This certainly shines a new light on the topic. May God have mercy on us all.
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 02/04/2005 5:12:30 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
THE man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981 has sent a message from his Turkish jail wishing the ailing pontiff a speedy recovery, and also calling on him to acknowledge that the world would soon be coming to an end.Mehmet Ali Agca, 46, was extradited to Turkey in June 2000 after serving 19 years in Italy for shooting and seriously wounding the Pope, who has forgiven him for the attack.
"Dear Pope John Paul II, I and you suffer for the fulfilment of a divine universal plan ... I thank you for having revealed on May 13, 2000, the third secret of Fatima," Agca wrote, referring to one of a series of supposedly revelatory visions.
"Dear Pope, you must now confirm that we are at the end of the world. This is the last generation of humanity on planet Earth. Only like this will God give you health and miraculous strength for the coming years."
And, addressing the pontiff by his Polish name, he finished by saying: "I embrace you, Karol Wojtyla. I give you my best wishes."
The 84-year-old Pope was rushed to hospital mid-week suffering an acute respiratory infection related to flu.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said yesterday that the results of medical tests carried out by his doctors showed the Pope, who also suffers Parkinson's disease, was responding well to treatment.
But his scheduled meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been cancelled.
Flowers have poured into the Gemelli hospital, ranging from simple red and white bunches offered by fellow Poles to elaborate bouquets from political leaders, including one from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Agca, then a 23-year-old member of the far-right Turkish Grey Wolves movement, fired at the Pope three times as he drove across Saint Peter's Square in an open car to hold a general audience on May 13, 1981.
The motive of the attack remains a mystery. The suspected involvement of then-communist Bulgaria and Soviet intelligence was never proved.
In 1917, three shepherd children said the Virgin Mary had revealed three secrets in visions they experienced on a hillside near Fatima, a town in Portugal.
The first secret was a vision of hell later taken to be World Wars I and II, the second a prediction that Russia would return to Christianity, and the third involved a vision of a man "clothed in white" who fell to the ground apparently dead -- now said to be the failed attempt on John Paul's life.
Marked for later reading
This is more than a little weird.
Why are prophecies only understood AFTER they have occured?
Ping
This certainly shines a new light on the topic. May God have mercy on us all.
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
To Forgive
written by Steve Taylor
Copyright © 1985 C.A. Music/Birdwing Music (ASCAP)
I saw a man
He was holding the hand
That had fired a gun at his heart
Oh, will we live
To forgive?
I saw the eyes
And the look of surprise
As he left an indelible mark
Oh, will we live?
To forgive?
Come...find release
Go...make your peace
Follow his lead
Let the madness recede
When we shatter the cycle of pain
Oh, we will live
To forgive
Come...find release
Go...make your peace
I saw a man
With a hole in His hand
Who could offer the miracle cure
Oh, He said live
I forgive
(REPEAT)
Oh, He said live
To forgive
Oh, He said live
To forgive
It isn't always like that.
Jonah was told by God to go to Nineveh and tell them to straighten and fly right or suffer.
Jonah wasn't at all happy about it, because he hated the Ninevites so much, he did want God helping them out. Jonah knew Nebuchednezzer would listen.
That's precisely what happened, to make a long story short. The Ninevites did listen and God spared them.
One other prophecy at work here, one that Agca doesn't refer to, is the prophecy of St. Malachy. He fell into a trance on his way to Rome and made reference to 111 Popes from the 1250's to the end of time. The references usually refered either to nationality or coat of arms.
The last one is the one that succeeds JPII, refered to as Gloriae Olivia - Glory of the olives - conjecture has it that the next Pope may come from the Olivetan order.
Cardinals definitely take it pretty seriously too. One time an American cardinal got a bunch of sheep, put them in a boat, and sailed up the river so that he would more closely fit the reference of that time.
Agca was forgiven by the Pope, and Agca became a Christian soon after. I didn't know that the Fatima prophecy and the assassination attempt were on the same day. Spooky.
The third Fatima prophecy is something not many understand even now. One thing is for sure though, not even Jesus knows the time.
"One thing is for sure though, not even Jesus knows the time."
Jesus is God. He knows everything.
Can someone give me some insight or explanation into what he is refering to?????
From an absolutely neutral (if somewhat flippant) source, Unca Cecil Adams of the Straight Dope
I dont consider Jonahs tale a prophecy, even if it was there is no way to prove it existed as anything more than a biblical fairy tale.
Agnostic or atheist?
Neither really. I would guess I am closer to agnostic but I believe in a God and a heaven a hell and a devil, consequences and sins. I just do not attend church anymore although I still read my bible daily and pray. How about a devout non-church attending christian.
Ali Agca has often said his greatest fear is the Our Lady of Fatima will exact revenge upon him.
I don't think he's nuts. I think he's caught between Islam, which was all he knew, and now the absolute power of Christian love, which he cannot deny. That act of forgiveness by the Pope altered him forever. Maybe someday he will fully embrace Christianity and not ramble so much in his paranoia.
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