He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

BENEDICT XVI’S TRIP TO TURKEY:
THE DOVES OF PEACE

The miracle of the doves during the procession of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima at Bombarral in Portugal on 1 December 1946.

Sixty years ago, Our Lady of Fatima began a tour around the world. The sculptor José Ferreira Thedim crafted the statue, and Sister Lucy herself guided his hand. Our Lady completed in around two years, « a pilgrimage of marvels », Pius XII said in a radio message to the pilgrims at Fatima on 13 October 1951: « At Her passage in America and in Europe, in Africa and in India, in Indonesia and Australia, blessings poured down from Heaven, marvels of grace were multiplied in such a way that we could hardly believe our eyes. »

These peregrinations of the Blessed Virgin answered Her request of 19 August 1917: « Have two litters made. » with the money that people left at the Cova da Iria: one for the processions on the “thirteenth of the month” at Fatima, the other for Her to journey throughout the world as Queen.

During almost ten years, She was solemnly received in 375 dioceses, escorted by white doves huddling at Her feet: « Neither the noise of the crowd, nor the sound of the music, nor the explosion of the fireworks, nor the rain, nor wind, nor cold, nor day or night, nor the petals or bouquets thrown there – nothing makes them come down from there. The dove was already a messenger of peace after the universal chastisement of the Flood. Did not these doves huddled at the feet of the Queen of Peace come to tell us that the peace for which the world yearns will only be obtained by men through the intercession and imitation of Our Lady of Fatima? » (Cardinal Cerejeira, Christmas 1946)

This is the key to the « sign » foreseen by Pope Benedict XVI and the grand mufti of Istanbul on 1 December 2006, sixty days to the day after the miracle of the doves was inaugurated at Bombarral.

The five doves that settled on the litter of Our Lady of Fatima on that day.

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in Ankara to the President of the Religious Affairs Directorate on Tuesday, 28 November 2006, declared: « We are called to work together, so as to help society to open itself to the transcendent, giving Almighty God His rightful place. The best way forward is via authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognising what we have in common. This will lead to an authentic respect for the responsible choices that each person makes, especially those pertaining to fundamental values and to personal religious convictions.

« As an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together, I would like to quote some words addressed by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 to a Muslim prince in North Africa who had acted with great benevolence towards the Christians under his jurisdiction. Pope Gregory spoke of the particular charity that Christians and Muslims owe to one another “because we believe in one God, albeit in a different manner, and because we praise Him and worship Him every day as the Creator and Ruler of the world” (PL 148, 451). »

When in the past Pope John Paul II concluded a message to the Muslims of the whole world with this same quotation, I pointed out at that time that, taken out of context, it distorted the thought of Gregory VII (CRC n^o 274, June 1991, p. 21, footnote). An-nasir, the « Muslim prince » in question, favoured Christians with a particular benevolence. Gregory VII congratulated him for this… yet all the while preparing the Crusade, in order to « help the Christians who, constantly exposed to the blows of the Saracens, ask us to lend them a helping hand ». (Letter to the Count de Bourgogne, February 1074, quoted by Augustin Fliche, La Réforme grégorienne et la reconquête chrétienne, Histoire de l’Église, t. 8, p. 70 ; cf. the bull of 1 March 1074 addressed to « all those who want to defend the Christian Faith ».)

THE DISPERSED FLOCK

More than ever, « exposed to the blows of the Saracens », Christians in the Near East « ask us to lend them a helping hand ». In spite of the Muslim conquest, they have survived with dignity and tenacity, thanks to the Crusades that saved them from annihilation, in these lands of the ancient civilisation through which the Apostles travelled and that the martyrs soaked with their blood.

We have had to wait until the twentieth century to see them forced to flee. In Lebanon alone, 40 % of them emigrated between 1975 and 1995. In Iraq, they dropped from 1.5 million in the 1950s to 400,000 today. In the time of the Shah, there were about 200,000 Christians in Iran including 110,000 Armenians and 25,000 Chaldeans. According to the 1986 census there were only 97,000 left: at least one Christian out of two had left the country in less than ten years since the revolution of the ayatollahs in 1979. These statistics are taken from the monumental work of Jean-Pierre Valognes, “Vie et mort des chrétiens d’Orient”, published by Fayard in 1994.

Since then things have only worsened.

We can understand that the Holy Father is concerned when he considers the situation of Christians in the East. Neither the openness nor the “dialogue” that Paul VI and John Paul II engaged in have remedied it; quite to the contrary. Nevertheless, we are going to see that Benedict XVI persists in the same political utopia. On the very evening of his arrival, with no regard for historical reality, the Pope declared at the nunciature in Ankara, before the diplomatic corps:

« Turkey has always served as a bridge between East and West, between Asia and Europe, and as a crossroads of cultures and religions ». Before the Turco-Muslim invasion, yes. In other words, before “Turkey” existed. In fact, St. Luke relates in the Acts of the Apostles how St. Paul, who himself was a native of Tarsus, after having travelled through Anatolia in every direction, went across to Europe in answer to a Macedonian’s appeal: « One night Paul had a vision: a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him in these words: “Come across to Macedonia [in other words: to Europe] and help us!” » (Ac 16.9)

Which is what he did, and Europe was evangelised.

It cannot be said, however, that the Ottoman Empire was a bridge between Asia and Europe by crushing the Serbs in 1389 at Kosovo Field [field of the black birds], by devastating Thessalonica in 1430 and then in 1453, Constantinople, « the second Rome ». Constantinople’s cathedral, St. Sophia, was transformed into a mosque, and today has been converted into a museum to comply with secularism; Benedict XVI was not even free to pray there. Far from complaining, he continued:

« During the last century, she acquired the means to become a great modern State, notably by the choice of a secular regime, with a clear distinction between civil society and religion, each of which was to be autonomous in its proper domain while respecting the sphere of the other. »

It is undoubtedly in accordance with this “secularism” that « freedom of expression and association, the right to maintain places of worship and schools are meanly limited for Christians by an overzealous administration, while Muslim publications, Koranic schools and Islamic social institutions prosper thanks to the accommodating attitude of the authorities », Jean-Pierre Valognes observed (op. cit., p. 829).

So much so that the secular Republic established by Mustapha Kemal (Atatürk) in 1924 accelerated the decline of the Christians of Anatolia more than the centuries of Muslim domination. Out of a population of 73 million inhabitants, Turkey no longer has more than 0.2 % Christians, that is to say a maximum of 80,000 persons comprised of 50,000 Armenians and 6,000 Greek Orthodox.

This discrimination is one of the reasons that led Brussels to suspend negotiations for Turkey’s entry into the European Union. As for the Pope, he chose to ignore it. The disillusioned statements of Mgr François Yakan, the Patriarchal Vicar for Catholics of Chaldean rite are quite understandable: « The community for which I have the charge is minuscule, mainly formed of refugees from Iraq. It is not easy for them, and they desire one thing: to emigrate to a Christian land, for they have suffered too much in a Muslim environment. For them, the visit of Benedict XVI is important, since it will draw attention to their situation. »

But Benedict XVI preferred to draw the Turkish government’s attention to the Church’s good will and openness… at the price of a triple denial.

A TRIPLE DENIAL

According to an age-old rule, when a head of State or head of government is granted an audience with the Pope, he does not reveal the content of their conversations. The Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan paid no attention to this. He loudly convoked the media for the express purpose of relating to them his conversation with the Pope at Ankara airfield: « The Pope is favourable to Turkey’s integration into the European Union. »

In the Canadian daily Le Devoir, Jean-Claude Leclerc pointed out that if Turkey « is still far from the European Union, a major obstacle has been brushed aside. A great fear delayed her acceptance in the Union these recent years: this country, is it said, has nothing culturally in common with Europe. Now, no one will be able any longer to invoke this opinion that Joseph Ratzinger held before his election to the Papacy. Benedict XVI confirmed Turkey’s European vocation. The Turkish authorities were not expecting so much. Such a change in policy is as spectacular as it is welcomed. »

It is more accurate to call this « change in policy » a denial, insofar as the Holy Father « confirmed Turkey’s European vocation » but renounced reminding her of her Christian vocation.

The second denial took place on Thursday, 30 November, in the evening of the feast of St. Andrew, when the Pope entered into the “Blue Mosque” that takes its name from the blue Nicene earthenware tiles that cover its walls. He removed his shoes, like Moses advancing onto a holy ground (Ex 3.5), then he recollected himself at the invitation of the grand mufti of Istanbul, Mustapha Cagrici, facing towards Mecca. Millions of television viewers saw the Holy Father’s lips move.

We Catholics could have thought that he was reciting the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and the Muslims that he was praying to Allah. Upon his return to Rome, at the Wednesday general audience on 6 December, Benedict XVI told the truth:

« I addressed the one Lord of Heaven and earth, the Merciful Father of all humanity. May all believers recognise that they are His creatures and witness to true brotherhood! »

The Christian touch is present in the mention of the « Father », in contrast to the Koran, where Allah is never given this name. What is missing, however, Most Holy Father, is Christ! He is the unique Mediator who alone restored our dignity as sons of God. The Koran « does not recognise this man » as Son of God, but do you? This is a second denial, at least by omission, that leads to a third one, denying that the Church is the sole instrument of salvation and that Christ the King reigns over societies as well as over individuals.

In fact, Benedict XVI referred « to the vision of the Church that the Second Vatican Council presented », saying that he felt « spiritually supported by my venerable Predecessors, the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II, both of whom made a memorable visit to Turkey, and especially by Bl. John XXIII, who was Papal Representative in that noble Country from 1935 to 1944 and left there memories full of affection and devotion. »

In accordance with the constitution Lumen gentium, he explained that « the Pope’s Pastoral journeys help him to carry out his mission that unfolds “in concentric circles”. In the innermost circle, the Successor of Peter strengthens Catholics in the Faith; in the “intermediate circle” he meets other Christians; and in “the outer one” he addresses non-Christians and the whole of humanity. »

Now, as the Abbé de Nantes wrote when commenting on Paul VI’s Ecclesiam suam forty years ago, there is « a new religious geography » that is being substituted for the truth of a world divided between the Church regenerated by grace on the one hand, and the rest of humanity still sitting in the shadows of death on the other (Letter to My Friends n° 181, August 1964).

For two thousand years « the Church professed to identify Herself with civilised human society that had been restored to its original justice despite the faults of its members, and more especially that had been elevated to the holiness of God’s Sanctuary among men. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the New Adam of the human race and is the Head on whom everyone depends. Such is Christendom. Outside of or apart from Christendom there remain the lost masses in violent dependence upon one another, awaiting the Gospel; and there is the world of the wicked, whose master is the Prince of darkness. False religions, proud ideologies, abominable idols, religions and tyrannies have all been set up as forces of domination against the Church and they hold souls in bondage. Then the Church sent out her apostles and missionaries to the humble and to those lying in the shadow of error, in darkness and in the misery of death. »

« Parallel with this activity the Crusades, Catholic armies and colonial expeditions have had to guarantee Christian liberty and the expansion of civilised institutions impregnated with the sweetness of the Gospel.

« Thus the Church worked for the extension of her domain “a Kingdom of truth and of life, a Kingdom of holiness and of grace, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace.” Simply put, the hold of the infernal world must recede; all temporal powers must recognise the Kingship of Christ or else disappear. Yet this never-ending work was ceaselessly menaced and thwarted. On the fringes of the Church there were the excommunicates, apostates, schismatics and heretics. Beyond that lay the compact impenetrable mass of infidels under the rule of a disquieting welter of enemy powers and religions. However, faith in the Unique Church of Christ, the Ark of Salvation for all nations, was not shaken by that prospect. On the contrary, the missionary apostolate grew from the thirst for martyrdom; hence, Christendom stretched out indefinitely. In this regard, let us pay our profound homage to the 19^th century with its Catholic missionary zeal! »

TURKEY PROPOSED AS A MODEL!

As a disciple of Paul VI, Benedict XVI then referred to three kinds of societies, all objects of equal concern on his part:

« The first day of my visit to Turkey was spent within the area of this third “circle”, the widest one; I met the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic and the President for Religious Affairs, to whom I addressed my first speech. I paid homage to the “Father of the Homeland”, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, at his Mausoleum; I then had the opportunity to speak to the Diplomatic Corps at the Apostolic Nunciature in Ankara. This intense sequence of meetings formed an important part of my Visit, especially given that Turkey is a Country with a vast Muslim majority, even if it is governed by a Constitution that asserts it is a secular State. »

By reason of this, the Holy Father did not hesitate to suggest not only that Turkey must enter into Europe, but that she has the vocation of being our model:

« It is therefore a Country emblematic of the great challenge at stake today across the globe: on the one hand, we must rediscover the reality of God and the public importance of religious faith; and on the other, we must ensure that people can freely express this faith, that it is not debased by forms of fundamentalism and that they are able to firmly reject every form of violence. »

It is noteworthy that the Holy Father did not specify the identity of the « God » for whom we must « rediscover the reality », nor to which « religious faith » he attributes a « public importance »; it is of no import, provided that « people can freely express this faith ». Benedict XVI unequivocally renewed here the « delirium », if we are to speak as Gregory XVI and St. Pius X did, that the Second Vatican Council proclaimed contrary to the whole of Catholic tradition; according to the Council « no one must be prevented in religious matters ».

The immediate consequence of this principle is this surprising profession of faith: « I thus had a favourable opportunity to renew my sentiments of esteem for the Muslims and for Islamic civilisation. »

Is Benedict XVI going to become a Muslim? No. He will keep his religion, but he is not concerned about leading Muslims to it. In his eyes, this is not what is important. Here is the ultimate goal that the Pope pursues, the aim of all his works: « At the same time, I was able to insist on the importance of Christians and Muslims working together for mankind, for life and for peace and justice, reasserting that the distinction between the civil and religious spheres is a value and that the State must assure citizens and religious communities effective freedom of worship. » The kind of religious community and worship is unimportant, provided that it be free and in the service of man!

« The distinction between the civil and religious spheres » is certainly something that has been established since the time of St. Augustine. It was the very principle and foundation of our Christian civilisation under the name of “political Augustinianism”: the State, although sovereign in the temporal domain « was, however, established by God as the servant of the Church, receiving from her, in return, the recognition of its legitimacy and the spiritual and moral aid it needed to co-operate in the natural and supernatural good of their common subjects. » (Point 61 § 3 of the 150 Points)

When Benedict XVI speaks of “separation”, he avoids the word that names a reality that St. Pius X had condemned: the emancipation of the temporal order from Christ’s authority, which is the cause of the present destruction of our Catholic, royal and communitarian France, as it is of all Catholic order in the world.

Peace will not result from this triple denial! On the other hand, it will be mercifully granted to the devotion that the Pope professes towards the Virgin Mary.

THE SIGN OF FATIMA

« The second day took me to Ephesus, Benedict XVI continued, and I therefore quickly found myself in the “innermost circle” of the journey, in direct contact with the Catholic Community. In fact, the Shrine of Mary’s House stands in a pleasant place called the “Hill of the Nightingale” which overlooks the Aegean Sea near Ephesus. This is a small and ancient chapel, built to contain a cottage which, according to a very old tradition, the Apostle John had built for the Virgin Mary after taking Her with him to Ephesus. It was Jesus Himself who entrusted them to each other before He died on the Cross, when He said to Mary, “Woman, behold, Your son!” and to John, “Behold, your Mother!” (Jn 19.26-27). Archaeological research has shown that from time immemorial the site has been a place of Marian devotion which is also dear to Muslims, who go there regularly to venerate the One they call “Meryem Ana”, Mother Mary. In the garden in front of the Shrine, I celebrated Holy Mass for a group of the faithful who came from the neighbouring city of Izmir, from other parts of Turkey and from abroad. At “Mary’s House” we truly felt “at home”, and in that atmosphere of peace we prayed for peace in the Holy Land and throughout the world. There, I remembered Fr. Andrea Santoro, a Roman priest who witnessed to the Gospel with his blood on Turkish soil. »

Here is what the Blessed Virgin is preparing, the only “interfaith” possible. It could be seen in the touching ceremony that gathered two hundred persons. « It is a great event, the Archbishop of Izmir pointed out when addressing the Pope. For at last we are going to pray that your pilgrimage create bonds between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, and also Muslims. » An old Muslim woman, for that matter, sat on a low wall behind the assembly of Christians. « “She came on pilgrimage, explained her son, for Myriam” He stated that his mother has a great “respect” for the man in white who was celebrating a few metres from them. » (La Croix, Thursday, 30 November 2006, p. 19)

Ah! if only « the man in white », the bishop dressed in white of the Third Secret of Fatima saw the error of his ways, like St. Peter weeping bitterly after his denial, according to Jacinta’s prophetic vision!

« The intermediate “circle”, that of ecumenical relations, occupied the central part of this visit and took place on the Feast of St. Andrew, 30 November. This event provided an ideal context for the consolidation of fraternal relations between the Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, a Church which Tradition claims was founded by the Apostle St. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. »

It is also necessary for the Pope to see the error of this aberration, which has become “traditional” since Paul VI and which consists in considering Constantinople as the supreme see of Orthodoxy.

First, “Constantinople” no longer exists: since 1453 it is “Istanbul”, capital of the Ottoman Empire, enemy of Christendom.

Next, Greek Orthodox are tiptoeing out of the country: they numbered three hundred thousand at the beginning of the twentieth century; there are no more than three thousand today. Soon there will be no more Christians in Turkey. The question of the supreme see of Orthodoxy will be settled…

At any rate, today as yesterday, the patriarchs of the other Orthodox sees do not recognise that any authority resides in Istanbul. The reaction of the Russian Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk to the Pope’s trip to Turkey proves it: « We deny that the patriarchate of Constantinople has the right to intervene in the jurisdiction of the other Churches, he declared. It is precisely this idea that separates us today from Rome. »

This is understandable: they did not emancipate themselves from the Pope of Rome in order to give themselves another one in Istanbul or in Moscow! So true is it that schism engenders schism. The much desired reunion of these “separated brethren”, the Orthodox, does not depend on ecumenical dialogue but on the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

La Croix of 28 November, the day of the Pope’s arrival in Turkey, illustrates an article on the “The Christian Minorities on the verge of extinction” with an extraordinary photo: women are seen praying at the feet of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The presence of this photo is nothing short of miraculous in the newspaper La Croix! Let us say that a providential paste-up error undoubtedly resulted in it being substituted for another for which had been prepared a caption that has no relationship with what can be seen: « Mass at St. Anthony of Padua in May 2006 at Istambul (sic!) where gathered Iraqi refugees of the Chaldean Catholic rite. »

Only one thing is lacking for world peace: that amidst these deeply religious women we should see the Pope himself, « praying before the Immaculate Heart of Mary ». Yet we shall see it with our very eyes… when all the other attempts of the Holy Father to bring “religions” to make peace through “dialogue” and secularism fail.

In the meantime, we will experience the consequences, the prophetic vision of which Jacinta experienced in advance. One day when all three of them were prostrated on the ground and were reciting the prayers that the Angel had taught them, Jacinta stood up and exclaimed:

 « Oh! Lucy! Can’t you see all those roads, all those paths and fields full of dead and bleeding people, and others who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat? And the Holy Father in a church, praying before the Immaculate Heart of Mary? And so many people praying with him? »

This is the picture that Africa offers today where, stronger than all the armies of the UNO united, the Islamic militias and their allies are stirring up war in Somalia, in the Southern Sahara, in the Niger delta. In Chad, a state of emergency has been proclaimed: political quarrels, armed incursions of rebels and bandits, clan confrontations, all the old sorcerers are back.

In the Central African Republic, the regime of the Negro-king Bozizé survives thanks to French military assistance. The country is the victim, as is Chad, of an encroachment of the war that is raging in the Darfur. This conflict that broke out in 2003 was supposed to have been settled in May. Since then, despite the seven thousand Green Berets of the African Union, violence has not ceased to increase. At the lowest estimate, the combat has caused three hundred thousand deaths and provoked an exodus of two million inhabitants.

Not only war, but famine also reigns over a good quarter of the black population of the African continent, according to the report for 2006 on the state of food insecurity in the world that was published on 30 October by the fao, the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation. It cannot be claimed, however, that it is for want of resources. Along the Atlantic coast, from southern Senegal to South Africa, then along the Indian Ocean to the border of Djibouti, and even in the interior lands, in the region of the Great Lakes, there extend immense territories where everything grows. A third of these fertile lands would amply suffice to feed the whole continent.

What is lacking is… civilisation. People are dying scarcely a few dozen kilometres from regions where crops are rotting in the fields, because there is no one to build roads and guarantee their security, in short, to « free Africa from hunger » and thirst, the bitter fruits of “decolonisation”.

THE ANGEL WITH A FLAMING SWORD

Nevertheless, it is in the Near East that the most terrifying threat is arising, one that is capable of setting the world on fire. The Crusades in the Middle Ages created a Christian State, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, in order to reopen the road of pilgrimage to Jerusalem against the Turks. After World War II, we created the Zionist State that brought us back to the time of Joshua! In order to survive, this Hebrew State had to wage a perpetual war against the Arab States that surround it. We are witnessing, at this very moment, the literal realisation of these lines that our Father, the Abbé de Nantes wrote on 13 July 1967, fifty years to the day after the 13 July on which Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta had seen « an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; it flashed and gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire »:

« No one is in control of the Arab or Israeli match that will be used to ignite the global powder keg. It could be lit tomorrow. » (Letter to My Friends n° 249, p. 2) He could not have said it better. One would think that he had received a secret communication of the Third Secret!

This was after the Six-Day War in June 1967. You might think that you are reading a commentary on today’s events: « Israel will now bear its easy victory like a heavy millstone. The day after this 13 May, when Paul VI thought that he had received from Heaven the assurance that “peace was an achievable goal”, it ceased to be so » for want of having been requested of the proper authority… the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for it is « on contact with the brilliant light that Our Lady radiated against them with Her right hand » that the flames of the flaming sword were extinguished.

« From being something marginal and restricted to Vietnam, in the Middle East the conflict became central, vital and ideological. Here, religious racism and fanaticism mesh with the unspoken rivalry of the two great imperialisms of the East and the West, without totally submitting to it. »

The danger has done nothing but increase since the weakening of the « two great imperialisms of the East and the West ». Today we are in the situation that he had foreseen.

« On vast and distant lines of combat, all of Israel remains mobilised, or rather immobilised, on the furthermost bounds of Sinai and in Gaza, on the West Bank and facing Syria. »

Last summer, Israel was not really victorious. This confirms our Father’s affirmation: « Henceforth time is on the side of the Arab camp.

« International authorities do not have the power – it is obvious – required for imposing a fair and reasonable solution. For that matter, no “fair and reasonable solution” exists. […] The Jewish state has been from the beginning in 1947 an absurd and unviable creation, drawn up by a decree of the UN in Arab territory and based on a juridical monstrosity. Its borders are impossible. It corrected them in 1948 and increased its territory by driving out or “exterminating” the inhabitants heedless of anyone’s rights. Since then, clashes have not ceased. If you like, the Israelis are detestable “occupiers” and the Arab irregular forces are “resistance fighters”, “liberators”, whom the universal Conscience must support. On the other hand, if you like, Israel has the aspect of a little, heroic people that struggle like David against Goliath and, in the Philistine plain, repel the barbarian invader who threaten to crush it. So Israel is within its rights!

« Thus, moralists no longer agree, jurists abandon the cause, UN votes cancel each other out and electronic machines do not work properly. There remains force and it matters little that “might does not make right”; morality was quick to revel in it: this war reversed, from the first cannon shot, and for a long time to come, all the constructions of pacifism, because there is no longer peace to be made at our expense », as in 1962 in Algeria… « It is our enemies who are fighting among themselves, and their hirelings no longer know which side to choose. »

What is certain, however, is that the « Christians of the East » are disappearing, killed or dispersed, like a flock without a shepherd to take its defence. This occurs, since flock and shepherd are both caught in the snare of openness of mind, constant “dialogue” with everyone, and respect for others borne of the opponents’ common adherence to democracy and its major principle, religious freedom.

THE DOVE OF PEACE

At Istanbul, after having said his prayer in the “Blue Mosque” the Pope received a gift on which was engraved the “basmala”, the invocation to Allah that is placed at the head of each of the suras of the Koran, in the form of a dove. The grand mufti said seriously that Islam is a religion of peace. « Your visit works towards increasing concord and reciprocal understanding », he declared to the Pope. « Is it a coincidence? » Benedict XVI asked when he also offered him a gift on which doves were represented. « It is a sign! » the mufti replied.

He could not express it better. One day, realising the tremendously disastrous fruits of his policy of « dialogue », the Holy Father will understand « the sign » that was given to him at the Blue Mosque. These doves call to mind the miracle that, sixty years earlier to the day, manifested for the first time the mandate that Our Lady of Fatima had received from Her Son in order for peace to be given to the world. She alone is the Queen of Peace. At last remembering this on the day of catastrophe, the Pope will fall to his knees at the feet of the Virgin of the Immaculate Heart, « with his head in his hands and weeping » over his denial like St. Peter, according to this other prophetic vision of Jacinta:

« I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head in his hands and weeping. Outside, there were many people and some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language against him. »

« Poor Holy Father! We must pray very hard for him. »

Let us pray as Jesus prayed for Peter so that his faith not fail; when he will have « recovered », he will strengthen ours (Lk 22.32). In the meanwhile, let us work at doing what the Holy Father asked of the Bishops of Germany last 10 November. He quoted the first Epistle of St. Peter in order to exhort them to make an accounting for the hope that is within us (1 Pt 3.15):

« This is valid also, he pointed out, for our relationships with other religions, especially with the numerous Muslims who are in Germany, and whom we are going to encounter with respect and benevolence. Those who observe their convictions and practices with seriousness in particular have the right to receive our humble and firm witness in favour of Jesus Christ. »

Brother Bruno of Jesus.