News and Prophecy Staff

Since taking office, Pope Francis’ comments on tradition and doctrine have unnerved conservative Catholics. In a July interview, the Pope was asked about homosexual priests. His response was, “Who am I to judge?” (New York Post, September 19, 2013). When asked about issues of abortion, homosexuality, and contraception, the Pope commented “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent.

As the U.S. government shutdown continues, world leaders are shaking their heads in disbelief. “Germans have found it hard to understand American lawmakers’ inability to resolve their budget disagreements in time to prevent a shutdown” and are left wondering “how things could have been allowed to get to this point and why there is so much poison in the system” (Der Spiegel, October 2, 2013).

The political maneuvering over how to deal with Syria’s chemical weapons reveals the growing weakness of the West—especially the U.K. and the U.S. With David Cameron’s failure to convince Parliament to support military action against Syria and Russia’s opportunity to “save” President Obama from an embarrassing congressional refusal to take action against Syria, “it suddenly became clear just how far the influence of the West has ebbed” (The Economist, September 21, 2013).

“Scientists have made a surprising discovery in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 miles east of Japan: Earth’s largest volcano. Tamu Massif is a monster at 280 miles by 400 miles, or roughly the size of Arizona, and ranks among the largest such structures in our solar system” (Newser.com, September 8, 2013).

“Armenia said Tuesday it has decided to join a customs union led by Russia as well as the proposed Eurasian Economic Union strongly promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenia will become the fourth member of the customs block made up of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan” (Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2013). President Putin envisions a Eurasian economic bloc to counter the European Union, and he is taking all necessary measures to accomplish his dream.