Pope Francis Unveils Nativity Scene With Jesus Lying on a Palestinian Kaffiyeh
Just weeks after suggesting that Israel was guilty of genocide against the Palestinians, Pope Francis unveiled a nativity scene with “baby Jesus” lying in a manger lined with a Palestinian kaffiyeh. On December 7, a wheelchair-bound Francis unveiled the nativity scene designed by Palestinian artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi at the Paul vi Hall in Vatican City.
A Palestinian Liberation Organization delegate joined Francis as he called on believers to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war.” This gesture is supportive of the view that Jesus was Palestinian.
Historical reality: Jesus was not Palestinian but a Jew descended from King David’s youngest son, Nathan. After Jesus was crucified by Pontius Pilate, his brother James became the first pastor of the Jerusalem congregation. The family of Jesus continued to play a prominent role in the Jerusalem congregation until a.d. 135, when Roman Emperor Hadrian banished Jews from Jerusalem and forbade keeping the Sabbath and teaching the Old Testament.
After Hadrian’s decree, Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina. Jesus’s great-grandnephew, Judah Kyriakos, the great-grandson of Jesus’s brother Jude, had to flee the city. The metropolitan of Caesarea then appointed a new Gentile bishop of Jerusalem, named Marcus, who obeyed Hadrian’s dictates against Sabbath-keeping and the teaching of the Old Testament.
Political objectives: Since the Palestinians have historically been more pro-Catholic than the Jews, the Vatican supports the creation of a Palestinian state. This support is usually couched in peaceful language, but it is a cover for the Catholic ambition to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Jews. The pope wants the power to set doctrine in the Holy City.
In the October 1951 issue of the Plain Truth, the late Herbert W. Armstrong highlighted a prophecy in Daniel 11:45 indicating the Vatican would move its headquarters to Jerusalem. Regarding the leader of a revived Holy Roman Empire, this verse says: “And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
A “tabernacle” is a place of religious worship, so this is referring to the Roman Catholic Church’s headquarters. This headquarters will soon be moved to Jerusalem.
Learn more: Read “The Dark Side of the Pope’s Visit to Jerusalem,” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.
