In an astonishing gesture that speaks to our time in prophecy, Pope Francis traveled to Cuba on February 12, 2016, where he met the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, a first between a Russian patriarch and a pope in over a thousand years.
The Vatican has long discussed getting together with the Russian Orthodox leader, something that even Pope John Paul II failed to accomplish.
Since the beginning of his papacy, Francis has made efforts to reconcile a division that can be traced to the Great Schism of 1054. The East-West Schism began over ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes over the Holy Spirit, the use of leavened or unleavened bread in the Eucharist, the pope’s claim to universal jurisdiction, and Constantinople’s place in the church’s organizational structure.
Now, after a 1,000-year rupture, the pope and Russian patriarch embraced under the joint desire to issue a global appeal for the protection of Christians who are being attacked in the Middle East. The moment came in the Havana airport terminal. “Finally,” Francis said to Kirill as they met each other. “We are brothers. It is very clear that this is the will of God.”
Pope Francis has been more aggressive than his predecessors in building ties with various Christian denominations and other religious faiths. In meeting with Patriarch Kirill, he attempts to heal one of the world’s most enduring religious disputes and, unlike all former popes, actually makes progress.
Does the Bible speak of these historic religious moves? In the book of Revelation, the Lord reveals to John the coming of a religious-political power that will attempt to unite the religious world. This power once received a deadly wound, but the wound was healed. Protestant scholars have for centuries identified the rising power in Revelation 13:1–10 with the largest Christian church in the world. People will be surprised at what appears to be an almost miraculous healing of this organization as it moves to unite all religions under its banner.
Are we living in prophetic times? It is worth our careful study.