Editor’s note: The following essay is the first in a two-part series on the prophecies of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the ‘synodal church,’ and Pope Francis.
(LifeSiteNews) — Two hundred years ago, the German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich died in Dülmen, Westphalia. The stigmatized nun saw not only the life of Jesus in her visions, but also the future of the Church. Shortly before her death, she said: “There will be an after-church.”
During Emmerich’s time, such a thing was hardly imaginable, and what would an “after-church” be on top of that? I admit: I wondered about that as well, at least until with Pope Francis the “synodal church” emerged and, with it, a rapid decline.
But one thing at a time: What do Francis, the “synodal church,” and Blessed Anne Catherine have to do with each other?
The key lies in an amendment made by Emmerich, in which she spoke of a “dark church.” By this, she meant a church in which the light of Christ is extinguished. Accordingly, the “after-church” will not be a counter-church or a schismatic church, nor a Protestant “church” like the “church” of the Anglicans or Lutherans. Instead, the Catholic Church itself will be this “post-church” because it is increasingly distancing itself from Christ.
This is where Francis comes into play, who has openly contradicted his predecessors and – at least in part – even Christ Himself. Cardinal George Pell has, therefore, rightly called Francis’ pontificate a “disaster,” one could also say: a pontificate that does not correspond to the will of Christ.
Or could you imagine that Christ would have “blessed” adulterers and homosexual couples? That he would have tolerated pagan rites in His Church and restricted the missionary mandate given to His disciples? Let alone that He would have subjected His divine teachings to the will of man and even relativized them in relation to other religions? Certainly not!
In the church that Francis has declared to be a “synodal” church, however, all this and, unfortunately, much more is happening. Obviously, this church is no longer about the will of Christ but about the will of men, to which Francis is all too happy to conform; whatever he may call “human” or “pastoral” is, in truth, only that which obscures the light of Christ.
The dark church of this Pope seems to be made only by men. That is why it is no longer oriented toward God but only toward people in “synodal” cooperation.
Anyone who follows the Pope’s speeches, for example recently in Asia, can only marvel at how little he has to say about God and faith; ultimately, his preaching is a mixture of politics, ecology, and social work garnished with religious ingredients; sometimes these are now even missing altogether.
READ: Pope Francis: ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’
If Emmerich were alive today, she would not speak of an “after-church” but of the “synodal church” of our Pope. Here, “everyone, everyone” is invited, as Francis constantly says, but everyone asks themselves: “Invited to what?”
We don’t know why God is allowing this disastrous situation to happen, and Emmerich was also silent on this. However, she explicitly pointed out that the “post-church” would be “engineered by German rascals,” and she was right about that too.
What she prophesied 200 years ago came to pass with the Germans’ “Synodal Way,” and Francis himself unofficially adopted their heretical agenda in the current “World Synod.”
No, the “World Synod” is not intended to stop the German heresy but to help it to triumph. Francis has already seen to that. Or why do you think he has filled all the key positions with sympathizers of the German “rascals” of all people, not to mention the preponderance of participants?
It is so obvious that you can feel it with your hands: this Pope wants a new church, and it is this “Franciscan church” that the visionary from Dülmen had in mind when she spoke of the dark “post-church.”
However, she also said about the introduction of this “church”: “Only the Lord wanted it differently.” Ultimately, the Church of Christ is not in the hands of German heretics, nor is it in the hands of Francis. This may be a sign of hope!