As the leaders of the G-8 states packed their bags and jetted to Italy Tuesday, Pope Benedict xvi provided some moral and spiritual direction to all attending the summit in L’Aquila. Released yesterday, Benedict’s 144-page encyclical, the third of his papacy, is titled “Charity in Truth,” and deals extensively with the economy, business and finance.

Benedict’s voluminous encyclical is widely perceived to be a strong argument for greater institutionalization and regulation of multiple global issues, including the global economy. Associated Press reported yesterday that in the communique, “Pope Benedict xvi called … for a new world financial order guided by ethics and the search for the common good, denouncing the profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for bringing about the global financial meltdown” (emphasis ours throughout).

“Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end,” wrote Benedict, in what was widely perceived to be a slight against U.S.-style capitalism. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”

Although the pope’s condemnation of greed and selfishness as a central cause of the global financial crisis was accurate, it was his repeated admonition to world leaders to form an all-powerful regulatory body to govern a plethora of global issues that was especially noteworthy, and disconcerting.

“In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence,” wrote Benedict, “there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.”

Benedict’s quest for far-reaching reform was even more explicit in the next paragraph:

To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: For all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority ….

According to the pope, the solution to some of the world’s most pressing problems—including the global economic crisis, disarmament, food security, immigration and environmental degradation—is the formation of a “true world political authority.”

Chew on that for a moment.

Would the Vatican willingly subject itself to a global political authority that is heavily influenced by an Islamic state, or an atheist government, or even a capitalist nation like the United States? Never. Would the Vatican consistently subject itself to rules and policies created by a global political body heavily dominated by Russia, or China, or North Korea? Not in a million years. Read between the lines of what Benedict is saying.

Surely the only “world political authority” under which Pope Benedict xvi and the Vatican would willingly and consistently function, would be one in which the Vatican had a controlling influence.

And what significant group of nations do you think might be willing to subject itself to strong Catholic influence? There’s only one answer, really: Europe!

That’s why the pope’s call for the formation of new global regulatory bodies, and a new global political order, is so chilling. Really, Pope Benedict is speaking to European leaders. Ultimately, by calling for a new global political order, Pope Benedict xvi is shepherding the formation of what Bible prophecy says will be a German-led, Catholic-dominated global European empire.

That may sound ludicrous to some. But both history and Bible prophecy say it’s not as extreme as one might think. If you want to prove it, first read Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, then take the time and study Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?