Someone said that the conflict in Iraq is not a war but only a skirmish in a larger war. President Bush has said that this larger war is a war on terror for the defense of freedom.

Many questions are being debated. Will the UN survive? Will the members of the European Union be able to agree enough to become effective in this war? What effect will this have on NATO?

In the east, even bigger questions: Is Islam truly a peaceful religion? How can we attack terrorism without attacking Islam? Can democracy and Islam exist in the same country?

As the cauldron boils, major world forces are jockeying for position. Though receiving little attention by the press, the pope in the Vatican is a major player.

Vatican philosophy was aptly presented by Dr. Arthur Hippler in a recent issue of the conservative Catholic weekly, The Wanderer.

"There is only one institution that has the legitimacy to address the common good of nations, only one institution that has been founded by God directly over all men of every nation, and that is the Catholic Church," he writes.

This quote is in an article in which he claims that for hundreds of years, the Vatican restrained violence and "restricted warfare on pain of excommunication." "After the past five centuries of revolution against the Church, nations continue to seek some authority to do the work she once did. But only to the Church did God give authority to govern all men."

Hippler rightly points out that the UN is currently being pushed as an international public authority charged with keeping the peace among the nations. But he claims that its "authority" must come from God, not from the consensus of the members. And the only way it can get authority from God is through the Roman Catholic Church because God gave it the authority to rule over the nations.

Rev. 17:18 speaks of a city "which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Author Dave Hunt, in his book, A Woman Rides the Beast, states: "History bears witness that there was indeed such a city and only one. That city was, of course, Rome after its bishops began to call themselves popes and claiming to be the successors of the Caesars, took upon themselves the imperial powers of worldwide sovereignty."

Hunt presents many examples how Rome "restricted warfare." and "restrained violence." Kings were forced to wait barefoot in the snow for a papal audience; kneel while the pope put his foot on their neck or kiss the pope's feet in show of submission. If a king resisted, he would feel the wrath of the pope's armies and be excommunicated along with any who stood with the king, thus denying them any hope of eternal life.

Today, many claim that Roman Catholicism has changed. But all that is changed is its tactics. Its claim to world dominion is still the same. This further verifies Rome's place as the prostitute church described in Bible prophecy.

The meaning of the pope's "triple crown."