Cardinal Arinze Discusses Mary at Fatima — and in Tradition and Christian Devotion

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Vatican  |  Mar. 30, 2017

Cardinal Arinze Discusses Mary at Fatima — and in Tradition and Christian Devotion

The former prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship is the author of the new book Marian Veneration: Firm Foundations.

Edward Pentin

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Francis Arinze has no doubt that, this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary will help the Church through her current difficulties and confusion — but it depends on the faithful’s prayers to the Holy Mother of God.
The Nigerian cardinal was speaking in a March 13 interview with the Register in Rome about his new book, Marian Veneration: Firm Foundations.
Cardinal Arinze explained how he hopes the book will equip Catholics and non-Catholics with a full knowledge of Our Lady, the importance of Marian devotion today, and the meaning of apparitions in the life of the Church, especially in this anniversary year.
The former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments also gives his opinion on the perennial question of whether a pope has consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart that would usher in a period of world peace — an act Our Lady requested at Fatima in 1917.

Your Eminence, what prompted you to write the book?
One motivation was the anniversary, indeed, the centenary, of Fatima, which is in May this year. Also, one of my priest friends said to me: “You haven’t really written a book on Our Lady. You’ve given talks, but not written a whole book.”
So I thought of it. But the bigger reason is to furnish people who are devoted to Our Lady with arguments — scriptural, dogmatic — on the foundations of Marian veneration so they should not be on the defensive. They should be calm, knowing this is actually founded on holy Scripture, on the Tradition of the Church and on good theology — not to focus on the practice of saints or the teachings of popes, and the actual living of Christian people all around the world — so that those devoted to Our Lady will have this type of assurance, the foundation on doctrine and Scripture.
Also, if anybody asks them the reason for their Marian veneration, not so much for those who want to argue, or for those who are against Marian veneration: If they want information, this book will help them, but if they only want to win an argument, then this is not the reason for the book.
It’s so a Catholic will be equipped with material so that if he has a Protestant friend who wants to know, “Why are you Catholics devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary?” my answer is: “Take this book.”

How important is devotion to Our Lady, especially today?

It is part of Christianity, because when divine Providence decided to put into action God’s plan for human salvation, he sent the archangel Gabriel, who came to the Virgin Mary of Nazareth with God’s proposal, and Mary accepted it, saying, “Let it be done to me according to your word,” which means that the Blessed Virgin Mary cooperated in a very exceptional way with God’s plan for human salvation.
It was not her own invention, but she accepted it, and she was an associate of the Redeemer, not only at the Annunciation, of course, the Visitation of Elizabeth — of course, we know what happened there — but the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt and her private life in Nazareth, about which we would like to know so much — we are told just enough, but not enough for our curiosity.
Then, in the public life of Christ, Vatican II talks of Mary’s significant appearances, especially on Calvary and what Christ said there, which means Christ was saying to John: “This is your mother” and to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Behold your son.”
Christ was declaring what was already there by the fact that he is the Redeemer, and we who are redeemed are his brothers and sisters, so we are spiritual children of the Virgin Mary. This means Marian veneration is not something invented by the Vatican or by enthusiastic Catholics. It is something that is just in the normal, calm reading of God’s working out of our salvation.
So Mary cooperated in a special way in our salvation history — which means Marian veneration is normal to Christianity. The way it is expressed can differ and change.

Would you say that it’s especially important to listen to God’s word today and that she gives the perfect example of listening to God and what he wants for our lives? Is that the primary example she gives us?
You are right — she listened.
Indeed, one chapter is on the faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which many Christians don’t think about. Mary believed every detail about the life of Christ wasn’t made clear to her.
Two or three times, St. Luke tells us she did not understand what he had said: “She kept these words and reflected on them in her heart,” which means she made what Vatican II calls a pilgrimage of faith. She grew in faith. She believed. Elizabeth praised her: “Blessed are you who believed.” She must have been thinking of a man very near her [Zechariah] who did not believe, and the angel struck him with dumbness for nine months! So she’s a model of faith.

You say one has to adapt the devotions to today. How have the devotions changed compared to, say, 100 years ago?
Well, the way it is expressed can change according to people or cultures or times.
If you are in Spain, they have long traditions of how they express devotion to the Virgin Mary. On Good Friday, they have a type of procession where she is wearing black. We don’t have that in Nigeria. We are new Christians, in a way.
And then in Italy, they have 2,000 years of Christianity, so they have developed forms of Marian veneration — the shrines, the big sanctuaries and even the small ones, their style, their expression, the hymns associated with lutes. So it is just normal.

How does the book aim to help the faithful practice their devotions in particular ways?
On what we call popular devotions, the Second Vatican Council, in its document on the liturgy [Sacrosanctum Concilium], Paragraph 13, says that popular devotions should be encouraged, but they should be in line with good theology and also with the liturgical life of the Church.
You will notice that the earlier forms of devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary were in Advent, because it was normal when expecting the nativity of Christ to think of his mother. So that would be one of the ways in which devotion develops.
Then there is a particular stress or an angle: prayer, penance and listening to the word of God. Everyone will have their own way of having recourse to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The religious sisters would record her as an example, a model, although she was not what we would call a religious sister, in the sense of a consecrated religious.
If anything, she was a married woman, but [had] a very special type of marriage. Then mothers would look on her in their own way, of course, and even girls growing up can look on her. And because she brought Christ to other people, every one of us priests are to bring Christ to other people. She lived for Christ. Her whole life was Christocentric, so every one of us, in our own way, can look up to her.

How significant is the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima?
Our Lady appeared at Fatima to the three children in 1917. It took the Church some time to approve it because it is normal that the Church is slow to approve apparitions — because our faith is not built on apparitions. So they are proposed, not imposed.
If, therefore, a person says: “I am not attracted by Fatima, I am not attracted by Lourdes,” we do not condemn anybody for that. But if a person says: “I do not believe he died in Jerusalem,” that’s different, because that’s part of Revelation. But an apparition can help us: not because Our Lady appeared at Fatima to make a new revelation, but to stress an angle, or emphasis we need. So she asked for prayers: prayer for sinners, prayer for peace, to do penance, to pray the Rosary, and then “my Immaculate Heart will finally triumph.”
So, in that sense, yes, an apparition helps us.

And do you see this whole year as particularly significant? Do you expect some special grace from it?
There is no question of binding anyone to that, or condemning a person because they’re not enthusiastic about the Fatima anniversary and so then [saying] they’re not a good Catholic.
That’s not good logic, nor good theology. But an individual is free. I don’t personally expect a particular miracle this year.

But for the Church generally?
Oh, I will pray that we take more seriously the message of Fatima, that we pray — pray the Rosary, do penance, and pray for world peace; and also that the ideology behind communism would not keep a hold on people. That is part of the message of Fatima. It is relevant, and it is in line with the Gospel. Therefore, I have hope and pray, in that sense.

How can Our Lady, perhaps through this anniversary, help guide us through this difficult moment in the Church, where people say there’s a lot confusion? Could the Blessed Virgin help us through this, perhaps by praying to her more, so that we could achieve clarity?
Yes, no doubt — hoping to have a miracle this year, as if I were giving God an ultimatum, that, no, but that Our Lady will help us, yes, because she’s the mother of Christ the Savior, and she’s the spiritual mother of all Christians. She is the mother of the Church.
Even if Paul VI didn’t declare that in 1965, or 1964, it is still a fact, as Christ even said it on Calvary. And even if Christ didn’t say it on Calvary, the fact that she’s the mother of Christ, and therefore spiritual mother of all of us, makes her Mother of the Church and means she must be interested in how the Church is getting on.
If the Church of her son is in difficulty, we can’t expect the mother to be unconcerned. Therefore, we must pray to her more this year and believe that she intercedes for the Church. How it will work out, I cannot tell.

Do you subscribe to the view that the Pope still needs to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart for peace to be achieved?
If I begin to make a statement: “Has the Pope done that or not?” — I’m not ready to do that. But Our Lady said, “Consecrate the world and Russia to my Immaculate Heart.” Yes, Pope St. John Paul II said: “I have done that,” especially in 1984, and, for me, that is good and enough.
But it is not a dogma, whether he actually did all Our Lady asked for or not; we don’t have to go to that length.

On apparitions in general, do you deal with that in the book?
I give it a chapter, because it is a fact in the life, the history of the Church.
God is not bound to send the Blessed Virgin Mary to appear, but de facto in history, in the last 2,000 years, some say that Christ appeared to them, such as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque or Sister Faustina. Many said the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them — now, not all of them would be authentic, but some are, and the Church, in a very rigid way, has looked to them, with theologians, psychologists and so on, and finally pronounced this [instance] is from heaven.
In some cases, the apparition is not clear, so the Church, when it is not clear, does not pronounce, because the Blessed Virgin Mary does not get permission from the Pope, or a bishop, to be able to appear to anybody. She will appear as she wishes, according to God’s plan.
We don’t have to be informed, but we take notice of the fact — our faith is not built on an apparition, but an apparition can help us and does help us.

It’s an aid to faith?
Oh definitely, so I gave it a chapter; and, indeed, I listed shrines where Our Lady is in many countries in the world — some of them already approved right up to Rome, others approved by the bishops at the diocesan level, others with no certainty, so no approval, and it’s just normal that it should be so.

Edward Pentin is the Register’s Rome correspondent.

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Taken from: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-arinze-discusses-mary-at-fatima-and-in-tradition-and-christian-dev

Sister Lucia of Fatima ‘said Russia’s prophecy was fulfilled’

A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is on display inside the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Riverview, Michigan (CNS photo/Dan Meloy, The Michigan Catholic)

by Barb Fraze

posted Thursday, 30 Mar 2017

Archbishop of Minsk, Belarus, said she made the remark after learning he was the Catholic Archbishop in Moscow.

People in the former Soviet republic of Belarus have a great devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, and so does the archbishop who leads them.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, Belarus, who served as archbishop of Moscow from 1991 to 2007, speaks passionately about his devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three children in Portugal in 1917.
“The idea of Fatima, the idea of the conversion of Russia – it’s in my heart,” he told Catholic News Service during a late-March visit to Washington.
“You will never find a church without a statue of Our Lady of Fatima in my country,” he added.
Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said he met three times with Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three children who received the visions of Mary.

At the first meeting, in 1991, he told Sister Lucia that he was the Catholic archbishop in Moscow. “She asked several times, ‘Is it true?'”
“‘So,’ she said, ‘it means the prophecy of Fatima is fulfilled,'” Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said.

Part of the Fatima message – contained in a vision to Sister Lucia and her cousins – warned of the rise of communism, but also spoke of the ultimate triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, especially in Russia if the country was consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. Although some Fatima devotees have debated whether the consecrations were carried out properly, Popes Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II each entrusted the world, and Russia in particular, to Mary. Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said Sister Lucia assured him that it was done correctly.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said Sister Lucia told him to work with the Orthodox, and she sent a statue of Our Lady of Fatima with him to give to Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow, who was patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at the time.
“Later, I saw the statue on his table several times,” the archbishop said.

In honour of the 100th anniversary of the first time Mary spoke of Russia in the apparitions, he said, two pilgrimages from Belarus will meet in Fatima on July 13.
As far as Sister Lucia’s instructions to work with the Orthodox, the archbishop said the two churches applied to open counselling centres in abortion hospitals and received government permission.
“We saved a lot of lives,” he said, adding that the two churches along with some Protestant communities lobbied to change the Belarusian law to limit instances in which abortion is allowed.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, Belarus (Photo: CNS)

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told CNS that, as in other European countries, a growing secularism is threatening family life. He said about 50 per cent of Belarusian couples are divorced and, unfortunately, Catholic couples are part of the statistic. The Church is sending family consultations teams – psychologists, doctors, priests and nuns – to different parishes, “and people are coming,” he said.

During a large part of the 20th century, Belarus was under communist rule and there were no churches, the archbishop said, but parents taught their children to pray every day. Now there are churches, but many parents do not take their children to church after their first Communion at age seven or eight.

The city of Minsk – with about 400,000 Catholics – has five churches, six chapels and seven churches under construction.
“It’s not easy to receive permission to build a church, but we are receiving permission, and we are receiving land for free,” said Archbishop Kondrusiewicz.

About 20 per cent of the nation’s 500 priests are from other countries, and the head of the nation’s Religious Affairs Department is making it difficult for them to stay. The same government official has said that when the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences holds its plenary in Belarus in late September, participants must receive special permission to celebrate Mass in public.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz was in the United States seeking support for a new Catholic business university. He said he often is invited to speak at secular universities about moral values and ethics. “Our society, they feel this necessity. They say, ‘Please come.'”
He said there is a university for sale in Minsk, with the potential to buy it on the condition that current students must be allowed to finish their course of studies. He is not sure such a university would succeed, “but we are trying to move stone.”

He also expressed thanks for all the support Catholics in the United States and other Western countries gave former Soviet republics after the fall of communism. As a Catholic in the former Soviet Union, he said, he was only “able to dream about” things like reconstruction and renovation of churches.

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Taken from: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/03/30/sister-lucia-of-fatima-said-russias-prophecy-was-fulfilled/

Pope Francis calls for elimination of all nuclear weapons

An atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, on November 1, 1952. (Credit: US government file photo.)

In Vatican

Charles Collins

March 28, 2017

MANAGING_EDITOR

In a letter to a UN congress promoting the elimination of atomic weapons, Pope Francis wrote that nuclear deterrence is ineffective against the principal threats in the twenty-first century, mentioning in particular terrorism, asymmetrical conflicts, cybersecurity, environmental problems, and poverty. The pontiff said the international community must consider “the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences” that would follow from any use of nuclear weapons.

ROME — Pope Francis has called for a “collective and concerted” multilateral effort to eliminate nuclear weapons, telling a United Nations conference working on a treaty to prohibit such weapons that international peace and stability “cannot be based on a false sense of security, on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation, or on simply maintaining a balance of power.”

The conference took place March 27 in New York, after the UN General Assembly voted in December to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, with the aim of working toward their total elimination.

Such a treaty would make explicit what is implied in the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which calls on declared nuclear powers to aim for complete nuclear disarmament.

The talks seemed doomed from the start, since every state with nuclear weapons – including the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council – boycotted the congress.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the UN, said she “would love to have a ban on nuclear weapons, but in this day and time we can’t honestly say we can protect our people by allowing bad actors to have them and those of us that are good trying to keep peace and safety not to have them,” specifically mentioning the threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.

The pontiff answered these objections directly in a letter to the congress, noting the current “unstable climate of conflict” might not seem the best time to approach the “demanding and forward looking goal” of nuclear non-proliferation, and even nuclear disarmament.

However, the pope said nuclear deterrence is ineffective against the principal threats in the twenty-first century, mentioning in particular terrorism, asymmetrical conflicts, cybersecurity, environmental problems, and poverty.

“These concerns are even greater when we consider the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences that would follow from any use of nuclear weapons, with devastating, indiscriminate and uncontainable effects, over time and space,” Francis writes, adding “we need also to ask ourselves how sustainable is a stability based on fear, when it actually increases fear and undermines relationships of trust between peoples.”

The pope said the world needs to go beyond nuclear deterrence: “The international community is called upon to adopt forward-looking strategies to promote the goal of peace and stability and to avoid short-sighted approaches to the problems surrounding national and international security.”

Francis said the goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons becomes “both a challenge and a moral and humanitarian imperative,” and “a concrete approach should promote a reflection on an ethics of peace and multilateral and cooperative security that goes beyond the fear and isolationism that prevail in many debates today.”

He said this reflection should involve the voices of all people, including religious communities, civil society, and international organizations.

“The common destiny of mankind demands the pragmatic strengthening of dialogue and the building and consolidating of mechanisms of trust and cooperation, capable of creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons,” the pope said.

The Vatican has condemned the use of nuclear weapons since even before they were developed.

Pope Pius XII, in 1943 – two years before the first successful nuclear weapons test – urged such weapons never be developed “because otherwise the consequence could be catastrophic not only in itself but for the whole planet.” After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Pius called the nuclear bomb “the most terrible weapon that the human mind has ever conceived".




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Taken from: https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/03/28/pope-francis-calls-elimination-nuclear-weapons/

Pope Francis Urges Priests To Call Out The Exorcists

21/03/2017 1:35 PM AEDT

• Mary Papenfuss Trends reporter, The Huffington Post

Seems like that kind of time. Pope Francis has called on priests to contact “exorcists” when their parishioners are facing spiritual crises linked to “supernatural” causes.

Any such exorcists, however, should be chosen with “great care and prudence,” the pontiff cautioned.
Francis offered his advice last week to hundreds of priests attending a Vatican seminar on dealing with sins of the faithful recounted in the sacrament of reconciliation, or confession.

A priest needs to take action when he is confronted with “real spiritual disorders,” the pope advised, according to Agence France-Presse. When such crises are caused by “supernatural” forces, Francis added — presumably referring to the devil — a confessor “must not hesitate to refer to exorcists.” Priests must take care, however, to differentiate between mental illness and demonic possession.

The Vatican also holds training sessions for exorcists, who are charged with expelling the devil from people thought to be “possessed.” It’s not a Catholic practice often openly spoken about by church leaders because it’s highly controversial and disdained by skeptics who doubt the existence of a devil and view the practice as based in ancient superstition.

Film fans got a first taste of the unusual Roman Catholic ritual in the 1973 hit horror movie “The Exorcist.” Though the possession depicted in the movie was extremely lurid and controversially profane, the bestselling author of “The Exorcist” and script writer William Peter Blatty, a Catholic, said the film was based on an actual exorcism in the U.S. in 1949. He also researched prayers and incantations used in the ritual, he said.


The film’s director, William Friedkin, witnessed an exorcism in 2016, which he recounted in Vanity Fair. There were many similarities between the actual ritual and the rites in the film, without the dramatic horror. Friedkin said he was invited to the ritual in Italy by exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth because the priest admired the movie.


A 90-page document issued by the Vatican in 1999, “De Exorcismis,” updated church guidelines on the practice. It acknowledged that some apparent demonic possessions are actually mental illness, and, if necessary, psychiatrists should be consulted. But the report also noted that the devil also possesses individuals, describing Satan as a “lion looking for souls to devour.” Signs of possession can include super-human strength, speaking in unknown languages and a visceral aversion to God, according to the document.


The pope has referred to the devil a number times and in 2014 recognized the International Association of Exorcists, an organization of 250 priests around the world who have been prepared to conduct exorcisms.

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Taken from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/03/21/pope-francis-urges-priests-to-call-out-the-exorcists_a_21903842/

Pope Francis will canonize two of the children who saw Our Lady of Fatima

Pope Francis prays in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima during his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican May 13. The statue, which was present for the May 13 feast of Our Lady of Fatima, is a copy of the original in Fatima, Portugal. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano, pool) 

Gerard O'Connell March 23, 2017

Pope Francis will canonize two of the three Portuguese shepherd children—Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco—to whom Our Lady appeared at the famous shrine in Fatima 100 years ago. Though the Vatican has not said so yet, it is likely that he will do so during his upcoming visit to that shrine on May 12 to13.
The Vatican announced today, March 23, that the pope has opened the door to the canonization of the two children when he formally recognized the second miracle attributed to their intercession at a meeting with the Prefect of the Congregation for Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato.
The two children died young, as Our Lady had told them. The third, Lucia, wrote down the three secrets of Fatima. She was the only one to reach adult life, and became a Carmelite nun. Lucia was born in 1907 and died in 2005, and the cause for her beatification is now well under way. The first two secrets were a call for prayer and penance to save the world from even greater disaster and an end to World War I. The third secret, which attracted the most attention, spoke about the sufferings of the church and the assassination of a pope.

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Local phase of Fatima visionary's sainthood cause completed

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St. John Paul II, who understood this vision as referring to himself, beatified the two children at the Fatima shrine on May 13, 2000, after recognizing a miracle to their intercession. On that day, the Vatican also announced that the third secret would be revealed soon after by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
When Pope Francis canonizes them, they will become the youngest children (apart from martyrs) ever to be recognized as saints by the church. Jacinta died at age 9, on Feb. 20, 1920, while her brother Francisco died at age 10, on April 4, 1919.
Our Lady appeared to the three poor children several times between May 13, 1917, and Oct. 13, 1917. During the final apparition, “the miracle of the sun” took place and was witnessed by the children and as many as 100,000 people, media reports of the time state.

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Taken from: http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/03/23/pope-francis-will-canonize-two-children-who-saw-our-lady-fatima

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Pope Francis: the Cross is the gate of salvation

Pope Francis addresses the crowd from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St Peter's square during the Sunday Angelus prayer, on March 12, 2017 - AFP

12/03/2017 12:44

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the Second Sunday of Lent.

In remarks ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, the Holy Father reflected on the Gospel reading of the day, which was taken from the 17th chapter of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, and that recounted the Transfiguration of Our Lord.
“Transfigured on Mt. Tabor,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus desired to show His glory to His disciples, not to keep them from going through the Cross, but to show them to where He was carrying the Cross.”


Click below to hear our report



“Whoever dies with Christ, with Christ shall rise again,” said Pope Francis, “those who struggle with Him, with Him shall triumph.”
“The Cross is the gate of the Resurrection,” he said.


The Holy Father went on to say that the message of hope, which the Cross contains, is one that constantly calls us to be strong in our lives. “The Christian Cross is not something to hang in the house ‘to tie the room together’ [It. suppellettile di casa] or an ornament to wear, but a call to that love, with which Jesus sacrificed Himself to save humanity from sin and evil.”
“In this Lenten season,” said Pope Francis, “let us contemplate devoutly the image of the Crucified Lord: it is the symbol of the Christian faith; it is the symbol of Jesus, who died and rose for us. Let us make sure that the Cross marks the stages of our Lenten journey, that we might understand more and more [perfectly] the gravity of sin and the value of the sacrifice with which the Redeemer has saved us – all of us.”


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Taken from: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/03/12/pope_francis_the_cross_is_the_gate_of_salvation/1298171

Saint John Paul II bane of demons

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

  

Father Amorth also was the exorcist for the Diocese of Rome during St. John Paul II’s pontificate so he has firsthand knowledge of at least three exorcisms that the pontiff performed in his private chapel. The demons are recorded as having a special indignation when his memory is invoked because St. John Paul “ruined their plans.” Father Amorth believes the reason for this is linked to Fatima and to the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by St. John Paul March 25, 1984.

 

 

This pivotal moment in human history was, sadly, and quite against the wishes of Heaven, about half a century late in coming to its fulfilment - with dire consequences for the world. This is what I wrote about it in:

 

The Five First Saturdays Of Our Lady of Fatima

 

https://www.academia.edu/3689879/The_Five_First_Saturdays_Of_Our_Lady_of_Fatima

 

The Consecration of Russia

We recall that on July 13th of 1917, Our Lady of the Rosary had made this promise:

“I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace …. If not ….”.

In June of 1929, Our Lady came and told [Sister] Lucia:

“The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the Consecration of Russia to My Heart, promising to save it by this means”.

In a letter to her confessor, dated May 29, 1930, Sr. Lucia had explained that Our Lord had made her feel his Divine presence in the depth of her heart and had urged her to ask the Holy Father for the approval for the reparative devotion of the first Saturdays. These are the words of the seer, as found in her Memoirs (# 404):

“If I am not mistaken, the good Lord promises to put an end to the persecution in Russia if the Holy Father deigns to make a solemn and public act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and orders all the bishops of the Catholic world to do the same. The Holy Father must also promise to approve and recommend the reparative devotion already indicated for the cease of this persecution”.

Later, through an interior communication, Our Lord complained to Sr. Lucia that the consecration of Russia had not been made:

“They did not heed to My request. They will repent like the king of France and will make it, but it will be too late. Russia will already have spread its errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church. The Holy Father will have much to suffer” ….

Our Lord’s reference here to “the king of France” is an allusion to the promise that He had made to Louis XIV through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Our Lord had promised to give the king a life of grace and eternal glory, as well as victory over his enemies, if he would consecrate himself to the Sacred Heart, let It reign in his palace, paint It on his banners, and have It engraved on his coat of arms. In 1792, after Louis XVI had been imprisoned in the Tower of the Temple, this Divine request still had not been heeded. The king then made the vow to consecrate himself, his family and his kingdom to the Sacred Heart of Jesus if he regained his freedom, the crown, and royal power. It was too late; the king left prison only for his execution.

Lucia, writing again to her spiritual director on January 21, 1935, stated that:
“Our Lord was quite displeased because His request had not been carried out” (ibid.).
In a further letter to him, dated May 18, 1936, she told him of the following fascinating exchange with Our Lord in the subject:

“… I have spoken to Our Lord inwardly about the subject, and not too long ago I asked Him why He would not convert Russia without the Holy Father making that consecration”.
“Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so as subsequently to extend the devotion to it and place it alongside devotion to My Sacred Heart”.

“But, my God, the Holy Father will not believe me, unless You move him with a special inspiration”.

“The Holy Father. Pray very much for the Holy Father! He will do it, but it will be late. Nevertheless, the Immaculate Heart of Mary will save Russia, who has been entrusted to it” ….

 
Sr. Lucia wrote a further interesting letter to her spiritual director on August 18, 1940. Here is part of it:

“I suppose it pleases Our Lord that there is someone who is concerned about His Vicar on earth fulfilling His wishes. But the Holy Father will not comply with them now. He doubts they are real, and explicably so. Our good Lord could show clearly through some prodigy that it is He who is asking, but He takes this opportunity to punish the world with His justice for so many crimes and to prepare it for a more complete return to Him. The proof that He gives us is the special protection the Immaculate Heart of Mary affords Portugal in view of the consecration made to it [i.e. the 1931 consecration made by the Portuguese bishops]” ….

 

[End of quotes]

Over a period of about four decades, various popes would try to fulfil Heaven’s urgent request. I discussed this in the following section:

Attempts to Achieve the Collegial Consecration

During 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and in 1952 he consecrated Russia to her Heart. Whilst, undoubtedly, these were valuable spiritual acts, they did not fulfil Our Lady’s conditions, because – as Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral has noted (1989 “Youth for Fatima” conference) - the Holy Father had made these consecrations alone as Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth.

 

In 1964 Pope Paul VI, when speaking to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, renewed Pope Pius XII’s consecration of the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart. This was in the presence of the world’s more than 2,000 bishops. Again, however, the Pope made the consecration by himself, and not in union with the world’s bishops.
On the 13th of May, 1982, at Fatima, Pope John Paul II made a valiant attempt at the collegial Consecration when he renewed Pope Pius XII’s consecrations of the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart. However, when the most reverend Sante Portalupi, the Papal Nuncio to Portugal, visited Sr. Lucia at that time, she told him that the Consecration made by John Paul II, like that of Pius XII, was not according to the request of Our Lady, as it was not with all the bishops of the world, each on the same day in a “collegial” Act of Consecration. (Taken from SOUL magazine, Jan-Feb, 1985, p. 9). It was reported that many bishops did not receive the Holy Father’s letter in time to join him in the act.

In 1984, Pope John Paul II made another consecration. In preparation for it, the Holy Father sent a letter to all the bishops of the world asking them to join him in the collegial Consecration of the world as a renewal of the two acts of consecration made by Pope Pius XII. “Implicit therefore”, according to Bishop Amaral, “was the consecration of Russia” (op. cit., ibid.) Bishop Amaral’s further explanation of this Consecration is an important one:

“Not only was it to be a renewal of Pius XII’s two consecrations … but the very words of Pope John Paul II mentioned those peoples ‘most in need’. Likewise, during the actual consecration by Pope John Paul II there were a few moments of pausing during which it was not clear what the Holy Father said. I thanked the Pope later for consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Pope added ‘and Russia’.”

 

Bishop Amaral then explained that:

 

“A moral totality of the world’s bishops joined the Pope in this collegial consecration, including Eastern Orthodox bishops”.

For many years now, Fatima devotées have been waiting and praying, and even sacrificing, for this consecration to come about. Some may - and in fact do - find it hard now to accept that it has happened. It seems almost too good to be true. But, on the other hand, is it in fact so difficult to accept that the collegial consecration had been carried out as requested? When John Paul II wrote to all the bishops of the world as to what he was going to do on March 25th, 1984, and what he wanted all the bishops to do with him, he specifically stated that he was going to repeat the twofold consecrations of Pope Pius XII; the one of the whole world of 1942 and the one of Russia of 1952.

We may perhaps draw another analogy here.

Fr. William Most, when discussing the Theology of the Mass in his excellent book on the Second Vatican Council, Vatican II Marian Council, has this to say about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being the renewal of Calvary:

“If the renewal is twofold (i.e. offered up by Christ and by His Mystical Body the Church) … then would it not be strange if the original, which the renewal repeats, did not have a similar twofold structure? Really, if the renewal were twofold, and the original not, then the renewal would be partly false. It would no repeat fully what it should repeat”.

We may reverse this logical reasoning with regard to the Consecration of 1984 as follows:

 

“If the original is twofold (i. e. consisting of two separate previous consecrations) then would it not be strange if the repeat, which claims to repeat the original, did not have a similar twofold structure? Really, if the original were twofold, and the repeat not, the latter would be manifestly false …etc”.

But what is being claimed by Church authorities in the case of this 1984 Act of Consecration is that the 1952 Act of Consecration of Russia is being repeated. This was made known to all the bishops. And by making it thus known to them, the Holy Father was fully expressing his explicit intention with regard to Russia’s being included, even had Russia not received a mention!

Fr. M. Coelho, in his article “The Problem of the Consecration Again” (Fatima Family Messenger, Oct-Dec, 1989) had added some further important points on the subject. After noting that Lucia had believed “the request of Our Lady was not perfectly accomplished” in the case of the earlier Consecration, that of 1982, Fr. Coelho went on to add that, with regard to the Consecration of 1984:

“Now, in fact, both the Bishop of Fatima and the Holy Father are convinced that the consecration Our Lady asked for is perfectly made. The main reason is the following. Nobody can prove that the words Our Lady used, asked for a consecration of Russia alone; Russia is a part of the world. If the world is consecrated, Russia becomes consecrated”. ….

Fr. Coelho then proceeded to make a significant theological point: that it is ultimately the Church – not the seers – who interprets apparitions.

“Theologically the problem is clearer. The apparitions and their messages are charisms, i.e. acts of the Holy Spirit. Their interpretation - to be correct - has to be also an act of the Holy Spirit. He is the Soul of the Church. So, the only interpretation is that of the Church and not that of the seers. Usually the charism of seers consists only in receiving and telling the Church what they saw and heard. Reliable people who recently saw Sister Lucia told me Sister Lucia now says that the request of Our Lady is accomplished”.

And we can see already some effects. Many things began changing after 1984” ….

 
[Comment: Such as the dramatic fall of the Soviet Empire in 1989].

 

We turn now to the actual words spoken by Sr. Lucia on the subject of the 1984 Consecration, its outcome, and the response of the world’s bishops to it. The following quotations of Sr. Lucia are taken from the article, “Sister Lucia says: ‘God will keep His Word’” (in Fatima Family Messenger, pp. 9-11), by Maria do Fetal Neves Rosa, who is a relative of Sr. Lucia and her friend of 40 years. When the author put to Sr. Lucia this point:
“You know some bishops did not unite with the Holy Father in the Consecration?” Sr. Lucia replied:

“The responsibility was theirs. Because of them God did not refuse to accept the Consecration which as made [in 1984] as the one having been requested …. The request for the Consecration was always an appeal for union. The Mystical Body of Christ [the Church] must be united! The members of the same Body are united!” (Ibid).

 

Then her interviewer pressed Sr. Lucia to be perhaps even more specific as to whether or not the Consecration requested by Our Lady had been achieved, saying:

 

“People would like very much to know that you, Lucia, are saying that the Consecration has now been made and accepted by God”; to which Sr. Lucia gave the following reply:

“His Excellency, the Bishop of Leiria, was here. He asked me and I told him, ‘Yes. Now it was made’.”

The Apostolic Nuncio has been here recently and asked me, ‘Is Russia now consecrated?’ ‘Yes. Now it is’, I answered. The Nuncio then said, ‘Now we wait for the miracle’.

I answered, ‘God will keep His word’.” ….

[End of quotes]

 

My view, no doubt shared by others, that the 1984 Consecration was a most decisive event in the history of humanity - an event of cosmic proportions, in fact - is also the view, most unhappily received apparently, by exorcised demons. For I have just read this review (http://catholicphilly.com/2017/02/us-world-news/culture/late-exorcists-words-lift-the-veil-on-the-demonic-satan/):

 

Late exorcist’s words lift the veil on the demonic, Satan

….

By Allan F. Wright • Catholic News Service • Posted February 24, 2017

 

 

“An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels”
by Father Gabriele Amorth with Stefano Stimamiglio.

Sophia Institute Press (Manchester, New Hampshire, 2016).

145 pp., $14.95.

 

The world-renowned exorcist, Pauline Father Gabriele Amorth, who died this past September, has left his wisdom and experience in dealing with evil forces through this lucid and insightful compendium gleaned from interviews published in Credere magazine over the past few years.

Father Amorth founded the International Association of Exorcists and performed tens of thousands of exorcisms in his life. He is refreshingly direct throughout the book and doesn’t mince words when it comes to the reality of the demonic, evil spirits and Satan.

In addition, his writing conveys a sense of comfort and hope for those suffering from physical and spiritual ailments such as possession, vexation, obsession and infestation, all believed to stem from demonic forces.

Father Amorth attributes the rise on demonic activity to the decline in faith in God. “When faith in God declines, idolatry and irrationality increase; man must then look elsewhere for answers to his meaningful questions,” he writes. The principle of total and complete liberty apart from God and the denial of truth itself are indeed seductive in appearance but ultimately fail to satisfy the “desires of the human heart.”

Young people in particular, he states, “are easily deluded and are attracted to these ‘seductions’ which has been the desire of Satan since the beginning.” Extreme danger arises when these demonic spirits are invited into a person’s life and Father Amorth goes into detail on specific cases he has personally encountered.

While we are all victims of seductions or temptations, not everyone is a victim of what the late priest calls an “extraordinary action of Satan.” Nor are extraordinary actions of Satan or evil spirits the fault of those who are victim of these attacks, he affirms.

However, there are an incredible amount of people who declare their allegiance to Satan, the “father of lies.” The casting of spells and “infestations of the demonic” are in fact a reality and chronicled in this book.

In chapter three, “The Cult of Satan and Its Manifestations,” topics such as spiritism, Satanism, occultism, wizards, fortunetellers, magic, piercings, tattoos and satanic music are addressed.

He states that the three rules of Satanism are: “You may do all you wish, no one has the right to command you, and you are the god of yourself.” One doesn’t need to be exposed to the satanic heavy metal band Slayer to see those three elements alive and operating in our culture.

Although “An Exorcist Explains the Demonic” is profoundly disquieting, Father Amorth reminds readers of God’s victory over Satan and the tools for growing in holiness and fighting evil provided by the church in the sacraments, sacramentals and prayer. God loves us as a father and desires to protect us.

The reader will perhaps be surprised by the amount of demonic activity that Father Amorth records in a matter-of-fact manner and yet always with the confidence that God is stronger. He recalls invoking with much success Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Father Amorth also was the exorcist for the Diocese of Rome during St. John Paul II’s pontificate so he has firsthand knowledge of at least three exorcisms that the pontiff performed in his private chapel. The demons are recorded as having a special indignation when his memory is invoked because St. John Paul “ruined their plans.” Father Amorth believes the reason for this is linked to Fatima and to the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by St. John Paul March 25, 1984.

The book also relies on Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church for insights into heaven, hell, purgatory and the rite of exorcism itself. Father Amorth makes a solid case for the need for many more exorcists and even suggests that every seminarian be exposed to the work of exorcism as an essential course of study.

This compendium is a suitable witness to both the man and his struggle with evil.

 

 

Wright is an author and academic dean of evangelization for the Diocese of Paterson and resides in New Jersey.