The First American Pope
Page 7
CHAPTER 7
A NEW DAY
The bells of the Sistine Chapel began ringing, calling the Cardinals for their 9:00 am meeting. As the remaining seats are filling, except for those where the kneelers have a red skull-cap displayed for the retiring Cardinals, the Pope returns to the Chapel.
“Thank you my brothers for having the courage to embark on a new course requested by Our Lord Jesus himself to renew our church and to open its doors and windows to anyone who truly believes.”
“Our task is to begin looking at what prevents the acceptance of all Christian and Protestant denominations, Jews, and the various sects within our own church into one Universal Catholic Church, that has common liturgical laws, doctrines, language, prayers, mass, sacramentals, liturgical ceremonies; so that Christian believers will be able to go to any Christian church in the entire world, and be at home in the Lord’s House.”
“There have been many heresies in history that have occurred by those who thought they were protecting the purity of Christ’s church. One example is a Boston priest in the 1950s, which was holding vast gatherings proclaiming that only those baptized as catholic would be saved, everyone else was going to hell. He was finally excommunicated after refusing to stop. The church never professed that belief.”
“We can no longer sit and expect God’s work to be done miraculously, we are his disciples and it is us that need to move the mountains of obstacles that keep us from uniting all of Christ’s believers. In so doing, we are bringing forth the final age of Christ’s Reign. It is in our power to instill within the church membership the message that our Heavenly Father welcomes everyone. Each of you will be assigned to a new commission and administrative post to oversee the revisions necessary to make this happen, and you are relieved of prior responsibilities. As I name new Cardinals and Bishops, they also will take on new tasks in creating a new Universal Catholic Church worldwide. That task will begin today. You will only bring your completed revised doctrines and regulations to the College of Cardinals for review and approval. The final consideration and adoption of these will be by The ECUMENICAL CONCLAVE to be held next year. It will be encumbered upon you to seek Divine inspiration and wisdom in your work, to bring forth God’s plan, and not those that would seek to persuade you in theirs or your own ideologies.”
“The College will meet every two weeks, to consider a defined agenda of business and debate whatever completed documents submitted by you from your commissions or administrative offices. Each commission is to be formed with the same governance of membership that has been required of the current College of Cardinals. Either I or the College will appoint your new members, as our membership increases from other Christian or Protestant members, as they become part of the Universal Catholic Church.”
“I will not wait for our Christian or Protestant brethren to approach us to begin a dialogue for possible unification; I will immediately seek them out, as you must also in your deliberations through your assigned commissions or administrative offices. These efforts will help you to understand the obstacles preventing other Christian faiths from joining a Universal Church. As the Lord sought out his disciples, so we must do the same.”
“Peace be with you, my brothers in Christ.” The Holy Father signs the Cross as he blesses them and leaves the Sistine Chapel.