Madsen is spreading gossip from an ultra-right faction of apocalyptic Catholics who have been around for years. Unlike Mel Gibson's father, these ultra-right Catholics think the Pope is the real Pope, but they embrace a form of apocalyptic millennialism discouraged by the Vatican. They are trying to shove the already ultra-conservative Pope further to the right. To do this they leak these hysterical stories to gullible journalists. The idea is that in the End Times an Antichrist emerges to build a One World Government and New World Order.
There is a gigantic pile of information about this on the PRA website.
http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/apoc.html
Chip
-----Original Message----- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> Sent: Jun 14, 2004 12:26 PM To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Subject: [lbo-talk] W = the antichrist?
[Another from the Counterpunch stable, though not in CP itself. Dunno, I just don't believe this.]
Pope fears Bush is antichrist, journalist contends New Catholic Times, May 18, 2003
WASHINGTON DC -- According to freelance journalist Wayne Madsden, "George W Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs and his constant references to 'evil doers,' in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations--the anti-Christ."
Madsen, a Washington-based writer and columnist, who often writes for Counterpunch, says that people close to the pope claim that amid these concerns, the pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament.
Before he became pope, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla said, "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel."
The pope worked tirelessly to convince leaders of nations on the UN Security Council to oppose Bush's war resolution on Iraq. Vatican sources claim they had not seen the pope more animated and determined since he fell ill to Parkinson's Disease. In the end, the pope did convince the leaders of Mexico, Chile, Cameroon and Guinea to oppose the U.S. resolution.
Madsen contends that "Bush is a dangerous right-wing ideologue who couples his political fanaticism with a neo-Christian blood cult."
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