U.S. Embassy cables point out Vatican soft power

WikiLeaks cables from the U.S. Embassy in the Vatican released so far further show the power and ambition the Catholic Church has on the world scene.

A December 2009 cable on EU voting patterns at the United Nations said that “The Vatican observer was as always active and influential behind the scenes.”

A July 2001 cable, providing background on the pope’s visit to the U.S., was titled “The Vatican—The Supranational Power.”

“The Vatican is one of very few sovereign entities that have presence and reach in virtually every country of the world,” the cable said. “Although its sovereignty is over limited territory, Vatican teaching and policies can influence the over 1 billion adherents of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The same cable also talked about the Vatican’s goal to create a united Europe: “The Vatican would like to see a unified, Christian (i.e. Catholic) Europe. And therefore should be expected to intensify its dialogue with the leading Protestant groups in Germany and Scandinavia. The Vatican will also continue attempts to engage the Russian church and the ecumenical patriarch in Istanbul in an attempt to heal the Latin/Orthodox rift.”

While these leaks are not revolutionary, they confirm what the Trumpet—and Herbert W. Armstrong before us—has been saying for a long time.

In June 1998, Ron Fraser wrote: “In the 20th century, the strongest evidence of [the] political influence of the Roman Catholic Church is its drive to support and lead the nations of Europe into a European Union, dominated by its own spiritual influence.”

And, as Mr. Armstrong long predicted, this would also entail the mergence of Protestant and Orthodox churches with the Vatican. The November 1963 Plain Truth wrote that the aim of achieving unity was two-fold: “First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 …. Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward.”

For more, read He Was Right and “Unholy Union.”