Pope Francis a false prophet? Nah…

I am a Protestant (who is still struggling to be a good one), who grew up thinking  of the Roman Catholic Pope as a Holy Man to be feared, who damned people  not belonging to his faith. As the years passed, my image of the Pope has loosened up, beginning with Pope John XXIII, who  opened  the window to ecumenism. But the ascension of Pope Francis further changed my (and millions of people’s) image of a stern, pontificating Pope to that  a loving, humble, forgiving person, who considers even non-believers to be children of God.

During the past two weeks, two conflicting events transpired – the first relating to meetings with Luis Cardinal Tagle, bishops, the  local clergy and laymen with John L. Allen Jr., a 16-year veteran analyst of Vatican affairs for CNN, and associate editor of the Boston Globe, the second a lengthy discourse  on the possibility of  Pope Francis as a “False Prophet” being circulated via  the Internet by Dr. Kelly Bowring, author of the bestseller The Secrets, Chastisement, and Triumph,  and  of The Signs of the Times.

Of the first event, I am quoting two columnists who during their meetings with Allen during the 50th anniversary rites of the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay, came off with  words of praise for Pope Francis.

John Nery reported on Allen’s outlining the “popular, media and cultural impact” of the new Pope, beneath which was what Allen called the “visible register of the papacy, which consists of “three pillars, which together explain 85-90 percent of what Francis is about.”

The first, leadership as service, Allen, according to Francis, demonstrated “flashes of ordinariness, of humility,” which are “not PR, this is what he does.” Francis, said Allen, is an “extraordinarily savvy Jesuit politician.” Francis had called “for priests to be distinguished  â€œnot (by) the psychology of  a prince. . . but leaders, pastors who carry the smell of their sheep.”                 

The second pillar, the Social Gospel, or, in  American terms, refer to Catholic social teaching, and identifies “blockbuster” speeches, homilies,  interviews where Francis emphasizes solidarity with migrants and with the poor, and an anti-war position.

The third  is mercy. Nery quotes Allen as quoting Francis: “In my opinion, the strongest message of the Lord is mercy,” and “The Lord never tires of forgiving; it is we who get tired of asking for forgiveness.”

Ramon Farolan  writes on John Allen’s talking about the “Francis effect” of humility. Allen said Pope Francis envisions to be our (the audience listening to him at the SVD dinner) mission in the 21st century: “Nothing is as important that he has done as laying out the new vision of what mission looks like . . . vision has two pieces . . . one is that the principal message of the Church in this time has to be mercy rather than judgment; both are necessary but mercy comes first.”

Francis also said that, “the Church rather than being a bureaucratic structure, has to be what the Holy father has called a field hospital in which the wounds of humanity are cured . . . more eyeballs, more ears are on the Church as to what it has to say. We must ask ourselves, Are we going to be able to live up to that compelling vision?”                                           

Farolan writes that John Allen said “the primordial sources of shame and scandal in Church affairs are sex and money. Despite the divine foundations in the Church, there exists much evil. But the recovery efforts being undertaken to correct such abuses and financial wrongdoing are herculean. Much of the credit, according to Allen, goes to Pope Benedict XVI; Pope Francis is continuing the work.”

Indeed, for many Roman Catholics and members of other churches, Pope Francis has radically simplified the image of the papacy. Different from the diamond-ringed head of the Church, he has chosen to live in Spartan accommodations, ride in public transportation, and wear denims. His actions have raised the common man’s spirits, and the eyebrows of conservative churchmen. He washed the feet of juvenile prisoners, two of them Muslim, one a woman.  He respects the gays’ spirituality;  at the Sistine Chapel, he baptized a child born to parents still unmarried as they had wed at city hall and not at the church altar – such actions are violative of Scriptures, his critics say.

His simple style of management, his humility, his going “to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters,”  have captured the world’s attention, and not surprisingly,  been glamorized by media.

And Pope Francis’ glamorization, according to his critics, is a sign that he is a “false prophet.” This is the second event I referred to in my first paragraph.

A lengthy article emailed to me and I suppose to thousands of people, Dr. Kelly Bowring (www.TwoHeartsPress.com)  writes, “Today, a year into his pontificate, mounting evidence of credible heavenly prophecy and of Pope Francis’ own actions, teachings and unfolding agenda that aligns with the prophecy have me  now thinking if it is  not only plausible but also even ‘possible’ he is the False Prophet . . . it is quite possible.”

Bowring writes he withholds conclusions about the certainty of Pope Francis being the False Prophet, that he will “remain obedient to the Church  as a faithful Catholic theologian.” 

Bowring lists  Biblical and heavenly prophecies related to the False Prophet. These are prophecies  found in the Book of Revelation, and in those of   St. Malachy, Our Lady of La Sallette, Bl. Catherine Emmerich, Pedro Regis, Our Lady of Akita, Sr. Elena Aiello, and Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. The Book of Revelation, describes the False Prophet as “the greatest deceiver to ever live on earth, the epitome of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, pretending perfectly to be that which he is not. By this he will lead many of the faithful into heresy, and he will eventually cause the earth to honor and worship the Antichrist.“

What are the signs  of the False Prophet to watch out for?  Writes Bowring: “Unexplainably and immediately loved by the world and the media, with an unprecedented colossal popularity, where no matter what he says or does, it will only be interpreted one way, he will engage in double speak, speaking to both sides at the same time, out of both sides of his mouth, thereby intentionally causing a confusion for the faithful.”

A sure “sign” of heresy and of the False Prophet is the changing of any doctrine, for any reason, even a cleverly disguised reason such as for the sake of (false) mercy, compassion, or unity, writes Bowring. It is false mercy to grant communion to Catholic couples who are divorced and civilly remarried; it is false compassion for priests to grant a church “blessing”  to gay unions; it is false unity to allow non-Catholics to communion in the Catholic Church “through doctrinal compromise or revision and through changes to the sacraments themselves.’

Bowring writes that should Pope Francis be the False Prophet, the faithful should remain obedient and vigilant, be alert and investigative, remain united in the truth of C hrist, remain hopeful, and prayerful.

I suspect conservative Roman Catholics who are up in arms with Pope Francis’ actions and statements are one with Bowring in declaring Pope Francis as the “False Prophet.”

I am sure, though, that there are many who have been moved closer to God because of the loving, not judgmental, nature of their new Pope.

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