Posted on 05/17/2010 11:22:03 AM PDT by markomalley
Pope Benedict XVI took a break from the relentless news about the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church and flew to Portugal this week to worship at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, one of the world's most venerated shrines with over 5 million visitors a year.
The devout pilgrims who have come to Fatima to see him – many camping in cars and tents in the fields around the shrine – are mostly Portuguese, although dozens of different countries are also represented, judging by the flags waved by the crowds.
Fatima has had an important role in the Catholic Church ever since the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to three poor shepherd children here in 1917. The children said she spoke to them and entrusted them with three prophetic revelations known as the three secrets of Fatima.
The first two secrets were made public early on. But the mysterious "third secret" was not revealed until 2000, when it was interpreted to be a prediction of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981.
Pope Benedict, in a rare conversation with reporters, explained in his precise Italian that the interpretation of the third secret does not stop there, however. The third secret, he said, has a permanent and ongoing significance. The Pope said its significance could even be extended to include the suffering the Church is going through today as a result of the recent reports of sexual abuse involving the clergy.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I am surprised that our MSM has not reported that the Italian police arrested three Maroccan students (ah, the ROP, who else?) and charged them with assasination plans of B16. Read it in a European news paper last week.
Pope Benedict at Fatima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owSFiuDoZCE&feature=player_embedded
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The following comes from the CNA:
At Mass this morning in the Fatima shrine’s square, Pope Benedict said that it would be “mistaken” to consider the prophetic mission of the apparitions at Fatima complete.
It continues to be relevant in that it continually invites men and women of good faith “to save the city of man,” he told the 500,000 people gathered for the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
The Holy Father presided over Mass from the steps of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Fatima this morning. May 13, the Solemnity of Blessed Mary Virgin of Fatima and that of the Ascension, marks the 10th anniversary of the beatification of the shepherd-children Jacinta and Francisco.
Speaking to the estimated 500,000 people in attendance for Mass, Pope Benedict said that he, like them, is in Fatima on pilgrimage. He had come, he added, to pray for the human family and, with the same sentiments as the shepherd-children, to “entrust to Our Lady the intimate confession” that the Church, her priests and he himself love Jesus.
The Pope entrusted all nations and peoples to Heaven, embracing “all their sons and daughters” in God, “particularly, the afflicted or outcast, with the desire of bringing them that great hope which burns in my own heart, and which here, in Fatima, can be palpably felt.”
Pope Benedict recalled the lessons of the “Teacher,” Mary, who introduced the children of Fatima “to a deep knowledge of the Love of the Blessed Trinity and led them to savor God himself as the most beautiful reality of human existence.”
Noting that we might look upon the children’s experience with envy or disappointment for not being as fortunate, the Holy Father offered consolation in that “God ... has the power to come to us, particularly through our inner senses, so that the soul can receive the gentle touch of a reality which is beyond the senses and which enables us to reach what is not accessible or visible to the senses.”
In order for this to come about, he explained, “we must cultivate an interior watchfulness of the heart which, for most of the time, we do not possess on account of the powerful pressure exerted by outside realities and the images and concerns which fill our soul.”
The Lord can “show himself to the eyes of our heart” and “has the power to inflame the coldest and saddest of hearts,” Pope Benedict encouraged the crowd.
The faithful can also draw inspiration from the way Jacinta, Francisco and Sister Lucia gave their entire lives to God, he said. “Blessed Jacinta, in particular, proved tireless in sharing with the needy and in making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Only with this fraternal and generous love will we succeed in building the civilization of love and peace.”
Turning to the message delivered by Our Lady of Fatima, the Holy Father said, “we would be mistaken to think that the prophetic mission of Fatima is complete.”
In the story of the Marian apparitions, God’s plan from Genesis of looking out for our brother takes on new life, he instructed. “Mankind,” the Pope noted, “has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end,” and in Scripture, “we often find that God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man.”
The Holy Father said that the same call resounds from Fatima when Mary asks, “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
At a dire time in human history, he recounted, Mary “came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart.
“It started with just the three children, but their example has since spread throughout the world.”
He concluded with the prayer, “May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfillment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of May, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”
http://salesianity.blogspot.com/2010/05/pope-benedict-fatimas-prophetic-mission.html
Pope: We Would be Mistaken to Think That Fatima’s Prophetic Mission is Complete
Pope Benedict XVI's Homily on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
Holy Father's Address at Fatima Shrine
A Marian Offense for Benedict XVI
Vatican cardinal: There is no fourth secret of Fatima
Discourse No. 4.1 Pope Entrusts and Consecrates Priests to Our Lady of Fatima
Pope Benedict XVI in Portugal – Discourse No. 4 Homily Vespers with Clergy and Religious
Benedict brings 'Marian Cool' to fevered Fatima devotion
Daily Marian Prayer And Image [DEVOTIONAL]
Papal Visit to Portugal: Text of the Secret of Fátima with Commentary
Papal Visit to Portugal: Apparitions of Our Lady [of Fatima]
Papal Visit to Portugal: Apparitions of the Angel
Papal Visit to Portugal: The Fatima Children
Papal Visit to Portugal: History of Portugal
Benedict XVI’s presser on plane to Portugal, clerical crisis and “third secret” (Catholic Caucus)
Fatima debate: Some say 'third secret' is still secret
The Third Secret (of Fatima) - Did The Pope Lie?
Fatima. The "Secret" Revealed (Catholic Caucus)
Is There Missing Text Of The Third Secret?
Top Ten Scientific Explantions of Miracle of Sun at Fatima (Catholic Caucus)
Fatima and the Theology of the Body: Part II
Fatima and Akita
Fatima and the Theology of the Body: Part I
The Story of Fatima -- Part 2
The Story of Faitma -- Part 1
Our Lady of Fatima, May 13
Litany of Our Lady of Fatima
Last Fatima child buried in final resting place (Sr. Maria's remains transferred to Fatima)
Sister Lucia, last remaining witness of Fatima apparitions, dies at 97
SISTER LUCIA RIP
LAST OF CHILDREN WHO CLAIMED TO SEE VIRGIN MARY DIES AT 97
Last child who claimed to see "Virgin Mary" dies
Virgin Mary Child Dies (Lucia of Fatima)
Mourning for Fatima seer (Portugal declares day of mourning)
Third Secret of Fatima is not fully revealed.
Sister Lucia, last remaining witness of Fatima apparitions, dies at 97
Sr. Lucia, Fatima, and Islam
Mystery Fatima: Death of Lucia Accents Famed Secrets & Area's Hidden History
"No More Secrets," Visionary Said in 2001 (Sr. Lucia Confirmed Russia Consecrated to Mary)
Papal praise at Sister Lucia's funeral
Our Lady of Fatima, ‘counterrevolutionary’ and ‘ecumenical’
Fatima Statue Due at Vatican to Mark a Fateful Day 25 Years After Attempt on John Paul II's Life
Sister Lucia's Unpublished Writings Released - Visionary Reflects on Marian Apparitions
Sister Lucia's Last Moments
Fatima: Case Closed
Rosary Rallies Planned for Fatima Anniversary [Catholic Caucus]
Giant new church at Fatima shrine
Sister Lucia's Beatification Process to Begin ( Pope Waves 5-Year Waiting Period)
The faithful remember miracle of Fatima, Thousands gather in Washington Twp. on 90th anniversary
Pius XII Saw "Miracle of the Sun" [Catholic Caucus]
**Italian police arrested three Maroccan students (ah, the ROP, who else?) and charged them with assasination plans of B16. **
This is the first I have heard of this even on FR!
It will be breaking news on our MSM next month. I read it in the Dutch news while B16 was in Fatima. In fact, I am surprised that it took them that long to find them and I am sure that there are more trying to kill him.
You and I are targets too. Less important perhaps, but still targets.
Visit: www.actforamerica.org support them and tell your friends about them. Time for America to wake up and face the ROP before it’s too late.
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