The text I have highlighted in your post seems to be a problem in many developing nations. A crony capitalist right wing Latin America is just as immoral and can be just as dangerous as a left wing Latin America. Neither represents Catholic values. There's nothing morally wrong with a country nationalising its natural resources. It can be stupid economically but it isn't morally wrong. I'm inclined to give Pope Francis credit for having a more in depth knowledge of the region than most of us. Rightly or wrongly, the Church in Latin America has been labelled as siding with the Rothschild way in the past. That perception needs to be corrected. The Pope hasn't praised the Venezuelan government. That he hasn't given unequivocal support to the opposition doesn't mean that there aren't factions within the opposition whom he would support. While everyone recognised the shortcomings of governments in Libya, Syria and other countries, in the rush for regime change very few bothered to look at the consequences of glossing over the failings of their opponents. I agree with you that the Pope needs to speak ill of what communism does to its people and the Church. Plenty of popes have done so in the past. The Church also needs to speak ill of the kind of atheistic, money worshipping, unfettered capitalism that has harmed many people (the "left behind") and all but wiped out Christianity in the countries where it is regarded as the only acceptable system.
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/05/de-mattei-fatima-2017.html?m=1 De Mattei: Fatima 2017 Roberto de Mattei “Il Tempo” May 14, 2017 Five hundred people were in the square outside the Sanctuary at Fatima waiting for Pope Francis and the canonization of the two little shepherd Francesco (10) and Jacinta (9), who, along with their cousin Lucia dos Santos saw Our Lady and heard Her words between May 13th and October 13th 1917. The canonization took place and the Church has the youngest children not martyrs in Her history, written in the book of saints. The process for the beatification of their cousin Lucia who died in 2005, is also underway. What Fatima devotees from all around the world expected from the Pope was not only the canonization of the visionaries, but also the fulfillment of some of Our Lady’s requests, until now gone unheeded. Two antithetical centenaries are in fact, being celebrated this year: the Fatima apparitions and Lenin and Trotsky’s Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, occurring in the same month the Marian events were coming to an end in Portugal. At Fatima Our Lady announced that Russia would have scattered its errors all over the world and from these errors there would have been wars, revolutions and persecutions against the Church. In order to avoid these disasters Our Lady asked especially for a sincere repentance from mankind and a return to the moral order of Christian principles. To this necessary amendment of Christians, Our Lady added two specific requests: the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to be performed by the Pope in union with the bishops throughout the world, and the propagation of the practice of the first five Saturdays of the month, consisting of uniting ourselves with Her, confession and reception of Communion, for five consecutive months, meditating for fifteen minutes and praying the Rosary. The spreading of the practice of the First five Saturdays has never been promoted by the ecclesiastical authorities, the acts of entrustment and consecration by Pontiffs have all been partial and incomplete, but most of all, for at least fifty years, Churchmen have not been preaching the spirit of sacrifice and penance anymore, so closely linked to the two little canonized shepherds. In 1919 when Lucy visited Jacinta in hospital on the eve of her death, their conversation was entirely centered on the sufferings of the two cousins, offered for sinners to avoid the terrible punishments of Hell, which had been shown to them by Our Lady. Pope Francis, who had never been to Fatima before, not even as a simple priest, did not touch on any of these themes. On May 12th, in the Chapel of the Apparitions, and presenting himself as a "bishop dressed in white”, the Pope said “As a pilgrim of the Hope that the Spirit awakens, I come as a prophet and messenger to wash the feet of all, at the same table that unites us.”Then, the invitation to follow the examples of Francesco and Jacinta.“Thus we will follow all paths and everywhere make our pilgrim way; we will tear down all walls and cross every frontier, as we go out to every periphery, to make known God’s justice and peace.”In his homily on May 13th in the sanctuary’s courtyard, Francis remembered “all my brothers and sisters in baptism and in our human family” especially “the sick and the disabled, prisoners and the unemployed, the poor and the abandoned,” with the invitation to” rediscover the young and beautiful face of the Church, which shines forth when she is missionary, welcoming, free, faithful, poor in means and rich in love.” The tragic dimension of the Fatima message, which rotates around the concepts of sin and punishment, has been put aside. Our Lady had said to little Jacinta that wars are nothing other than punishment for the sins of the world and that the sins which carry most souls to hell are the ones against purity. If today we are experiencing “a [world]war in pieces” , as Pope Francis has often repeated, how can we not connect this to the horrifying explosion of present-day immorality, which has gone as far as legalizing the inversion of the moral laws? Our Lady once again had said to Jacinta, that if there had not been any amendment and penance, humanity would have been punished, but in the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph and the entire world would be converted. Today, not only is the word “punishment” abhorred, seeing that the mercy of God cancels every sin, but the very idea of conversion is unpleasant, as proselytism, in Pope Francis’ view, “is the strongest poison against the ecumenical path”. We need to acknowledge that the message of Fatima reinterpreted according to Pope Francis’ sociological categories has little to do with the prophetic announcement of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which Our Lady proclaimed to the world one hundred years ago. Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana
Gloria.TV News on the 15th of May 2017 Gloria.TV News last Sunday A Jew: In a May 4th video, American Rabbi Mayer Schiller stated that it is important for mankind as a whole that the Church takes everything that was said in Fatima seriously. Schiller is a Hasidic rabbi based in Monsey, New York. A Fearful Church: The failure to consecrate Russian symbolizes for Rabbi Schiller - quote - "an impotent, weak Church, unwilling to wage war, unwilling to teach a mankind that has deserted God." He adds: "It is a fearful Church." A Scandal: According to Rabbi Schiller, Fatima presents a scandal to the Conciliar Church because it takes faith and morals very seriously. Quote: "The Conciliar Church infected as it is with relativism, subjectivism and religious pluralism, would like to put Fatima away somewhere." An Embarrassment: According to Schiller, Pope Francis, "fears that the consecration of Russia would give too much credence to traditionalist forces in the Church," and: "It would be an embarrassment to him, among his progressive friends, and among the mainstream of the Church. And it would make those people that he has singled out for excommunication, for criticisms, seem a little more credible. That's the least thing he wants." Dismay: Rabbi Schiller believes that the Catholic Church exercises a - quote - "profoundly positive effect upon mankind." He adds: "Therefore I view with increasing dismay the dismantling of the Catholic Faith in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council."
Brian, Thank you for both of those posts. The article written by Roberto de Mattei is fair in my opinion, although I am still not certain about all of the comments about Pope Francis considering himself to be "the bishop dressed in white". I would like to believe that he read the prayer out of respect for those who wrote it and that is all there is to it. I like to read articles that are written by others such as the Rabbi's, some times it can give us a deeper in sight to what is transpiring or has transpired. If no Pope for the last 100 years could consecrate Russia by name, it was wishful thinking that Pope Francis would do it I'm afraid. I admit I was wishful though.
As I said before, whether this pope said he was "a bishop dressed in white" or "the bishop dressed in white" is immaterial. He understood the firestorm that would come from comparing himself to a "bishop in white" given its connotations in Fatima and should have avoided that part of the prepared text altogether, regardless of who wrote it. He knew exactly what he was doing
Can anyone point me to the part of the Fatima message where Our Lady mentioned social justice as a deterrent against world war? Isn't it about repentance, penance, sacrifice, praying for sinners, devotion to the Rosary and observing the five first Saturdays to make amends for offences against the Immaculate Heart of Mary lest God punish us by permitting a world war? Of course, it takes trust in God to believe that prayer and sacrifice will avert a world war.
The following article contains the statements from Pope Francis that I believe that Antonio Socci was in search of. http://www.lastampa.it/2017/05/13/v...ng-to-hell-FpEc4bII8zP1Bj7NdBvGuI/pagina.html Form the article, “The Virgin – Francis went on to say - did not come here so that we could see her. We will have all eternity for that, provided, of course, that we go to heaven. Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures. Such a life – frequently proposed and imposed – risks leading to hell. Mary came to remind us that God’s light dwells within us and protects us.” I suppose that Socci did not realize that Pope Francis did speak of hell while he was in Fatima this past weekend. In addition, I am not so certain that the prayer in question was translated correctly. Maybe someone here who speaks Portugese can confirm this. I have the following translation: Hail Mother of Mercy, Lady of the white robe! At this place where one hundred years ago you showed all the designs of our God's mercy, I look upon your robe of light and, as a bishop dressed in white, I remember all those who, robed in baptismal white, want to live in God and pray the mysteries of Christ to attain peace.
Never said it was morally wrong to nationalize their oil, said it was asinine. And an anglicized George Washington type of democracy who most of us love, is not possible in certain countries. This was George W. Bush's error. It's an error we make all the time by bringing "democracy" to the third world. A right wing dictator is always more Catholic than a lefttist one any day. The Spain of today can't be more atheistic. At least during Franco's reign there was ample amount of Church goer's. Today Europe is Godless.
"Such a life – frequently proposed and imposed – risks leading to hell." So a godless life that profanes God only 'risks' of leading to hell? And that is the only mention to hell in the whole trip...interesting. Now let's see what our Lady of Fatima said: "Pray, pray a great deal and make many sacrifices, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and to pray for them. " (July 13, 1917) And what Sister Lucy said in her own book: "There is no shortage of unbelievers in the world who deny these truths, but they are no less true for being denied. Their disbelief does not save unbelievers from the horrors of Hell, should a life of sin lead them there. ... At Fatima, (God) sent us His Message as one more proof of these truths. This Message recalls them to us, so that we do not let ourselves be fooled by the false doctrines of unbelievers who deny them, or of deceivers who distort them. To this end, the Message assures us that Hell is a fact, and that the souls of poor sinners end up there." (Calls from the Message of Fatima, 2003, ch. 14) Again Sister Lucy in an interview published by Osservatore Romano: The following is a rare interview with Sister Lucia [the Fatima visionary who died in 2005], by Father Lombardi. It was recorded in the Vatican weekly "Osservatore della Domenica" February 7, 1954. Fr. Lombardi: "Tell me, is the 'Better World Movement' a response of the Church to the words spoken to Our Lady?" Lucia: "Father, there is certainly a great need for this renewal. If it is not done, and taking into account the present development of humanity, only a limited number of the human race will be saved." Fr. Lombardi: "Do you really believe that many will go to Hell? I hope that God will save the greater part of humanity." [He had just written a book entitled: Salvation for Those Without Faith] Lucia: "Father, many will be lost." But in reality the summary of sense of the Fatima visit has been expressed with great sincerity by the Pontiff himself during the return flight: Pope Francis: Thanks. Fatima certainly has a message of peace. It’s brought to humanity by three great communicators that were less than 13 years old, which is interesting. Yes, I came as a pilgrim. The canonization was something that wasn’t planned from the beginning, because the process of the miracles was in progress but the all of a sudden the export reports were all positive, and it was done - that’s how the story was told - for me was a very great joy. What can the world expect? Peace. And what am I talking about from now on with whomever? Peace. It just seems to me that the very message of Fatima has been buried in the ground after this trip.
