As the world approaches a new millennium, the winds of change are blowing through the Church. The two most visible leaders in Christendom – the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury – have of late been making cage-rattling statements about a variety of issues.

On October 23, 1996, Pope John Paul II told the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that "fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the theory of evolution as more than just a hypothesis." He explained that creation and evolution are not mutually exclusive so long as it is maintained that only God could create the human soul.

On May 28, 1998, the Pope issued an apostolic letter entitled "For the Defense of the Faith" in which he defined afresh the meaning of heresy. In the letter, he included the following words, "Furthermore, each and every thing set forth definitely by the magisterium of the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals must be firmly accepted and held…anyone who rejects propositions which are held definitively sets himself against the teaching of the Catholic Church."

In the same letter we find the following: "Whoever denies a truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or who calls into doubt, or who totally repudiates the Christian faith, and does not retract after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished as a heretic or an apostate with a major excommunication; a cleric moreover can be punished with other penalties, not excluding deposition."

The Pope’s letter was accompanied by commentary from Cardinal Ratzinger, who heads up the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith – the renamed office formerly responsible for the Inquisition. In that commentary, Ratzinger writes, "The bishops…together with the Roman pontiff…exercise supreme and full power over Church, although this power cannot be exercised without the consent of the Roman pontiff."

Among the unchallengeable doctrines are the Marian (Mary) dogmas, the doctrine of original sin, and the doctrine on the primacy and infallibility of the Pope.

In July of 1998, the Pope issued a letter to the world’s nearly 1 billion Catholics urging them to rediscover the observance of Sunday. He reaffirmed Catholic law that it is a "grave sin" if Catholics skip mass on Sundays deliberately, and without a legitimate reason.

The following month, a Vatican theologian close to the pope, Father Corrado Balducci, stated that there is no conflict between Catholic belief and belief in extra-terrestrials. Said Balducci, "It is reasonable to believe and affirm that extra-terrestrials exist. Their existence can no longer be denied, for there is too much evidence for the existence of extra-terrestrials and flying saucers." Balducci sees these beings as "further evolved" than human beings, but no less under the sovereignty of God. Perhaps it should be noted that Father Balducci is also the Vatican’s chief exorcist.

In December of 1998, the pope condemned the use of the death penalty -- especially in the United States.

John Paul II opened 1999 with a visit to the United States and a blanket condemnation of free market capitalism. He abhorred, "…radical capitalist ideology that encourages instincts that lead to consumer attitudes and lifestyles."

The Vatican has also been recasting the images of both God and Satan. God is no longer to be imagined as "an old man with a white beard," and priests will no longer be encouraged to refer during exorcisms to "The Prince of Darkness," the "Accursed Dragon," the "Foul Spirit," "Satanic power" or to the "Master of Deceit." The preferred language now refers merely to "the cause of evil." For the first time, the Virgin Mary is to be called upon to help the afflicted individual. This reflects John Paul II’s devotion to the Marian cult.

More recently, in July of 1999, Pope John Paul II recast Hell as a "state of mind" rather than a physical place. He said, "Hell is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life…More than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. So eternal damnation is not God’s work, but is actually our own doing." Hell, he proclaimed, is "the pain, frustration and emptiness of life without God."

Meantime, the second most prominent figure in the Christian world, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, wrote, "I can tell you frankly that while we can be absolutely sure that Jesus lived and that He was certainly crucified on the Cross, we cannot with the same certainty say that we know He was raised by God from the dead."

The resurrection of Christ, of course, is the central tenet of Christian belief. Paul wrote, "…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are yet in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (I Corinthians 15:17-19).

Because these two leaders are highly visible, and because they represent vast numbers of Christians, it is important to ask, "Where are they taking the Church?" What is behind these changes in teaching and outlook? What do these things portend for the future?

One thing is certain, the Roman Church is becoming more assertive, and more dogmatic, under John Paul II. It is, as it always has, adapting its doctrines to provide a "better fit" in the New World Order. Under the current pope’s leadership, the cult of Mary is being aggressively promoted within the Church. The Congregation for the Defense of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger is also asserting its authority over Church theologians and priests who are moving too far afield from approved Catholic dogma.

At the same time, the Church of England has clearly lost ground over the past few decades. Church attendance in Britain is at an all-time low. Church doctrine appears to be in chaos, and some churchmen are even predicting the Church’s demise within the foreseeable future.

Could it be that the Roman Church is preparing for a revival of the "Holy" Roman Empire in Europe – and that at some point, its competition there will simply atrophy out of existence? One wonders…