PART ONE of TWO: Following are excerpts (pp 120-123, Kindle edition) from The Apocalypse of St. John by Fr. Sylvester Berry, first publish in 1921. Current 2016 edition and Kindle available HERE.
~CHAPTER XII~ CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND SATAN Apocalypse Ch. XII
It shall be war unto death, between the Church and the powers of darkness, in a final effort of Satan to destroy the Church and thus prevent the universal reign of Christ on earth.
Satan will first attempt to destroy the power of the Papacy and bring about the downfall of the Church through heresies, schisms and persecutions that must surely follow. Failing in this, he will then attack the Church from without. For this purpose, he will raise up Antichrist and his prophet to lead the faithful into error and destroy those who remain steadfast.
The Church is ever in labor to bring forth children to eternal life. In the sad days here predicted, the sorrows and pains of delivery shall be increased many-fold. In this passage, there is an evident allusion to some particular son of the Church whose power and influence shall be such that Satan will seek his destruction at any cost. This person can be none other than the Pope to be elected in those days. The Papacy will be attacked by all the powers of hell. In consequence, the Church will suffer great trials and afflictions in securing a successor upon the throne of Peter. The words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians may be a reference to the Papacy as the obstacle to the coming of Antichrist: “You know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed” (2 Thess. 2: 6-7).
The tail of the dragon represents the cunning hypocrisy with which he succeeds in deceiving a large number of people and pastors… Arianism led away many bishops, priests and peoples. The pretended Reformation of the sixteenth century claimed still larger numbers but these cannot be compared to the numbers seduced by Satan in the days of Antichrist. The dragon stands before the woman ready to devour the child that is brought forth. In other words, the powers of hell seek by all means to destroy the Pope elected in those days.
The woman brings forth a son to rule the nations with a rod of iron. These are the identical words of prophecy uttered by the Psalmist concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ (Ps. 2:9).They confirm our application of this vision to the Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth to rule the nations in His stead and by His power. It is now the hour for the powers of darkness. The new-born Son of the Church is taken “to God and to His throne.” Scarcely has the newly elected Pope been enthroned when he is snatched away by martyrdom. The “mystery of iniquity,” gradually developing through the centuries, cannot be fully consummated while the power of the Papacy endures, but now he that “withholdeth is taken out of the way.” During the interregnum, “that wicked one shall be revealed” in his fury against the Church.
It is a matter of history that the most disastrous periods for the Church were times when the Papal throne was vacant, or when anti-popes contended with the legitimate head of the Church. Thus also shall it be in those evil days to come. The Church deprived of her chief pastor must seek sanctuary in solitude there to be guided by God Himself during those trying days.
Remember, the CDC admits they have no idea how many “cases” there are, and there could be 10x more than the reported numbers. Which means they have absolutely no idea what masks do or don’t do, although history will surely show they did more harm than good.
Also, pneumonia and influenza have been cured, because those cases have gone to zero. Everything is Covid.
We will never escape this, short of war or supernatural intervention.
Introit: Isa. 45:8 Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just. Let the earth be opened and bud forth a savior. Ps. 18:2. The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.
Collect: O Lord, show yourself an all-powerful God and come to us. Aid us with Your powerful assistance so that, through Your grace and merciful forgiveness, we may attain salvation, which now is hindered by our sins.
The following was originally posted here on : Address of Cardinal Biffi on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Vladimir Soloviev, 13 August 2000. HERE
Vladimir Sergeievich Soloviev: an unheeded prophet H.E. Giacomo Cardinal Biffi, Archbishop of Bologna
Vladimir Sergeievich Soloviev passed away 100 years ago, on July 31 (August 13 according to our Gregorian calendar) of the year 1900. He passed away on the threshold of the 20th century — a century whose vicissitudes and troubles he had foreseen with striking clarity, but also a century, which, tragically, in its historical course and dominant ideologies, would reject his most profound and important teachings. His, therefore, was a teaching at once prophetic and largely unheeded.
A Prophetic Teaching
At the time of the great Russian philosopher, the general view — in keeping with the limitless optimism of the “belle epoque“‘ — foresaw a bright future for humanity in the new century: under the direction and inspiration of the new religion of progress and solidarity stripped of transcendent elements, humanity would enjoy an era of prosperity, peace, justice, security. In the “Excelsior” — a form of dance, which enjoyed an extraordinary success in the last years of the 19th century (and which later lent its name to countless theaters and hotels) — this new religion found its own liturgy, as it were. Victor Hugo proclaimed: “This century was great, the one coming will be happy.”
But Soloviev refused to allow himself to be swept up in this de-sacralized vision. On the contrary, he predicted with prophetic clarity all of the disasters which in fact occurred.
As early as 1882, in his “Second Discourse on Dostoevsky,” Soloviev foresaw — and condemned — the sterility and cruelty of the collectivist tyranny which a few years later would oppress Russia and mankind. “The world must not be saved by recourse to force.” Soloviev said. “One could imagine men toiling together toward some great end to which they would submit all of their own individual activity; but if this end is imposed on them, if it represents for them something fated and oppressive… then, even if this unity were to embrace all of mankind, universal brotherhood would not be the result, but only a giant anthill.” This “anthill” was later constructed through the obtuse and cruel ideology of Lenin and Stalin.
In his final work, The Three Dialogues and the Story of the Antichrist (finished on Easter Sunday 1900), one is struck by how clearly Soloviev foresaw that the 20th century would be “the epoch of great wars, civil strife and revolutions” All this, he said, would prepare the way for the disappearance of “the old structure of separate nations” and “almost everywhere the remains of the ancient monarchical institutions would disappear.” This would pave the way for a “United States of Europe.”
The accuracy of Soloviev’s vision of the great crisis that would strike Christianity at the end of the 20th century is astonishing.
He represents this crisis using the figure of the Antichrist. This fascinating personage will succeed in influencing and persuading almost everyone. It is not difficult to see in this figure of Soloviev the reflection, almost the incarnation, of the confused and ambiguous religiosity of our time.
The Antichrist will be a “convinced spiritualist” Soloviev says, an admirable philanthropist, a committed, active pacifist, a practicing vegetarian, a determined defender of animal rights.
He will also be, among other things, an expert exegete. His knowledge of the bible will even lead the theology faculty of Tubingen to award him an honorary doctorate. Above all, he will be a superb ecumenist, able to engage in dialogue “with words full of sweetness, wisdom and eloquence.”
He will not be hostile “in principle” to Christ. Indeed, he will appreciate Christ’s teaching. But he will reject the teaching that Christ is unique, and will deny that Christ is risen and alive today.
One sees here described — and condemned — a Christianity of “values,” of “openings,” of “dialogue,” a Christianity where it seems there is little room left for the person of the Son of God crucified for us and risen, little room for the actual event of salvation.
A scenario, I think, that should cause us to reflect…
A scenario in which the faith militant is reduced to humanitarian and generically cultural action, the Gospel message is located in an irenic encounter with all philosophies and all religions and the Church of God is transformed into an organization for social work.
Are we sure Soloviev did not foresee what has actually come to pass? Are we sure it is not precisely this that is the most perilous threat today facing the “holy nation” redeemed by the blood of Christ — the Church?
It is a disturbing question and one we must not avoid.
A Teaching Unheeded
Soloviev understood the 20th century like no one else, but the 20th century did not understand Soloviev.
It isn’t that he has not been not recognized and honored. He is often called the greatest Russian philosopher, and few contest this appellation.
Von Balthasar regarded his work “the most universal speculative creation of the modern period” (Gloria III, p. 263) and even goes so far as to set him on the level of Thomas Aquinas.
But there is no doubt that the 20th century, as a whole, gave him no heed. Indeed, the 20th century, at every turn, has gone in the direction opposed to the one he indicated.
The mental attitudes prevalent today, even among many ecclesially active and knowledgeable Christians, are very far indeed from Soloviev’s vision of reality.
Among many, here are a few examples:
Egoistic individualism, which is ever more profoundly leaving its mark on our behaviors and laws;
Moral subjectivism, which leads people to hold that it is licit and even praiseworthy to assume positions in the legislative and political spheres different from the behavioral norms one personally adheres to;
Pacifism and non-violence of the Tolstoyan type confused with the Gospel ideals of peace and fraternity to the point of surrendering to tyranny and abandoning the weak and the good to the powerful;
A theological view which, out of fear of being labeled reactionary, forgets the unity of God’s plan, renounces spreading divine truth in all spheres, and abdicates the attempt to live out a coherent Christian life.
In one special way, the 20th century, in its movements and in its social, political and cultural results, strikingly rejected Soloviev’s great moral construction. Soloviev held that fundamental ethical principles were rooted in three primordial experiences, naturally present in all men: that is to say, modesty, piety toward others and the religious sentiment.
Yet the 20th century, following an egoistic and unwise sexual revolution, reached levels of permissivism, openly displayed vulgarity and public shamelessness, which seem to have few parallels in history.
Moreover, the 20th century was the most oppressive and bloody of all history, a century without respect for human life and without mercy.
We cannot, certainly, forget the horror of the extermination of the Jews, which can never be execrated sufficiently. But it was not the only extermination. No one remembers the genocide of the Armenians during the First World War.
No one commemorates the tens of millions killed under the Soviet regime.
No one ventures to calculate the number of victims sacrificed uselessly in the various parts of the earth to the communist Utopia.
As for the religious sentiment during the 20th century, in the East for the first time state atheism was both proposed and imposed on a vast portion of humanity, while in the secularized West a hedonistic and libertarian atheism spread until it arrived at the grotesque idea of the “death of God.”
In conclusion: Soloviev was undoubtedly a prophet and a teacher, but a teacher who was, in a way, irrelevant. And this, paradoxically, is why he was great and why he is precious for our time.
A passionate defender of the human person and allergic to every philanthropy; a tireless apostle of peace and adversary of pacifism; a promoter of Christian unity and critic of every irenicism: a lover of nature and yet very far from today’s ecological infatuations — in a word, a friend of truth and an enemy of ideology.
EPISTLE 2 Thess. 2:1-8 Brethren, we beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto Him: That you be not easily moved from your sense nor be terrified, neither by spirit nor by word nor by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. Remember you not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only that he who now holdeth do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed: whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.
COLLECT Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and come: that they who trust in Thy loving kindness may be the more speedily freed from all adversity.
LESSON Isa. 11:1-5 Thus saith the Lord God: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Zac. 14:5, 6 Behold the Lord shall come, and His Saints with Him: and there shall be in that day a great light.
POSTCOMMUNION May the holy receiving of Thy Sacrament, O Lord, revive us, and cleansing us from our former life, enable us to pass to the fellowship of Thy saving Mystery.
Commemoration of the EXPECTATION OF OUR LADY Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
Is Pope Benedict the Katechon? Was he the last one holding back the reign of Antichrist and his False Prophet as foretold in the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians? Did he himself suspect this? St. Paul speaks of the Katechon as both a “what” (2 Thess 2:6), and also a “he” (2 Thess 2:7)…
Pope’s Retreat Preacher Speaks on Antichrist as a “pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist”
VATICAN CITY, March 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Papal watchers are wondering what message Pope Benedict XVI was giving when he selected retired Bologna archbishop Cardinal Giacomo Biffi to preach the annual Lenten retreat to the Pope and the top members of the Vatican…
This year’s selection…created a stir since Cardinal Biffi, while he is known for orthodox faith and frank words, is most well known, at least in the secular media, for his preaching on the Antichrist. In fact, the Times of London reported in 2004 that the Cardinal described the Antichrist as “walking among us”.
The Lenten retreat did not disappoint. Cardinal Biffi picked up on his oft repeated theme of the Antichrist, basing his remarks on the works of Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian religious philosopher who has received praise from Pope Benedict prior to his elevation to the pontificate.
Quoting Soloviev, the Cardinal said “the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.”
“He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants,” he said according to a Zenit translation of a Vatican Radio summary here: http://www.radiovaticana.org/it1/Articolo.asp?c=120479 . (Feb. 20, 2017 – Translation is not longer available on Zenit and the only Zenit report on the 2007 retreat mentions only the first day’s talk and not the later one on the Antichrist)
In his “Tale of the Antichrist” Solovyov foresees that a small group of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will resist and will say to the Antichrist: “You give us everything, except what interests us, Jesus Christ”. For Cardinal Biffi, this narrative is a warning: “Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity which puts aside Jesus with his cross and resurrection.”
The 78-year-old cardinal added that if Christians “limited themselves to speaking of shared values they would be more accepted on television programs and in social groups. But in this way, they will have renounced Jesus, the overwhelming reality of the resurrection.”
The cardinal said he believes that this is “the danger that Christians face in our days … the Son of God cannot be reduced to a series of good projects sanctioned by the prevailing worldly mentality.”
The preacher of the Spiritual Exercises added that “there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation.”
Cardinal Biffi affirmed that “if Christianity—on opening itself to the world and dialoguing with all—dilutes the salvific event, it closes itself to a personal relationship with Jesus and places itself on the side of the Antichrist.”
Cardinal Biffi’s reflections, in fact, are very similar to remarks Pope Benedict made last Fall in a meeting with Swiss Bishops. While Pope Benedict did not speak of the Antichrist, he spoke of a new false or “substitute” religion, calling it also a “successor” of religion.
“Modern society is not simply without morality, but it has, so to speak, ‘discovered’ and professes a part of morality”, the Pope told the Swiss bishops. “These are the great themes of peace, non-violence, justice for all, concern for the poor, and respect for creation.”
However, the Pope warned that these “great moral themes” have “become an ethical complex that, precisely as a political force, has great power and constitutes for many the substitute for religion, or its successor.”
“It is only if human life is respected from conception to death that the ethics of peace is also possible and credible,” concluded the Pope. “It is only then that non-violence can express itself in every direction; only then that we truly welcome creation, and only then that we can arrive at true justice.”
I will be reposting essays and commentary on the topic of antichrist/antichurch/apocalypse as Advent wanes. Go to Mass, go to Confession, look for signs.
Supplemental Quotes in relation to the Third Secret of Fatima:
“The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts so new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatise from the faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. …Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” – Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert, pp. 88-90
On 15 July 1946, Catholic historian Professor William Thomas Walsh interviewed Sister Lucia at her convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Vilar, Portugal. This interview clearly demonstrates that Our Lady’s request for the Consecration of Russia will only be fulfilled when the Pope and together with the world’s Catholic bishops consecrate specifically Russia. “Sister Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to Her Immaculate Heart. What She [Our Lady] demanded specifically was the consecration of Russia. Sister Lucia stated more than once and with deliberate emphasis: ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, She will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world’.”
Professor Walsh asked, “Does this mean, in your opinion, that every country [including the USA and the VATICAN CITY STATE], without exception, will be overcome by Communism?” Sister Lucia replied, “Yes.” [this was her precise answer] – William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima 4th printing, (1947) p. 226; See also Louis Kaczmarek, The Wonders She Performs, 1986, p. 160
There is the little-known revelation of Our Lady of Fatima to Sister Lucia in the early 1950s. Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy in May 1952 and said: “Make it known to the Holy Father that I am always awaiting the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. Without that Consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace.”- Il Pellegrinaggio Della Meraviglie, p. 440. Rome, 1960. This same work, published under the auspices of the Italian episcopate, affirms that this message was communicated to Pope Pius XII in June. Also, Canon Barthas mentioned that apparition in his communication to the Mariological Congress of Lisbon-Fatima, in 1967; see De Primoridiis cultus marianae, Acta congressus mariologici-mariana in Lusitania anno 1967 celebrati, p. 517. Rome, 1970. See Frère François de Marie des Anges, Fatima: Intimate Joy World Event, Book Four, Fatima: Tragedy and Triumph, pp. 21 and 37.
Russia has not embraced the Catholic Faith and thus cannot possibly be said to have converted. Father Joaquin Alonso, probably the foremost Fatima expert of the 20th Century, had many interviews with Sister Lucy. In 1976 he wrote: “… we should affirm that Sister Lucia always thought that the ‘conversion’ of Russia is not to be limited to the return of the Russian people to the Orthodox Christian religions, rejecting the Marxist atheism of the Soviets, but rather, it refers purely, plainly and simply to the total, integral conversion of Russia to the one true Church of Christ, the Catholic Church.”- La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima, Fatima sin mitos, Father Joaquin Alonso, (2nd edition, Ejercito Azul, Madrid, 1988) p. 78. English translation by Joseph Cain. Original Spanish reads: “… podriamos decir que Lucia ha pensado siempre que la conversión de Rusia no se entiende solo de un retorno de los pueblos de Rusia a la religion cristiano-ortodoxa, rechazando el ateismo marxista y ateo de los soviets, sino que se refiere pura y llanmente a la conversion total e integral de un retorno a la unica y verdadera Iglesia, la catolica-romana.”
“I cannot reveal anything about what I have learned at Fatima about the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: the one concerns the Pope. The other, logically – although I should say nothing – should be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’” – Father Joseph Schweigl 1952 (Pope Pius XII sent him to interrogate Sr. Lucia on September 2, 1952); Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima: The Third Secret, Vol. III, p. 710, p. 337-338
We know that Cardinal Ottaviani read the Third Secret and made reference to one of its themes on the 15th of December 1960. In an allocution to the members of the Marian International Academy he declared, “It suffices to cast a rapid glance at what is happening at this moment in the world, in order to recognize that without the intervention of the Mother of all mercy near the All-Powerful, the world risks becoming pagan once more, a paganism more deplorable than the first paganism, because it is aggravated by apostasy. We are witnessing a veritable deluge of sins, a deluge which leaves behind it a nauseating quagmire, infected by immorality, lies and blasphemy…” – “Documentation Catholique,” 1961, col. 244, (15 December 1960 – Allocution de S. Em. Le cardinal Ottaviani à l’Académie Mariale Internationale)
In 1963 during a public admonition to his spiritual sons amidst the Second Vatican Council Padre Pio said: “Due to the rampant injustice and abuse of power, we have reached a compromise with atheistic materialism [Communism], a denial of the rights of God. This is the punishment foretold at Fatima … All the priests who support the possibility of a dialogue with the negators of God and with the Luciferian powers of the world [Freemasonry] are mad, have lost their faith, no longer believe in the Gospel! In so doing they betray the word of God, because Christ came to bring on earth perpetual covenant only to men of heart [good will], but did not join with the men thirsty for power and dominion over the brothers … The flock is dispersed when the shepherds ally with the enemies of the Truth of Christ. All the forms of power made deaf to the will of the authority of the heart of God are rapacious wolves that renew the passion of Christ and make the Madonna shed tears … ” – Published in “Avvenire” August 19, 1978; partial quote also in “The Fourth Secret of Fatima” 2006 by Antonio Socci)
“It is therefore completely probable that the text makes concrete references to the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves [and the] internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence of the upper hierarchy … “In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? If ‘in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ … it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether. … “Does the unpublished text speak of concrete circumstances? It is very possible that it speaks not only of a real crisis of the faith in the Church during this in-between period, but like the secret of La Salette, for example, there are more concrete references to the internal struggles of Catholics or to the fall of priests and religious. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church. For that matter, none of this is foreign to other communications Sister Lucia has had on this subject. “An inopportune revelation of the text would only have further exasperated the two tendencies which continue to tear the Church apart: a traditionalism which would believe itself to be assisted by the Fatima prophecies, and a progressivism which would have lashed out against these apparitions, which in such a scandalous manner would seem to put the brakes on the conciliar Church’s forward progress … Pope Paul VI judged it opportune and prudent to delay the revelation of the text until better times. Pope John XXIII declared that the text did not refer to his pontificate … And the following popes did not consider that the moment had come to lift the veil of mystery, in circumstances where the Church has still not overcome the frightening impact of twenty post-conciliar years, during which the crisis of the Faith has installed itself at every level.” – Father Joaquin Alonso (Official Archivist at Fatima); La Verdad sobre el Secreto de Fatima 1976. See also Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima – Vol. III, p. 687, 704-705. See also De nuevo el Secreto de Fatima 1982 Ephemerides mariologicae p. 93]
In an interview conducted in November 11, 1984, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) confirmed that, with the Pope’s permission, he had read the Secret and that it concerns, in his words, “a radical call to conversion, the absolute gravity of history, the dangers threatening the Faith and the life of a Christian, and therefore the world. And also the importance of the ‘novissimi’ (the last times).” The Cardinal went on to explain that “if it is not published… it is to avoid confusing religious prophecy with sensationalism. But the things contained in the Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and are confirmed by many other Marian apparitions.” – Ecco perche la fede e in crisi in the review, Jesus, p. 79
Continuing his diagnosis, he [Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger] recalls that this “true” Council, “already during its sessions [Vatican II] and then increasingly in the subsequent period, was opposed by a self-styled ‘spirit of the Council’, which in reality is a true ‘anti-spirit’ of the Council. According to this pernicious anti-spirit [Konzils-Ungeist in German], everything that is ‘new’ (or presumed such: how many old heresies have surfaced again in recent years that have been presented as something new!) is always and in every case better than what has been or what is. It is the anti-spirit according to which the history of the Church would first begin with Vatican II, viewed as a kind of point zero.” – The Ratzinger Report: an exclusive interview on the state of the Church (Rapporto Sulla Fede), 1985, by Vittorio Messori, p. 34-35
The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against the apostasy in the Church.” “I would not be surprised if the Third Secret alluded to dark times for the Church: grave confusions and troubling apostasies within Catholicism itself…If we consider the grave crisis we have lived through since the Council, the signs that this prophecy has been fulfilled do not seem to be lacking…” – Silvio Cardinal Oddi, to Italian journalist Lucio Brunelli in the journal Il Sabato, Rome, March 17, 1990
“The Secret of Fatima contains a sad prophecy about the Church and, for this reason Pope John did not divulge it. And neither have Paul VI or John Paul II. It seems to me that what is basically written is that the Pope would convene a Council in 1960 which, contrary to expectations, would indirectly result in many difficulties for the Church.” – Cardinal Silvio Oddi, who was Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy in the Pontificate of John Paul II and very close to John XXIII during his reign; 30 Giorni, November 11, 1990, p. 69
“Silvio Cardinal Oddi spoke with Sister Lucia in 1985. Afterward, Cardinal Oddi said [regarding the Third Secret] that ‘In my opinion, what is written is that in 1960, the Pope would have convoked a council from which, contrary to his intentions, there would arise many difficulties in the Church.’” – The Fourth Secret of Fatima, 2006 by Antonio Socci p. 123
“The prophecy of Fatima was completely defied! It is a lack of sense, I would say, because according to the interpretation that seems to me most worthy of consideration, the Third Secret – which John XXIII and his successors thought inopportune to reveal – […] regards the ‘revolution’ in the Catholic Church.” “From a Council convened to throw light on the beauty and profundity of the Christian mystery by presenting the Church as the spouse of Christ, […] so many innovations were born that they appear to constitute a true internal revolution.” – Cardinal Silvio Oddi, Il Tenero Mastino di Dio, Rome: Progetto Museali Editore, 1995, p. 217-218
“The Message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the “dragon” whose “tail swept down a third of the stars of Heaven and cast them to the earth” (Apoc. 12:4). […] In her motherly concern, the Blessed Virgin came here to Fátima to ask men and women “to stop offending God, Our Lord, who is already very offended.” It is a mother’s sorrow that compels her to speak; the destiny of her children is at stake. For this reason she asks the little shepherds: “Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for sinners; many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.” – Pope John Paul II Homily for the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco at Fatima on May 13, 2000 http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000513_beatification-fatima.html [NOTE: “a third of the stars of Heaven” has been traditionally interpreted as fallen clergy; cardinals, bishops and priests who are at the service of Satan]
“I believe that [Third] part of the secret concerns the Church from within, perhaps doctrinal difficulties, a crisis of unity, rebellion. The last sentence my aunt wrote, which precedes the part that is still unknown, says, In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved. Therefore, people elsewhere in the Church might waver on dogma. But this is just speculation.” – Father Jose dos Santos Valinho (nephew of Sr. Lucia) in 2000; Reportage su Fatima by Renzo and Roberto Allegri, Milan 2000
“I believe that there is a connection between that which is announced in the first part of the Secret, which concerns wars and sufferings which would be everywhere, and the second part which concerns the persecutions and a type of breakdown of the faith. Because where the ellipsis (the three dots, “…”) was placed, it means “Here is the third part, which is not revealed” and then the conclusion “In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc.” This suggests to me that there is a relationship between faith and the third part of the Secret. Therefore, it is something that relates to the Church. It is some kind of universal crisis which affects the whole Church and all of humanity.” – Father Jose dos Santos Valinho (nephew of Sr. Lucia); This public statement was made on the 14th of February, 2003 broadcast on the program ENIGMA, which was transmitted prime time, nationwide on RAI, the National TV Network of Italy, The Fatima Crusader, Issue 74, p.76
Raymond Arroyo: One of your jobs here at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is investigating the Marian apparitions that occur in history and in our present age. You, in 2000, released the so-called, “Third Secret of Fatima.” And part of that revelation was that there would be a hail of bullets, the Pope would fall and appear to be dead. The Congregation interpreted that as the assassination attempt on his Holiness, John Paul II. Is it possible – and I’ve gotten many letters asking me to ask this question – is it possible that this could point to a future Pope? Cardinal Ratzinger: We cannot exclude that this is clear. Normally, the private visions are limited to the next generation, and even Lucia, and all those in Fatima were convinced that in the time of one generation this would be realized. So, the immediate content of the vision is this, I would say. And it is expressed in a vision in an apocalyptic language. It is clear in all the visions, we do not have an historical language, as a report on television, that we have a visionary, symbolic language. We can understand this is indeed an indication of the crisis of the Church in the second part of the last century and in our time. But, even if the immediate sense of this prophecy, this vision is always in the next generations; it has also sense for future times. We cannot exclude – even I would say, we have to wait for, that even in other times we’ll have similar crises of the Church and perhaps also similar attacks to a Pope. – The World Over: Cardinal Ratzinger Interview, Raymond Arroyo with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger the future Pope Benedict XVI [Taken from the official transcript of the interview by EWTN News Director Raymond Arroyo of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, which first aired on EWTN on 5 September 2003. Cardinal Ratzinger was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, an office to which he was appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1981] https://web.archive.org/web/20190608220749/http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/RATZINTV.HTM @ 36:41 and following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKVO_v2FbtE
“He deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.”[ …] “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 Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” – Pope Benedict XVI Homily at Fatima on May 13, 2010 http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/pt/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100513_fatima.html
Question: Is it reasonable to suggest that Pope Benedict XVI acted in light of (in conformity with and according to) the exact intelligence provided by Our Lady of the Rosary in the Third Secret of Fatima?
