[Darris McNeely] Every once in a while a news event takes place that doesn't gather a lot of attention, but some of our dedicated viewers of Beyond Today also see it and ask us to do a commentary upon it. Such an event occurred a few days ago when the German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a quick trip one afternoon down to Rome to visit with the new pope, Pope Francis. They had a very short meeting. Mrs. Merkel went back home.

It was barely covered in the news, but an astute Beyond Today viewer asked us if we could do an entire program on it. Not at this point, but we could make a comment I think that would help to put it all into context.

Why is this something that we should note and is important?

Well, Germany is the dominant nation in the European Union. Those who have been following the Euro Crisis over the past few years understand that Germany is the strongest nation, always has been within the European Union, and is increasingly calling the tune, calling the shots among all the other nations, bailing out various countries and setting the terms by which the European Union goes forward. This is historically the case. It always has been. Germany is always going to be the leading nation in this very critical region of the world.

The Vatican, most people don't realize it, is more than just the place where the Roman Catholic Church is headquartered. Vatican City is a sovereign state. The pope is a world leader. He's not only a religious leader, but the pope is also a statesman, a political leader around the world as well. And when the leader of the strongest nation in Europe goes down to have a meeting in the Vatican with the Pope that is important for a number of reasons.

Now in this particular meeting Chancellor Merkel is facing reelection this coming fall in Germany. There are a lot of Catholics within Germany. So there was a political reason for her to go down and to make this visit as it plays well back home with a base of people that she needs to support her in her reelection bid. But it's also a key meeting between the pope and a European leader, chancellor if you will to use that terminology from the far distant past, a monarch. These meetings like this have always been critically important, but people just don't understand why. In this particular case, there's a lot of change taking place in Europe. There's also a lot of change taking place within the Roman Catholic Church as this whole region is going through a time of turmoil and where it will lead, where it will come out is something that is going to actually astound many viewers and people who are not understanding the connection between a pope and a political leader in this sense here as all these things take place.

When these two events combine into something that Bible prophecy shows is going to be an astounding event the world will take notice.

In Revelation 13:12 there is an entire prophecy, a very long prophecy about two key figures that arise at the time of the end. And in verse 12 it says that, "One exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast who's deadly wound was healed." These are two leaders. They are typified by two beasts that rise up out of the sea and out from among the nations here in this prophecy. But one is political and the other is a religious leader. This is what the context of the prophecy clearly shows. And when their two influences combine, at that particular moment in history, something profound will take place on the world scene that will astound the world. And that's why in the most critical area of world politics and religious matters, Europe, a meeting between the head of Germany and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church is not something to ignore. It is very important to watch and to understand.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.