I remember before the last (current) Pope was elected in 2005 at that time the Holy Spirit put it on my heart as an urgency to pray for him (Pope Benedict XVI, aka Ratzinger).
I didnt fulfill what He had asked me to do… mainly because my life was in such turmoil at that time.
This time I see that the Holy Spirit is once again telling me to pray pray pray, because the lives of 1 billion Catholics can be positively or negatively influenced by whoever is chosen as the next Pope.
Late last year the urgency to pray for the Catholic church came back upon me and apparently it was around that time in December 2012 that unknown events resulted in the Pope deciding to resign.
The “approved” version of the scandal
You can read a more complete version of this story here: Pope Benedict XVI’s leaked documents show fractured Vatican or download this pdf of the page
These event are in part (probably) related to a book published by Gianluigi Nuzzi in May 2012 entitled His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI
This book consisted of confidential letters and memos between Pope Benedict and his personal secretary Carlo Maria Viganò.
Paolo Gabriele, the pope’s personal butler since 2006, was alleged to have leaked the stolen information to Gianluigi Nuzzi. Paolo Gabriele was arrested on 23 May 2012 by Vatican police after confidential letters and documents addressed to the pope and other Vatican officials were allegedly found in his Vatican apartment.
Apparently many similar documents had been published in Italian media over the previous five months; many of them dealt with allegations of corruption, abuse of power and a lack of financial transparency at the Vatican.
Paolo Gabriele (the guy who leaked the papers) said…
“Seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the church, I finally reached a point of degeneration, a point of no return, and could no longer control myself,” Gabriele explained to Vatican investigators. A shock, “perhaps through the media,” Gabriele continued, could “bring the church back on the right track.”
Recently Paolo Gabriele was personally visited and pardoned by Benedict XVI on 22 December 2012. More recently he was given a job in a hospital within the Vatican.
Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Carlo Maria Vigano (the Pope’s personal secretary who wrote some of the papers) as ambassador to the United States in late 2011 and now lives in Washington DC.
So thats how we came to be here. I dont think this is the real story and I dont think we will ever know the real story. But here we are now…
Why pray?
Why pray? Take a look at this next verse…
in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. – 2 Cor 2:11
If the enemy can get his own leader into the papal seat, he will be able to introduce disorder and anti-Christ policies into a position that 1 billion people follow with slavish devotion. To corrupt that papal seat is surely one of the enemy’s highest goals, because from there he can lead a billion people astray.
So let us not be ignorant of the enemy’s scheme’s. Let us pray for the Catholic church, let us pray for the Cardinals (they will be the ones electing the next pope) and let us pray for the whole process.
How can we pray to maximum effect?
Either download some Key prayer scriptures v3.0 … a list of scriptures you can declare over the Vatican, the Cardinals and over the past and future popep daily… or view this list of scriptures in the online version of that downloadable document.
God bless you for being a part of this important event.
Faith + Hope + Love 
Hey there Mark
I saw and read this post of yours and I feel as a brother in Christ i want to show you something that I learned some time back.
I feel that this is a very powerful message that will put God’s children on the right track.
watch:
tell me what you think after you have watched it all. It is very important that you follow the whole message.
Regards
Tyron