California Conservative

Bottom Line Up Front: Cardinal at the Vatican told the Pope and others that the antichirst is a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.

In a meditation preached during the Lenten Retreat for Vatican leaders this week, the outspoken Italian Cardinal Giacomo Biffi warned Pope Benedict XVI Excesses of ecumenism and a tendency of some Catholics to promote vague spiritual goals, rather than stressing the centrality of Christ’s Sacrifice.

“The Antichrist presents himself as a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist. He convokes an ecumenical council and seeks the consensus of all the Christian confessions, conceding something to each one.”

“The crowds follow him, except for tiny groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. Chased by the Antichrist, they tell him, ‘You have given us everything except for the one thing that interests us, Jesus Christ.”

“Today, we run the risk of having a Christianity that puts Jesus with his cross resurrection into parentheses. The teaching that the great Russian philosopher left us is that Christianity cannot be reduced to a set of values. At the heart of being a Christian is the personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”

“There are absolute values such as the good, the true and the beautiful. One who perceives them and loves them also loves Christ, even if he does not know it, because Christ is the truth, beauty and justice.”

“There also are relative values such as solidarity, love for peace and respect for nature. If these are given an absolute value or uprooted from or placed in opposition to the proclamation of the fact of salvation, then they become the basis for idolatry and are obstacles on the path to salvation.”

Ouch! “The antichrist presents himself as a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.” In other words, he’ll be against all war and conflict, an environmentalist and so inclusive with Christianity that a watered-down, diluted version is what will remain.

Couldn’t have said it better myself, Cardinal!

Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front