“Biden and Pope Francis Could Make a Climate Change Miracle” read the headline of a January 31 article featured on Foreign Policy, a noted magazine and website covering diplomacy. It’s a lengthy analysis of what it means to again have a U.S. leader who is a Roman Catholic and one in contact with a pope who has opinions beyond the clerical sphere.
A good portion traces the actions, public and private, of the first Catholic to serve as president of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy, and his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. While fighting the lingering anti-Catholic sentiment of his era, Kennedy, for the first two years of his presidency, distanced himself from any connection with his mother church. It was Pope John XXIII who began the behind-the-scenes effort to get the United States and what was then the Soviet Union to pull back on nuclear missiles; Kennedy endorsed the effort.
Eventually, this papal push led to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the two nations in the summer of 1963. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22 of that year, and it would be nearly 58 years before another Roman Catholic would be sworn in as president of the United States.
A Match Made
According to the article, “President [Joe] Biden comes into office uniquely positioned to work productively with a powerful ally in the Vatican on an issue that a week into his presidency he has already described to the American people as ‘an existential threat:’ climate change.”
Described as an “issue that threatens the future of humanity,” climate change seems like just such a dilemma to warrant joint mobilization of power: An individual nation cannot fight it alone, but bound together in unity, the world can defeat it; a global problem needs a global solution.
And in many ways, it seems the Vatican was poised to link arms with the United States against this targeted enemy. In a phone call on November 12, Pope Francis and the newly elected Biden “pledged to work … together [on] … environmental action.”
Biden then plugged faithful Catholic John Kerry, former secretary of state under President Barack Obama, as his “special climate envoy.” Kerry was one of the officials originally responsible for the nation’s involvement in the Paris Climate Agreement, an accord that calls for drastic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions by Western nations and notably a passion project for Francis. Kerry is also openly fond of the pope’s encyclical Laudato si’, largely seen as a love letter to environmentalism.
Likewise, Vice President Kamala Harris, upon “[introducing] the Biden administration’s climate team last month, … specifically quoted the encyclical, citing the pontiff’s words: ‘Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.’”
Back in 2015, the year Laudato si’ was published, Gina McCarthy, Biden’s recent pick for national climate adviser, “took the pope’s environmental messaging on the road, speaking at Georgetown University and the University of Notre Dame, two of the nation’s top flagship Catholic universities.”
Thus, it comes as no surprise that within mere hours of his inauguration, Biden rewound the steps that former President Donald J. Trump took to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. What will this new administration achieve next for climate change?
The Union of Church and State
Students of Bible prophecy, however, might see something overlooked in the Foreign Policy article: The prophetic echoes of a U.S. leader and the head of the Vatican city-state to help enact a global mandate.
In Revelation, the Bible’s last book, we read about a church-state union during a time of global crisis. As millions clamor for peace and safety, these two powers impose a system of worship that contradicts the Bible’s commands and opposes the freedom of conscience our God gave to every person throughout history. Disobey this new world order, and you’re singled out for punishment.
While the Bible doesn’t speak of a climate crisis as the precipitating event, it’s certainly possible that close dealings on global warming could start a trend of cooperation leading to more ambitious undertakings between the world’s sole superpower and its smallest country.
In Revelation 13:11, 12, we read these words: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he 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, whose deadly wound was healed.” A beast in Bible prophecy is the symbol for a nation (Daniel 7:17).
A second beast follows the first beast. This second beast “[gives] breath to the image of the beast” (Revelation 13:15). An “image” means a likeness, a representation, a resemblance—a mirror. This second beast becomes a copy of the first beast. Are we seeing any inklings of that today?
These are dark forebodings, indeed. But though the short-term consequences won’t be good, after this period, Jesus will return and establish a kingdom without end, where all who are on the earth will worship God in spirit and in truth. This is an unfailing promise, one that cannot be broken, one that is sure, true, and eternal.
Want to learn more? Our free Study Guide, “The USA in Bible Prophecy,” is a great place to start.
Also helpful is a video presentation by Pastor Doug Batchelor called, “A Woman Rides a Beast.” In this informative video, you’ll learn what the Bible says is behind the seemingly benign agenda of this first beast and how to avoid being ensnared!