Rise of Papal Influence

Another predictive area involves the astounding rise of papal influence, from virtual innocuousness in the nineteenth century to its current worldwide power and influence. In 1888, during the dark days of the papacy, Ellen White wrote: “Let the principle once be established in the United States, that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country [the U.S.A.] is assured.MOL 160.6

“God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men.... Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is.” ^{67The Great Controversy, 581. See also Last Day Events, 132.}MOL 160.7

The 1980s and 1990s witnessed a dramatic recovery of world stature by the Pope of Rome, a far cry from those decades between 1870 and 1929 when the pope was the “prisoner of the Vatican.” ^{68No pope since 1870, when the unified Kingdom of Italy took over the papal territories, had stepped outside of the Vatican grounds until the 1929 Concordat with Mussolini’s government.} The world was stunned to see the President of the United States and the Pope on the cover of Time magazine, February 24, 1992, under the words, “The Holy Alliance.” The feature article unfolded the story behind the collapse of communism. President Reagan and Pope John Paul II had been in close, highly secret, consultation for years as they worked together to destabilize the communist network. “They regarded the U.S.—Vatican relationship as a holy alliance; the moral force of their church combined with their fierce anticommunism and their notion of American democracy.” Without this close cooperation between the Catholic Church and the United States, world developments in recent decades probably would have been vastly different.MOL 161.1

Further, as if to single-handedly endorse Ellen White’s 1888 predictions, Time magazine’s cover for December 26, 1994, featured Pope John Paul II as “Man of the Year.” In that cover story, the Pope presented himself as the “moral compass for believers and nonbelievers alike.” Even Billy Graham, symbol of evangelical Protestantism, said of the Pope: “He’s been the strong conscience of the whole Christian world.” ^{69The Signs of the Times, December 26, 1994, p. 54.}MOL 161.2