Across the world, secularists and radical Islamists are conducting regular and very public clinics on how to infuriate the Catholic Church.

The most recent occurred last Sunday. It was conducted by secular homosexuals during a visit by Pope Benedict xvi to Barcelona. In town to dedicate a newly completed basilica, Benedict came face to face with a vile and sickening scene: Some 200 homosexuals had positioned themselves along the route, proceeding to kiss, hug and paw each other as the popemobile rolled by. For Spain’s secularist community, this band of lip-locked warriors was a gratifying affront to a man who vehemently opposes same-sex marriage, and a sign of the rise of secularism in Spain.

For Benedict, it was kindling on an already raging fire.

Sunday’s clinic came on the heels of one conducted a week earlier by members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq terrorist organization. On October 31, as 140 parishioners prepared to take mass in Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church, the church was invaded by 10 gun-wielding terrorists. When the church was later stormed by Iraq’s counterterrorism unit, the militants detonated suicide bomb vests, killing 58 men, women and children, including two priests, and wounding a further 80 people. By the time the blood had dried, 80 percent of the parish church was either dead or injured—making it the deadliest attack against Iraqi Catholics on record.

In case people were confused about the reason for the attack, the terrorists later called Our Lady of Salvation an “obscene nest of the polytheists [infidels]” and warned that the attack “marked the beginning of a campaign to eliminate Christian minorities from Iraq.”

Although there are fundamental differences in motivation between the anti-Catholic activities of Spain’s secular homosexuals and Iraq’s radical Islamists—as well as the other anti-Catholic forces in Europe and throughout the Middle East—it is important to remember that they all have the same goal: namely, the elimination of the influence of the Catholic Church.

This will prove to be a foolhardy and dangerous ambition!

Just watch—the combative forces of secularism and radical Islam will arouse the fury of the world’s most terrifying institution!

You don’t need a degree in international relations to know how Benedict and the Vatican will respond to this ongoing provocation. You merely have to be willing to read the history of the papacy, of the Vatican and of the Catholic Church. To consider the Council of Nicea in 325, during which Catholicism was institutionalized as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Or the history of the Vatican in the ninth century when it provided moral and spiritual support to Charlemagne as he purged Europe of “heretics” and solidified Europe as a Catholic continent. Or the history of Pope Urban ii, who in 1095 rallied tens of thousands of Catholic Europeans to take up their swords and do their Christian duty by descending on the Middle East and purging Muslims, town by town, head by head, from the Holy Land.

Or the history of the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th and 16th centuries, when Spain’s monarchs—carrying out orders directly from the Vatican—slaughtered thousands of Jews, Muslims and even homosexuals. Or the history of Napoleon some 200 years later, who set about conquering Europe after being crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Pius vii. If you’re interested in recent examples, then study the history of the pope and the Vatican during World War ii giving moral and spiritual cover to Adolf Hitler as he rounded up Jews, stashed them on trains and funneled them into the gas chambers.

The Catholic Church has been around for nearly 2,000 years: Not once has it keeled over in the face of confrontation!

Spain’s homosexuals have forgotten who they are dealing with. So has radical Islam. These people are pushing and prodding the most dangerous institution on Earth, an institution with a long history of confrontation, of torture, of war.

If you don’t believe me, take up the challenge. Buy some books. Go online and research the histories cited above. Request our literature. As you investigate the history of the Catholic Church, keep in mind this overriding question: Is this the sort of institution that will shrink from confrontation with radical secularists or militant Islamists? The more you read, the clearer the answer will become.

One benefit of studying history is that it gives weight and meaning to the present. For those willing to study the history of the Catholic Church, the statements and actions of Pope Benedict and the Vatican will become more dramatic and significant.

For example: In his unscripted homily kicking off the Vatican’s recent Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, Pope Benedict xvi addressed radical Islam, stating that the “power of the terrorist ideologies” must be confronted, and that the god (Allah) in whose name terrorist attacks are conducted “must be unmasked” and “must fall.”

Considered by itself, this remark reveals an apparent willingness to confront radical Islam—but it gives no guarantee of future conflict, and no hint of exactly how or by what instrument Benedict will confront the forces of Islam. Viewed alone, we might easily fob it off as bluster. But when we consider it against the backdrop of Catholic history, its drama and significance increase a hundredfold.

Whether it’s the history of Charlemagne’s “Christian” conquests of the ninth century, the crusades against Muslims in the Middle Ages, or Pope John Paul’s stand against communism in the 20th century, the Vatican always rises to confront—often with horror and violence—religions and ideologies that threaten its existence. If we consider this history, and combine it with the assurance that radical Islam has no plans to compromise, we must deduce that a major conflict between radical Islam and Catholicism is inevitable!

But how will the Vatican rise to confront radical Islam? Again, look at history. In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine came to the aid of the Catholic Church. In the ninth century it was Charles, king of the Franks. During the Crusades, kings and knights from across the Continent left their castles and rallied to the Vatican’s cause. History clearly reveals who will be the weapon of choice for Benedict and the Vatican: It will be the armies of Catholic Europe!

Here’s one more forecast, based on the history of the medieval Crusades: The Vatican will intensify its focus on Jerusalem, and once again engage in a crusade to retake Jerusalem, from Jews and Muslims!

Although historical fact informs much of the Trumpet’s analysis about world events, especially as they pertain to the Catholic Church, we rely primarily on what the Apostle Peter called the “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19). Truth is, the Catholic Church and its growing relationship with what the Bible terms is an end-time European “beast” power, is discussed extensively throughout the Bible, especially in Daniel 8 and 11 and Revelation 13 and 17. If you’re interested in learning more about these events, read Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?

In the meantime, expect the prodding of radical secularism and militant Islam to continue to arouse the fury of the world’s most terrifying institution!