Popular Pope

Has anyone noticed how popular the current pope is? Although the more conservative on his own side rue the day of his election, many non-Catholics heap upon him an adulation unknown to his predecessors. According to Yougov, he’s the third most popular person on the planet, and Time Magazine states he is admired by 61% of Protestants and 63% of people who follow ‘no religion’. I checked his current news stories. He’s tackling his church’s appalling child abuse and removing the means by which such cases were covered up. He’s been to the site of Nagasaki in Japan and demanded a world without nuclear weapons. He’s launched a new E-Rosary, allowing the faithful to mutter their prayers using the convenience of a mobile phone. Last April, he warned Catholics against proselytising- ie making converts. This is rather unusual for the leader of a faith claiming to be the sole custodian of truth, yet how wonderfully progressive does it sound? He also seems to be shifting 800 years of tradition by hinting at lifting the celibacy rule from priests, allowing them to marry. This will come as a relief to all those Anglicans who desire union with Rome. And to give them a helping hand, Francis affirmed the respect he has for Protestantism last month to Pastor Michael Jonas, leader of Rome’s Lutheran community. This is our kind of man! A religious leader we can accept! A pope with whom we can do business!

Yet this wonderfully engaging pontifex is just as wicked an antichrist as any predecessor. See how he greeted the new year, which received nearly 15,000 likes:

 

Any admiring evangelical who gazes appreciatively at the modern Vatican would do well to see how the Man of Sin attributes salvation to one other than Christ, committing 2020 to her honour and keeping. The Babylonian prostitute may change her frock, update her hairstyle and improve her makeup, but the same old harpy lurks beneath.