Pope Visits Pentecostals

“Pope Francis has become the first pope to visit a Pentecostal church [in southern Italy], pressing his outreach to evangelicals who represent Catholicism’s greatest competition for Christian souls around the globe” (Associated Press, July 28, 2014). “Speaking to some 350 Pentecostal faithful in the church, Francis apologized for Catholic persecution of Pentecostals during Italy’s fascist regime and stressed that there was unity in diversity within Christianity” (ibid.). Late last month, “The Pope met for three hours… with several evangelical and charismatic leaders over lunch at his residence inside the Vatican… Bishop Tony Palmer, ecumenical officer of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC), said the meeting could lead towards concrete steps for a visible unity after 500 years of division... The Pope stressed focusing on areas of friendship and companionship in Christ, not on doctrinal differences” (Catholic Register, July 10, 2014). 

Students of history and Bible prophecy know that Protestants came from the Catholic Church and retained much Catholic teaching even after the Reformation. The book of Revelation (see Revelation 17) reveals at the end of the age, a great world-church known as the “mother of harlots” or “mother church” will emerge and seek to lure back her separated children (see Isaiah 47:8). We are beginning to see long-lost daughters move back to the “mother church.” 

For more on this subject, be sure to read our article, “Who Is the Harlot of Revelation?”