From www.examiner.com
Sony's 2012 movie is coming out in less than a week. Its director, Roland Emmerich mentioned that his movie shows the destruction of Rome, St. Peter's Basilica, and the famous statue representing Catholicism in Rio de Janeiro.
In an interview with the online SciFiWire website, he indicated that the reason was, "Because I am against organized religion."
What he may not have realized is that there are a variety of predictions from Catholic mystics that indicate that Rome and the Vatican will be destroyed.
One is actually by a nun who shared his last name. In the early 1800's Anne Catherine Emmerich claimed to see the following in a vision in which St. Peter's is featured:
Anne Catherine Emmerich: May 13, 1820...I saw again the present Pope and the dark church of his time in Rome...I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city. I saw the ever-increasing trepidity of the clergy , the circle of darkness ever widening...Again I saw in vision St. Peter's undermined according to a plan devised by the secret sect whilst, at the same time, it was damaged by storms. (Thiel B. 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect, Nazarene Books, 2009, p. 103).
Whether or not Anne Catherine Emmerich's storms are intended to be literal or figurative, she predicts a time of danger for Rome and the Vatican.
Other Catholic mystics had similar visions of the destruction of Rome and the Vatican. Here are two:
Nun Ludmilla of Prague (cir. 1250): Hardly three generations will pass after the world war, when one will also endeavor to prevent the Pope from exercising his sacred office, which will be a sign that the fall of Rome and the end of the world is near (Culleton, Reign of Antichrist, p. 131).
Anna Maria Taigi (died 1837): "described to me the great ordeal ahead. Rome would be battered by revolutions...Millions of men would die by the sword in war and civil strife, other millions would perish in unforeseen death. Then entire nations would return to the unity of the Church, and many Turks, Pagans and Jews would be converted and their fervour cover with confusion the original Christians. In one word she told me that our Lord was intending to cleanse the world and His Church..." (Bessieres A. Wife, Mother and Mystic (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi), p. 166).
So while they do not specify that Rome is destroyed by a flood or fire storms from the heavens (two of the destructive forces shown in Roland Emmerich's film), the idea that Rome ultimately may be destroyed is consistent with even certain Catholic prophecies. And it is interesting to reflect on the fact that Ann Catherine Emmerich did indicate that Rome would be "damaged from storms".
The director and movie have also been criticised for its unfair portrayal of religions. It shows the destruction of the Vatican and the statue of Christ in Rio but it does not show other places especially Muslim ones. The director has already confirmed he is against organised religion which explains the destruction of Catholic and Christian places in the movie but he doesn't show Muslim ones because he knows that it would cause Muslim outrage and violence. It's a great pity that he cant show the same to other religions especially Catholics.
ReplyDelete