On January 7, 2026, Pope Leo XIV addressed pilgrims during a General Audience at the Vatican, using the occasion to reflect on the legacy and ongoing relevance of the Second Vatican Council. In his remarks, the pontiff emphasized a vision for the Roman Catholic Church that prioritizes ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and fraternity as the primary means of engaging the modern world.
According to the Pope’s statements, the Church’s mission today must be focused more around the pursuit of unity—among Christian denominations, non-Christian religions, and even political and secular institutions. This approach, he challenged, must be grounded in what he described as the “rich traditions” of the Catholic Church, which are presented as a unifying foundation for addressing contemporary global challenges.
The address reaffirmed the mission first articulated at Vatican Council II, revealing that Rome continues to view ecumenical cooperation as the only pathway for advancing peace and unity on the world stage. Revelation 13 and 17 have long taught that a final global religious authority would succeed in uniting the peoples and nations of the world. Prophecy indicates that this emerging unity will not be grounded in biblical truth, but rather will be shaped by a broad, collective opposition to God’s law and to His redemptive work.
According to the Holy See Press Office, Pope Leo expressed the following:
• “Vatican Council II rediscovered the face of God … it helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society.” [1]
• “Thanks to Vatican Council II, the Church has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make, striving to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and dialogue with people of good will.” [1]
• “As we approach the documents of Vatican Council II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice and peace.” [1]
These developments reveal that the prophetic themes of Revelation 13, 17, and 18 are rapidly taking shape before our eyes—a worldwide movement toward religious, political, and social unity increasingly founded upon Catholic tradition and authority. As Scripture foretold, the nations are being drawn together to “worship the beast” (Revelation 13:4), embracing a system that elevates human tradition and a false unity above the clear teachings of God.
Heaven’s response is clear and urgent: the everlasting gospel of Revelation 14 must be proclaimed with renewed boldness and clarity, calling all people to fear God, give Him glory, worship the Creator, and come out of Babylon before mercy’s door closes. This is the moment for God’s remnant to lift up the Three Angels’ Messages without compromise, pointing the world to Christ, His righteousness, and His immutable law as the only sure refuge in the closing scenes of earth’s history.
Sources
[1] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2026/01/07/260107d.html
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As the Roman Pontifex Maximus, it is only fitting that the Pope and Vatican are seeking a repeat of the histories which united all religions and politics under the direct authority of the Roman Emperors, who were also the Roman Pontifex Maximus’ of their day. The realization of this goal being accomplished by the first professed, “Christian” Roman Emperor and Pontifex Maximus Constantine. As the following quotes attest.
While this effort was being made on the side of philosophy to unite all religions, there was at the same time a like effort on the side of politics. It was the ambition of Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222) to make the worship of the sun supersede all other worship in Rome. It is further related of him that a more ambitious scheme even than this was in the emperor’s mind; which was nothing less than the blending of all religions into one, of which “the sun was to be the central object of adoration.” (Milman “History of Christianity” book 2, chap. 8, par. 22.)
It was the Roman Imperial plan on several occasions, to unite all religions of the Empire into one religion–sun-worship: “The Jewish, the Samaritan, even the Christian, were to be fused and recast into one great system, of which the sun was to be the central object of adoration.” (Henry Hart Milman, The History of Christianity, bk. 2, chap. 8 (Vol. II, p. 175). [Dr. Milman (1791-1868) was an important historian of England and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London])
“Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new into one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions. He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity . . . Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism, none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law: The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their Sun-god . . . [so they should now be combined.” (H.G. Heggtveit, “illustreret Kirkehistorie,” 1895, p. 202)
“Modern Christians who talk of keeping Sunday as a ‘holy’ day, as in the still extant ‘Blue Laws,’ of colonial America, should know that as a ‘holy’ day of rest and cessation from labor and amusements Sunday was unknown to Jesus . . . It formed no tenet [teaching] of the primitive Church and became ‘sacred’ only in the course of time. Outside the Church its observance was legalized for the Roman Empire through a series of decrees starting with the famous one of Constantine in 321, an edict due to his political and social ideas.” (W, W. Hyde, “Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire,” 1946, p. 257)
Those who forget or neglect the darker portions of recorded history behind us, are doomed to repeat the mistakes thereof.