A Forecast Of The Things To Come In The Last Days? A Closer Look At Pope Leo XIII

The equal toleration of all religions...is the same as atheism.  Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII was the oldest active person to be a Pope.  He was born in 1810 and died in 1903.  His Papacy was the third-longest in length in the history of this position and was a very brilliant man.  He spoke six languages fluently.  Yet, he is not a Saint.  After reading this article you may question this comment too. 

He is noted not only for his vision of what was going to happen in the next hundred years or so with the Church but what was about to attack the family unit as well. 

Pope Leo XIII set out four distinct and totally accurate thoughts about the future well before they happened.  Now, would be a great time to take a closer look at these and also take a closer look at Pope Leo XIII-the man behind the dream

First, he wrote about the evils of socialism and how it entices people to its cause with the sounds of justice only to disappoint and deliver nothing in return but empty promises.  Here, Pope Leo XIII explained, “It is clear that the main tenet of socialism, a community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.”

Second, he wrote about the duty all Catholics had to play in the government.  Pope Leo XIII wanted all people to participate in the government and not run away from it when he explained, “All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements in daily political life in the countries where they live. They must penetrate, wherever possible, in the administration of civil affairs; must constantly exert the utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty from going beyond the limits fixed by God's law. All Catholics should do all in their power to cause the constitutions of states and legislation to be modeled on the principles of the true Church.”

Third, Pope Leo XIII explained the importance of having values and holding to your values.  When a person believes in everything, he believes in nothing.  Pope Leo XIII added, “If unbridled license of speech and writing be granted to all, nothing will remain sacred and inviolate; even the highest and truest mandates of nature, justly held to be the common and noblest heritage of the human race, will not be spared. Thus, truth being gradually obscured by darkness, pernicious and manifold error, as too often happens, will easily prevail.”

Fourth, in the clarion of clarity and brilliance, Pope Leo III  addressed the problems that the family unit would face in the next 100 years. In light of the attacks on the family today, Leo XIII, was way ahead of his times when he called family life the “the cornerstone of all society and government.”  He goes on to explain, “The foundation of this society rests first of all in the indissoluble union of man and wife according to the necessity of natural law, and is completed in the mutual rights and duties of parents and children…You know also that the doctrines of socialism strive almost completely to dissolve this union; since, that stability which is imparted to it by religious wedlock being lost, it follows that the power of the father over his own children, and the duties of the children toward their parents, must be greatly weakened. But the Church, on the contrary, teaches that ‘marriage, honorable in all,’ which God himself instituted in the very beginning of the world, and made indissoluble for the propagation and preservation of the human species, has become still more binding and more holy through Christ, who raised it to the dignity of a sacrament, and chose to use it as the figure of His own union with the Church.”

The vision of Pope Leo XIII was beyond reproach.  He saw far into the bloodiest century of the history of mankind.  Over 100 million perished in genocides and man’s inhumanity to man.  Whether it was Russian Communists killing their own people, Chinese Communists killing their own people, or genocides in Namibia, Armenia, Ukraine, Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, or Sudan, the 20th century was packed full of blood.  Even though all of this, Pope Leo XIII saw the main four problems that plague our society like a blight on humanity itself: evils of socialism, the public’s role in government, the importance of holding on to your values, and attack on the family unit.  No truer words were ever spoken.  My only question is, now that you know this truth, what are you going to do about it?

Brothers and sisters, Pope Leo XIII had a vision, a direction for your life.  Let us not lose sight of this fact.  We must remember that Jesus Christ came to create a way of life for us to live every day- not just Sunday.  Jesus Christ wants us to join him in heaven.  He is the way, the truth, and the light.  Why not then follow the four simple teachings of this great man so we too can work out our salvation now and forever.  Amen