing’ and give in to the ‘wisdom’ of national Democrats. New Hampshire Democrats are indignant. They are going first… and if the DNC wants to have Biden on the ballot, they need to back off and let New Hampshire do what is required by law…’
It would be ironic if Joe Biden would not even be on New Hampshire’s ballot, due to the DNC’s political maneuvering.
F16 Fighter Jets for Ukraine
Business Insider wrote on May 21:
“President Joe Biden said he received ‘flat assurance’ from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine would not use F-16 fighter jets to attack Russian territory… It’s the latest development marking a drastic shift by US President Joe Biden and US officials, who have long rejected authorizing F-16s in Ukraine… on Friday, the US authorized Western allies to provide F-16 jets to Ukraine to defend itself, assist in training pilots, and possibly send fighter jets from American stockpiles… Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK and the Netherlands would build an ‘international coalition’ to help the country procure the fighter jets…
“The US president also announced another $375 million in military assistance to Ukraine to help support its long-running and bloody battle with Putin’s regime.”
These “flat assurances” are of course ridiculous. Biden’s constant change of position is embarrassing and worrisome at the same time. Germany’s inconsequential Chancellor Olaf Scholz jumped on the bandwagon after his “mentor” Biden had a “change of heart”…
Fox News wrote on May 24:
“A drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month was most likely orchestrated by Ukraine, which has conducted a series of attacks on Russian targets, U.S. officials said. Russia has claimed Ukrainian forces attempted to kill President Vladimir Putin in the failed attack on May 3.
“Two drones were used in the ‘assassination attempt’ at the president’s residence within the Kremlin compound, but were disabled by Russian defense systems, Russia said.”
Russia Warns USA and Europe
Newsweek wrote on May 20:
“Russia has warned that the Western supply of F-16 jets to Ukraine presents ‘colossal risks’ following the announcement that the U.S. had agreed that Kyiv could receive the aircraft it has long called for… the F-16s can launch precision bombs guided by laser and are more adept at targeting and destroying enemy ground-based radars.
“Former British intelligence officer Philip Ingram told Newsweek that the F-16 announcement was significant, ‘but it is unlikely we will see them being used in the conflict before the winter… It takes months to convert trained pilots to fly and fight them but it is showing that the West is in for the long haul when it comes to supporting Ukraine,’ he said. ‘They will be in for decisive Ukrainian attacks in 2024…’”
… with no end in sight? But the end is already predetermined… if one understands biblical prophecy.
More Help for Ukraine
Breitbart added on May 20:
“This package [of $375 million in military assistance] is being sent on top of an extra $3 billion worth of aid allocated to Ukraine earlier this month due to a so-called ‘accounting error’. In total, according to the Keil Institute, the U.S. taxpayer has so far paid $46.6 billion in weapons shipments to Ukraine, $26.4 billion in financial aid and $2.9 billion in humanitarian help since last year’s invasion by Russia. The U.S. government under Biden has committed to far more spending on the war-torn country, however, having already committed to over $113 billion, more than the military budget of most nations.
“The staggering amount of cash sent to the former Soviet state for military hardware, weapons, and ammo from America is more than that sent from all the European nations combined, despite the conflict being on the EU’s doorstep…”
Biden’s Ukraine Debacle?
In his latest weekly column, Ron Paul wrote on May 22:
“When the smoke finally clears, President Biden’s Ukraine debacle will go down – along with Afghanistan and Iraq – as one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in US history. Hundreds of thousands have been killed on both sides…
“With Russian control established in the strategic city of Bakhmut over the weekend, the… Ukraine project… looks to be progressing rapidly toward failure… when it comes to endless spending on Project Ukraine, with a few exceptions the two parties are in lockstep. At least when looking at Republican party leadership… After all, 20 years fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan got us…the Taliban in Afghanistan! With a cost of perhaps three trillion dollars. But the military-industrial complex and the think tanks pushing war and the mainstream media glorifying war all got paid well…
“The mainstream media is in a panic over the fact that of the $48 billion appropriated for Ukraine, only $6 billion remains. That won’t be enough to sustain ‘Project Ukraine’ for more than a few weeks… the tide of US public opinion is turning overwhelmingly against [giving] more money [to Ukraine]…”
Sadly, the glorification of war, resulting in the death of many people and the wasting of much money, has never resulted in lasting peace.
Hungary Threatens to Block EU Attempts to Send More Weapons to Ukraine
Breitbart wrote on May 21:
“Hungarian government officials have expressed their fury at Ukraine in recent days, decrying the country as being ‘hostile’ after the country’s alleged plans to blow up an oil pipeline leaked in the Washington Post last week.
“As detailed by the leaks, Zelensky has reportedly been considering an attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline that supplies oil to Hungary in what would appear to be an attempt to sabotage the country.
“Kyiv has also blacklisted Hungarian bank OTP, listing the firm as a sponsor of Russia’s invasion, causing further anger in Budapest.
“According to a report by the Associated Press, senior officials in the Hungarian government say that they are blocking EU attempts to send more weapons and ammo to Ukraine in retaliation for the blacklisting. ‘We cannot support the allocation of another half a billion euros from the European Peace Facility for arms transfers to Ukraine, and we will not give it the green light as long as OTP is on this particular list,’ the country’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, remarked, decrying the singling out of OTP as ‘scandalous and unacceptable’.
“He also denounced Zelensky’s alleged plans to blow up the Druzhba pipeline, saying overall that there was evidence that ‘Ukraine is behaving more and more hostile towards Hungary… such a threat is obviously against Hungary’s sovereignty because the security of the energy supply is a matter of sovereignty… Therefore, if someone calls for Hungary’s energy supply to be made impossible, they are in effect attacking Hungary’s sovereignty.’
“Responding to Hungary’s threat of blocking further aid to Ukraine, one anonymous EU diplomat reportedly told The Guardian that the feud between the two nations comes at a critical time of the conflict…”
The Infamous Secret Bilderberg Meeting
The Dossier wrote on May 18:
“The world’s most powerful and influential geopolitical voices are meeting from Thursday to Sunday in Portugal to navigate several global crises (many of which they’ve helped to facilitate), and oddly enough, the corporate media has no interest in reporting on this secretive gathering of powerful figures.
“The attendees list for this year’s infamous Bilderberg Meetings has just been released, and just like years prior, global heavyweights inundate the 2023 roster. The list includes America and Europe’s top spy chiefs, several heads of state, and some of the world’s most powerful business executives…
“As The Dossier explained in our piece Wednesday: ‘Although it is significantly staffed by publicly elected officials, the discussions that happen during Bilderberg conferences remain a closely guarded secret. Unsurprisingly, this has led many to suspect that the powerful globalist ideologues who attend these closed-door wargaming discussions are up to no good. Organizers defend the secretive nature of the conference by claiming that it allows attendees to speak informally among peers.’
“Bilderberg meetings are held under Chatham House rules, which means that participants ‘are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed.’… There remains a media blackout of the Bilderberg Meeting this weekend in the corporate press…”
WHY is this the case???
More Plans for the Third Temple
On May 17, i24 NEWS reported the following:
“Haim Dotan, an acclaimed architect who has won several international awards and also serves as a professor of architecture at leading institutes in China, recently became involved in the ambitious project of designing the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
“Known for his extravagant projects, such as the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge in China – renowned as the tallest glass-bottomed bridge in the world – Dotan last year joined the right-wing activist and literature scholar Professor Hillel Weiss and pitched a session of the Jerusalem International Conference…
“The conference, scheduled to take place this summer in Jerusalem, will be organized by the Yad Ben Zvi Institute, a prestigious research center in Israel. Dotan’s pitch, ‘Building Jerusalem, the temple city, and the road to peace,’ was divided into three sections.
“The first was dedicated to the transportation and economy of the future ‘temple city’ of the Israeli capital. The next pitch, entitled ‘From Vision to Practice,’ described future plans for the Jerusalem of the Third Temple era, inspired by biblical sources…
“Several questions remain open in the proposal: Who would be in charge of the new temple? What would happen to the Al Aqsa Mosque, one of the most sacred sites in Islam, located on the Temple Mount? What would the consequences of rebuilding a new Jewish temple be amid the complex flashpoint geopolitical atmosphere of the Middle East? The fact that a prestigious architect – who is secular and doesn’t have any political background – is involved in such a project makes this case all the more interesting, if not more tangible.
“Plans to rebuild the third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, are not new but have mostly faced strong resistance. In 1990, a deadly riot erupted on the Mount after a fringe Jewish group tried to lay the cornerstone of a third temple…”
Still, a Third Temple is prophesied to be built in Jerusalem prior to Christ’s return.
Ben Gvir Condemned for Visiting the Temple Mount
Times of Israel wrote on May 21:
“National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem Sunday, declaring it a demonstration of Israel’s ownership of the flashpoint holy site and drawing fierce condemnations from Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states… ‘We are in charge here,’ Ben Gvir declared as he toured the site. ‘I am happy to go up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the Jewish people.’…
“Palestinian Authority presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh called Ben-Gvir’s visit a ‘blatant attack’ on the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it ‘a provocative step that is condemned, and a dangerous and unacceptable escalation.’ Neighboring Egypt, which like Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel, also issued a condemnation.
“The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry slammed the ‘storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque’… Turkey also called Ben Gvir’s visit a ‘storming’ of the site… The foreign ministries of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which do not have relations with Israel, also released statements fiercely denouncing Ben-Gvir’s trip…”
Naturally, the Biden Administration condemned the move as well. Note the next article.
Biden vs. Israel
Israel 365 News wrote on May 22:
“Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum noted the significance of Ben-Gvir’s visit, saying, ‘[It] gives meaning to the slogan “The Temple Mount is in our hands” which recently turned 56 years old.’…
“The US State Department released a statement saying [the visit] was ‘provocative’… ‘The United States stands firmly… for the preservation of the status quo with respect to holy sites in Jerusalem,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a White House briefing. ‘Any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo is unacceptable.’ Jean-Pierre did not explain why a Jew visiting the Temple Mount jeopardized the status quo…
“Hamas, the elected government in Gaza, published a declaration in response that called for an armed response from Arabs living in Israel…”
JTA wrote on May 22:
“Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman,… also said the Biden Administration was ‘deeply troubled’ by an Israeli decision on Sunday to allow the return of settlers to a segment of the northern West Bank evacuated in 2005 along with settlements in the Gaza Strip… The Biden administration rebuked Israel two months ago for passing legislation that paved the way toward Sunday’s decision… ‘Advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank is an obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution,’ [according to Miller].
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading a government with far-right partners in senior roles, including Ben-Gvir, which has been a sticking point with the Biden administration. President Joe Biden has rejected appeals by Netanyahu to invite him to Washington for a White House visit in part because of the actions and rhetoric of Ben-Gvir and others in the far-right bloc.”
The relationship between Biden and Israel continues to deteriorate.
Kenya in Support of Israel
Israel 365 News wrote on May 22:
“Dennis Nthumbi, an evangelical Christian and senior adviser to Kenya’s president, was part of President William Ruto’s delegation when he visited Israel in May. The delegation made headlines when they prayed at the Western Wall, a visit not all political guests choose to make. Nthumbi said in a prayer that the people of Kenya and Israel ‘be united in peace as one people at the Kotel [Western Wall].’
“Kenya does not officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but Nthumbi referred to the city as
such. Perhaps even more controversial was the location of his announcement: the Temple Mount, where he was accompanied by former Knesset member and Temple Mount Advocate Rabbi Yehudah Glick one week ago. ‘The fact that the Temple Mount is not accessible to people of all faiths should not be tolerated.. ‘It is time that the veil of hypocrisy be lifted, and the issue faced head-on.’”
While Kenya speaks out, the USA and Europe remain silent.
Israel Must Attack Iran?
Israel Today wrote on May 21:
“Israel’s economy minister and the former mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, told Channel 14 News at the weekend that it was time to adopt the policy of former US President John F. Kennedy in regards to rocket attacks on the Jewish state. Barkat noted that during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, Kennedy warned that a single missile fired from Cuba toward the United States would result in an American missile strike on Moscow…
“Israel, insisted Barkat, needs to start doing the same in response to rocket attacks from Lebanon and Gaza. It’s Iran pulling the strings, so why waste time, resources and political capital on operations against Hezbollah and Hamas? That’s just what the ayatollahs want. Instead, Barkat suggested that the next rocket from either of those territories should result in an Israeli missile hitting Tehran.”
A war between Iran and Israel might very well break out.
The Move Away from the US Dollar
Deutsche Welle wrote on May 20:
“Anyone in Iraq who wanted to buy a car or a house this week got a nasty shock. Last Sunday, the Iraqi government announced a ban on doing personal or business deals in US dollars… For decades, the US dollar has been the best currency to have in the Middle East if you don’t have enough dirhams, dinars, riyals or pounds on hand…
“Many Iraqi politicians have complained [that] their country is too dependent on the US dollar… In February… Iraq said it would do business with China using the yuan instead of dollars…
“Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister said his country was also ‘open’ to selling oil using different currencies, including the euro and the Chinese yuan. The United Arab Emirates has said it will work with India, using the Indian rupee. Last year, Egypt announced plans to issue bonds — financial securities that help governments raise money — in Chinese yuan. It had already issued bonds in Japanese yen.
“Additionally, several Middle Eastern nations — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Algeria and Bahrain — have said they want to join the geopolitical bloc known as BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Russia has already said that at an upcoming June meeting, the alliance will discuss the creation of a new kind of currency for cross-border trade between members. [According to other sources, this will be discussed in August].
“Since 2021, the UAE has also been part of a pilot project run by the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, a kind of central bank for central banks. This project looks at digital, cross-border payments that might bypass the dollar. Other participants are Thailand, Hong Kong and China… US dollars now make up about 58% of official foreign reserves globally, Bloomberg reported in its story, a fall from 73% in 2001. In the late 1970s, it was 85%…”
Bitcoin.com wrote on May 18:
“Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that Venezuela will shift away from using U.S. dollars in trade, emphasizing that the de-dollarization process is ‘inevitable.’… Commending Zimbabwe for its initiative to issue gold-backed digital currency, he said, ‘Many alternative initiatives to the dollar are emerging in the world…’
“The Venezuelan president, who previously expressed support for Latin America to have one single currency… condemned ‘the political use’ of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency and its associated financial system by the U.S. to sanction countries, naming China, Russia, India, Iran, Turkey, Venezuela, and Cuba in particular…
“A growing number of countries other than the BRICS nations are pushing to use local currencies instead of the USD. Ten Southeast Asian countries, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), recently agreed to ‘encourage the use of local currencies for economic and financial transactions.’…”
Sadly, this process of de-dollarization will continue…
The New Constitution of the Vatican City State
CNA wrote on May 18:
“… the new law leaves no doubt that the civil government remains very much an absolute monarchy, with the supreme pontiff possessing all ‘legislative, executive, and judicial powers.’…
“Francis’ new constitution is the third Fundamental Law since 1929, the year in which the Vatican City State was founded with the Lateran Treaty… with Pope Francis’ new Fundamental Law, the pope returns to the center of everything… the centralization of the pope’s authority is highlighted in the new constitution by the fact that power is reserved to the pope while other entities are assigned only functions…
“Under the new law, a three-year financial plan approved by the commission is to be submitted ‘directly for the approval of the Supreme Pontiff’ without going through the Vatican economic bodies or the Secretariat of State, as the old law required…
“The Vatican City State remains, in the end, the pope’s domain. Nonetheless, the new law suggests that the city-state is no longer merely considered a support to the Holy See but an entity closer to the secular and modern states, as it has never been in the past…”
The centralization of the pope’s authority and the Vatican City State being patterned after secular states are interesting in light of Revelation 13:11-18.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
These Current Events are compiled and commented on by Norbert Link. We gratefully acknowledge the many contributions of news articles from our readership. The publication of articles in this section is not to be viewed as an endorsement or approval as to contents or accuracy of the selected articles, but they are published for the purpose of pointing at worldwide developments in the light of biblical end-time prophecy and godly instruction. Our own comments are provided in italics.
