There’s No Smoke Without Fire

There’s no smoke without fire, or so the old saying goes. Well I just found out this evening that this old saying isn’t always true.

Tonight the eyes of the world’s media were fixed on a narrow chimney pot sticking out of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. They wee all waiting for that puff of white smoke to indicate that a new Pope has been elected. However, the smoke that blows out of this chimney is not created by the burning of ballot papers as many suppose, oh no. According to a Vatican insider, on BBC 5 live this evening, the smoke is generated by the release of chemicals from a canister.  So much for the ozone layer!

Their pretend smoke from a non-fire isn’t the only bit of fakery that will come out of Rome this week. Another classic lie that will come from Rome this week will be one of the titles that will be bestowed upon the newly elected Pontiff.

Pontifex Maximus

For those of you like me who do not read Latin the term literally means ‘The Greatest Bridge Builder’.

Now that’s quite a title to take to yourself.  The idea, of course, is that the Pope is the greatest bridge builder that the Roman Catholic can find between himself and his God. If you will, he is a mediator between God and men.

However, that particular role is already held by someone who, unlike Benedict, has not retired or, unlike John Paul II, has not died. You see the only person who can really be called Pontifex Maximus is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul said to Timothy…

‘For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;’ 1 Timothy 2 v5

How dare Rome bestow such a title on a mere man!