This month even some famous leaders of the Jewish community have joined the club. Islamic religious leaders have cooperated with the Vatican several years now.

No doubt the globalization process is being undertaken by churches and religions, just as it's happening in the economic arena and politics. Among all religious institutions, the Vatican is the strongest economically as well as the most influential politically—both in Europe and in the rest of the world.

The absence of reference to the "Christian" identity was one of the factors that prevented several Catholic countries, except France, from accepting the newly proposed European Constitution. With the term "Christian" they refer to the Vatican, of course. In their view, all others are churches that need to come back to the "mother church."

The idea of religious unity may seem a noble one. But what kind of unity does modern ecumenism promote? That of "unity in diversities"—that is, everyone may keep his own faith, as long as the values of the family and human life are promoted. In other words, the first four of the Ten Commandments, those that teach us how to love God, are not so important. This position should not be surprising, as many of those who are involved in modern ecumenism erroneously teach that the Ten Commandments were abolished by Jesus Christ (see Matthew 5:17-18).

In past centuries there were rivalries between the Jewish world and the Vatican. Now prominent Catholic and Jewish leaders are working together towards ecumenism. Two of Israel's most prominent rabbis, Shlomo Amar and Yona Mezger, recently invited the Roman pontiff to visit the synagogue in Rome. They recognize the fact that the Vatican is, among all other religious institutions in the world, the most powerful and most influential, especially in Western and Eastern Europe.

The Vatican is, step by step, winning the trust of the Orthodox Jewish and Islamic worlds. Such events may make some shout for joy, as the time seems to have arrived for the end of all rivalries, conflicts and sorrows.

But will this modern ecumenism bring good to our nations? Will it improve the quality in peoples' lives in the long run? And, if there is a God in heaven, how does He view such trends?

Modern ecumenism is quite different from ancient ecumenism. The first Ecumenical Council was held in 325 A.D at Nicea, Italy, by the Roman Church to bring the various Christian churches under its control. This was possible through persecutions and much bloodshed against those who firmly maintained their viewpoints in doctrinal matters. The emperor Constantine was the first emperor of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Could the Vatican's ecumenical movement lead to history repeating itself?

Modern ecumenism is expanding the Middle Age concept by promoting the unification of all religions, very much in tune with the current globalization process affecting virtually all other human activities. This would give the ecumenical churches the opportunity to survive in a materialistic world that does not seem to pay much attention to them anymore.

At the same time the world has serious financial and poverty problems, and it is as divided and much more in danger than it was during the Middle Ages—economically, politically and religiously. As additional nations acquire the capacity to destroy entire other nations with weapons of mass destruction, the need for world unity becomes more critical for survival. All of these factors fuel the globalization process and world ecumenism.

The problem is, who is going to lead world ecumenism and globalization? Today the United States is leading the game in almost all the corners of the earth. But America is losing more and more prestige and credibility around the world, especially in the realm of religion and spirituality.

Meanwhile we are witnessing the birth and constant growth of a new "superpower-to-be" in the same land of the ancient Holy Roman Empire. With the difference that, within the Western and Eastern European Empire to be, there exist different religious identities which sooner or later must surrender to the common cause of this growing European Empire or succumb. To surrender means they would have to give up their religious values, principles and doctrines.

A United Europe possesses all the means and interests to ultimately surpass the United States and lead a new era of globalization. Could the current divisions within the European parliament be healed by their acceptance of the Roman pontiff, as was the case through the Middle Ages? Last year the Roman pontiff was invited to speak to the Italian parliament, and all deputies of any political color stood up as one body to honor the one many consider Christ's vicar on earth. As matter of fact, the media has labeled him the real king of Italy.

What if the Catholic Church were to be directly involved in the formation of or in spiritually leading a United Europe as it did in the Middle Ages?

In Europe there exists now a much more heterogeneous religious presence, which includes not only the Jewish and Islamic faiths, but several other oriental religions quite different from Christianity. How can a future European superpower deal successfully with them or to bring them under its aegis and control? Possibly through the direct involvement of the Catholic Church.

In past centuries the Catholic Church spared from its persecutions all those who accepted its beliefs. Now the same Church could will all faiths to itself by adjusting its approach: putting all faiths at the same level. This prospect is not religion fiction, but a well-established trend within the mind of several Catholic cardinals and politicians. After all, the term "catholic" means "universal"—a church accepting and honoring all faiths.

The problem with such a solution is that it would inevitably reduce the role and even the divine nature and origin of both Jesus Christ and the Bible to a mere "optional" channel and tool to obtain spiritual salvation.

One of world ecumenism's concepts is that "Christ may be the Head of the Christian Church, but there are several other ways to get to God." Surprisingly, this approach is gaining more and more acceptance in the Catholic world. "'Our faith', stated mons. Fisichella, ‘is not the religion of the Bible: our faith is the religion of the word, and Scriptures are not all in the word. We live by traditions . . . which we keep alive in the various cultures . . .'" (L'Eco di Bergamo, April 23, 2002, "Convegno sulla multiculturalità").

In other words, they assign to themselves the divine authority to reveal to their followers teachings whose meaning, value and authority are much higher than that expressed in the Holy Bible! Where all this could lead is dramatic and frightening—if the Imperial Church came back to its original power, even if only for a sort time.

Our European continent has had many geniuses and brilliant thinkers, and even now it is the historic home of spectacular landscapes, wonderful architectural masterpieces, extraordinarily talented painters, sculptors, musicians and singers. Europe is where some of the greatest and most wonderful discoveries and realizations of humanity were accomplished.

But Europe has also been the stage for centuries of crimes and horrors against humanity, and many of those crimes were perpetrated in the name of Christianity. Today, the ancient phantom of religious persecution seems to be unrealistic because of democracy and religious freedom. But what if a weak and divided European Parliament now open to heavily Catholic Eastern nations were to ask the Vatican to be directly involved in promoting political unity along with religious unity?

The Vatican itself has, more than any other institution, the interest to see a revival of its ancient religious, political and economical powers. Very few people realize or believe that the Catholic ecumenical process is the method that the Vatican is using in its attempt to resuscitate the old Holy Roman Empire. The form would be different, but the substance the same.

What game are the nations actually playing? The game of survival and who will be leading the world through globalization in the next 20 years. Europe has the most motivation and interest to do so, in order to free itself from its vulnerable economy and inferiority complex towards the United States.

When Europe has a strong common leadership, the next logical step would be the unification of all religions—leading ultimately to more world control. All this would happen slowly in comparison to our everyday living. Little by little the globalization process and world ecumenism would relegate Christ to a marginal role. In this process the role of the Bible has already been questioned and set aside.

As matter of fact, ecumenism along with the globalization process may well be representing the imperial system which is described by the Bible as "Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17:5; 18:2). This is a system that will be born, motivated and based primarily on money as its real god. At that time, money will have a far higher priority than God's Commandments.

Europe's decisions in the near future may have serious repercussions for many peoples in the world, not just those in Europe, if we repeat the same errors of the past. One of these mistakes was the suppression of religious freedom and the imposition of Catholicism on all citizens. That happened before the Second World War. That period did not last long, thank God. If history would repeat itself, I believe—I hope—these prophesied tragic events would not last longer—thanks to the same loving God.