On New Year’s Day, Saturday, January 1, 2022, Pope Francis urged people to place their lives under the protection of the Virgin Mary. This was the Pope’s first public act of 2022. He also celebrated a special Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The Pope said:
“At the beginning of the New Year, then, let us place ourselves under the protection of this woman, the Mother of God, who is also our mother. May she help us to keep and ponder all things, unafraid of trials and with the joyful certainty that the Lord is faithful and can transform every cross into a resurrection. Today too, let us call upon her as did the People of God at Ephesus. Let us stand and, facing Our Lady as did the people of God in Ephesus, let us together repeat three times her title of Mother of God: ‘Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God!’ Amen.” [1]
This was an obvious reference to the Council of Ephesus (449), when the bishops met for the first time to officially exalt the Virgin Mary and declare her the “Mother of God.” [2] However, the Pope’s reference to “Ephesus” can very easily apply to the idol worshippers of “Ephesus,” whom the Apostle Paul admonished to turn away from the false “gods” that were “made of hands” (Acts 19:26). The pagans of Ephesus rejected Paul’s warning and instead began chanting for the space of two hours: “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34).
The Virgin Mary (left) is the new Virgin Diana (right).
Is it a coincidence that the goddess Diana, whom the men of Ephesus worshiped, was also a virgin? [3] Is it also just a coincidence that the bishops meeting at Ephesus formally acknowledged the devotion of the Virgin Mary (Diana) as part of Catholic doctrine after Constantine incorporated paganism into the Christian church in the early fourth century? [4] The fact is that idol worship, which the Apostle Paul denounced and urged people to abandon, is still alive and active in today’s “church.” To this day, the Virgin Diana, now known as Virgin Mary, is still being venerated.
In the video above, we see the fundamental problem with these statues that Pope Francis loves to venerate. These so-called statues and images can’t even protect themselves from falling. How can they protect us? This poor Catholic saint couldn’t even save his own head. How can they save yours? And the broken, headless statue couldn’t even lift itself off the ground. What makes you think these statues can protect you in 2022?
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” Psalm 115:4-8.
Sources
[2] https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Council_of_Ephesus
[3] https://religion.fandom.com/wiki/Diana_(mythology)
[4] http://adventmessenger.org/the-church-that-constantine-built/
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Exodus 20:1-6 And God spake all these words, saying, (2) I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (6) And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.