News and Prophecy Staff

In a television interview recorded last year, Pope Francis made clear comments endorsing same-sex civil unions and called for legislation to protect these unions (Associated Press, October 22, 2020). During his time as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, “Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages.

In his latest encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis spoke of a need for all nations of the world to submit their governmental powers to a reformed and more powerful United Nations in the hope of leading to one world government to benefit all mankind. He noted that the time is now right to make this move, since globalized economic conditions in the twenty-first century have weakened the political power of nation states.

In response to the recent poisoning of Putin critic Alexi Navalny and Russian interference in Libya, the European Union and the United Kingdom have leveled sanctions against several Russian leaders considered to be in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, as well as one Russian organization (Deutsche Welle, October 15, 2020).

In January 2020, the city of Frankfurt hosted the first synodal assembly of the German Catholic church. Delayed by COVID-19 restrictions, smaller regional meetings resumed recently in September (CRUX, October 12, 2020). The 230-member synod, including bishops, archbishops, and lay people, convened in order to discuss how to stop the loss of German Catholic members.

German chancellor hopeful Norbert Röttgen recently “delivered a stark warning on the future of transatlantic ties, saying the reelection of Donald Trump as U.S. president could endanger the alliance and open the door for China and other powers to try and fill the vacuum” (Politico, September 28, 2020). He further commented that it is not possible to build a partnership with the United States as long as Mr.