Pope Benedict XVI made an astonishing statement on his way to Fatima, Portugal, where he will celebrate Holy Mass on May 13th, on the 93rd anniversary of the first Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.
According to today's Reuters report, the Holy Father said that the greatest threat to Catholicism came from sin within the Church. "Today we see in a truly terrifying way that the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from outside enemies but is born of sin within the Church," the Pope told reporters on the plane to Portugal.
What is amazing is not the statement itself -- devotees of Our Lady of Fatima have been saying as much for decades -- but that His Holiness has at last conceded that this is indeed a vital part of the Message of Fatima, the burden of the Third Secret of Fatima.
Benedict told reporters he believed that interpretation of the Third Secret, revealed in 2000, "could include the suffering the papacy and the Church would have to endure as a result of today’s sexual abuse crisis."
His predecessor, Pope Paul VI, put it another way. "The smoke of Satan," he said, "has entered the Church".
So what is to be done? Benedict says the Church has a very deep need to recognize that She must do penance for Her sins and "accept purification". Indeed. And it is up to Him to bring that about.
A good start would be to obey the commands of Our Lady of Fatima. If he would just consecrate Russia to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, in the way She asks, Russia and the world will be converted, and we will have a time of peace and prosperity, as She promised. Amen...so let it be.
UPDATE: 14/5/10 - Noted "Vaticanista" Sandro Magister has written a good analysis of the meaning of the Pope's statements, including the full text of what the Holy Father said. Click here to read his article in Chiesa.
No comments:
Post a Comment