The Internet and Twitterverse is awash with news about the new pope. Few people really understand what the papal election was really about. But Bible prophecy explains what is happening. Here is the real scoop.

In his February 28 Key of David telecast, “Why Did the Pope Resign?,” Gerald Flurry said that we couldn’t understand why the pope resigned without an understanding of the history and prophecy of Europe. “There are many educators and leaders and media personalities that feel certain that they know,” he said, “but I think very few of them do because they don’t understand the history of the Holy Roman Empire, not to mention the history of the Bible or Bible prophecy.”

The pope emeritus has a main goal, Mr. Flurry continued, that we can only understand by looking at the history and prophecy of the Holy Roman Empire. The pope resigned because he wants to ensure a very pro-Holy Roman Empire pope is installed.

The mainstream media predicted that the cardinalship of the Catholic Church would elect a reformer to “clean up” the scandal-plagued Vatican Curia. We shall see whether Pope Francis fits that mold. However, it is also likely the powerful Curia installed a pope sympathetic to the workings of the Curia.

In the same telecast, Gerald Flurry quoted a Spiegel article titled “Exhausted in the Vatican: the final battles of Pope Benedict xvi.” The article pointed out that at least eight months ago the pope and the Curia were already looking for a successor to Benedict.

Both the Vatican Curia and pope emeritus want the new pope to bring unity and peace to the warring factions within the Vatican—so it can focus on uniting Europe under the banner of the Catholic Church.

Except for a precious few articles, the media has all but pushed the pope emeritus into a meaningless retirement. This is not the case at all. Pope Benedict resigned at this precise time to influence the new pope to continue his vision for the Holy Roman Empire. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and as Pope Benedict xvi, this man has been methodically steering the Vatican for a generation.

In that Key of David program, Gerald Flurry sourced Fox News and Laura Ingram who have hosted Catholic authorities and insiders of the Catholic Church on their programs that have stated that “Pope Benedict wanted the time to influence who the next pope would be. They said that themselves—that he wanted to influence who the next pope was going to be. Well, now, why would he want to do that? Why would that be so important to this pope?

“[T]here’s a specific reason, and that is he wants to unite the Holy Roman Empire, as many other Europeans do. [Pope Benedict] has that, I believe, as his primary goal, and he feels he can have a great influence on the next pope that is chosen, who will be a man that he believes can control the Vatican and bring Europe together into what we know as the Holy Roman Empire” (emphasis added).

The final resurrection of the seventh head of the Holy Roman Empire is ready to burst onto the world scene in an amazing way. This is what this is all about. Francis i very well may be the last pope before the return of Jesus Christ. Of course, time will tell. But in the same telecast, Gerald Flurry said the seventh head of the Holy Roman Empire is about to appear, and events in Europe and the world are about to dramatically turn for the worse.

The installation of Pope Francis is about the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the return of Jesus Christ—the best headline a newspaper could ever have a privilege to print and proclaim.

As Gerald Flurry has explained, this pope will enact a two-pronged strategy: unite the Vatican first, and then move to unite Europe under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire.

That is the real scoop.