Rome is important! Rome has been pivotal in the ancient world and then later, in the history of Christianity. Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in 312 AD and then later, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the state religion of Rome in 380 AD. The pope ruled the Catholic Church from Rome from the time of St. Peter all the way until modern times.
It is very difficult to read Catholic prophecy (particularly the Book of the Apocalypse) and not see inferences to Rome. It appears to be Rome that is indicated in Chapter 17:8 : “The beast which thou sawest, was, and is not, and shall come up out of the bottomless pit and go into destruction.” Ancient pagan Rome is the “Beast that was”. Christian Rome is the “beast that is not” and in the end times, a new pagan Rome will emerge “out of the bottomless pit and go into destruction”. I don’t think there are many Catholics left who would deny that Rome is “pagan” once again, particularly after the worship of pachamama in the Vatican Gardens on Oct. 4th 2019.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Description for the accompanying graphic:
*NOTE*: The history of Rome seems to follow a parabolic path, with strong symmetry. In order to envision how recent events in the Vatican mirror the events of early Rome, it is important to remember that recent events are occurring in reverse order compared to their ancient counterparts. For instance, in ancient Rome the two brothers came before the 7 kings, however, in recent times it was the 7 kings that came before the “two brothers”.
Keep this concept in mind especially when thinking of the order of events concerning Francis and Benedict XVI. For instance, in ancient Rome Romulus and Remus ruled together before Romulus killed Remus and ruled by himself. In recent times, that order is reversed. Benedict XVI is deposed first, then the “two brothers” rule together. See the accompanying graphic and see below for further details.
TWO BROTHERS
The twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, wanted to found a city. Upon seeing the 7 hills (of Rome) they agreed to settle on them. Remus wanted to build on the Aventine Hill and Romulus wanted to build on the Palatine Hill. The followers of Romulus and Remus became divided in allegiance between the two quarreling brothers. Their disagreement escalated and Romulus killed Remus. Romulus became the first king of Rome.
In order to populate his city, Romulus declared an open border policy. He wanted as many people as possible to come and live in his new city of Rome (which he named after himself). However, it was mostly men (criminals and other undesirable men) who responded to Romulus’ invitation.
SEVEN KINGS
The first king of Rome was Romulus, who was also the high priest of Rome. All the successive kings of Rome were also high priests of Rome. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, angered the Roman people by his vile acts. Thus, the Romans decided to depose him and to form a republic to rule themselves.
ROMAN REPUBLIC
The word “republic” comes from the Latin words “Res Publica” which means “a thing of the people”. A republic is a form of government where the people rule themselves through representative bodies, and other political checks and balances. The Roman Republic lasted from 509 AD until 27 BC. The Roman Republic started small, but as it grew in territory, it became increasingly powerful, wealthy, complex and corrupt.
ROMAN EMPIRE
There was a gradual transition from the Republic into the Empire. It was Octavian Augustus that is considered Rome’s first emperor. Christianity flourished in the Roman Empire, so much so, that Rome decided to violently persecute Christians. After over 200 years and 10 major persecutions, Christianity became legal and then became the state religion of Rome. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the barbarians came to understand themselves as the inheritors of Rome’s legacy. In 800 AD, the Frankish barbarian king, Charlemagne, was crowned “Holy Roman Emperor” by the Pope on Christmas Day in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome!
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
The Holy Roman Empire reigned over Europe from the time of Charlemagne until the last vestiges of the Holy Roman Empire were eliminated by Napoleon in 1806. It was then that Napoleon deposed the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. Napoleon arose out of the French Revolution which formed the first French Republic in the wake of the destruction of Christendom in France.
EUROPEAN REPUBLICS
In a short time after the death of Napoleon, Europe shed its monarchs and switched to rule by republic (The monarchs who remained were eventually stripped of power and served as figure heads). Europe even terminated the monarchy of the papacy. In 1870 the Papal States were taken from the Holy See and the popes became “prisoners in the Vatican” from 1870 until 1929. Once their land was taken, the popes were no longer temporal kings since they had no land to rule over.
SEVEN KINGS OF VATICAN CITY
On February 11th 1929, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Holy See. This treaty gave the Holy See a small amount of land around the Vatican (which came to be known as Vatican City). The treaty legally established a new priest-kingship of Vatican City.
There were 7 priest kings of Vatican City (they were priest kings, because each of them was ordained a priest in the Traditional Catholic rite of ordination before Vatican II). On February 11th, 2013 (exactly 84 years since the signing of the Lateran Treaty) Benedict XVI unexpectedly resigned as monarch of Vatican City.
TWO “BROTHERS”
Within a month of Benedict XVI’s resignation, Francis was elected. But, Benedict XVI’s resignation wasn’t the only unusual occurrence that year! Soon it became evident that Benedict XVI intended to live in the Vatican and retain his title. Thus, for the first time in history, there were two men who both claimed the title of “pope” while agreeing with the others' claim. In effect, there are now two “brothers” ruling together. Francis is seen by most to be the pope and has a very strong liberal following. However, Benedict XVI is secretly suspected of being the true pope by many conservatives. (Just like Romulus and Remus, they both have separate and opposing factions)
It is notable that Francis is much like Romulus, in that they both want “open borders”. Romulus wanted as many people to settle in Rome as possible (and ended up getting mostly criminal men)… and Francis has been advocating for open European borders since his election in 2013. In recent years, many Muslim men (and mostly men) have been migrating to Europe, responding to the calls of many European leaders.
It is also interesting to note that Benedict XVI seems to have been politely deposed (which he called a resignation). The circumstances of what really happened are kept secret. However, just as Romulus killed his brother because he disagreed with his vision for the new city, so too it seems that Benedict XVI was deposed by the liberal faction because they did not agree with Benedict’s vision.