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!

« WE MUST PRAY MUCH
FOR THE HOLY FATHER »

If it is true that « the lives of the saints are not limited to their earthly biographies but also include their being and working in God after death » (Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est), we cannot doubt that Sr. Lucy is pursuing her work from Heaven, as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus said:

« i feel that my mission is going to begin, my mission to make the good God loved as I love Him, to give my little way to souls. »

It is easy to transpose:

« i feel that my mission is going to begin, to make known and loved the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to establish in the world the devotion to this Immaculate Heart. »

Sister Lucy is coming back, we have no doubt, to continue to address to Benedict XVI the entreaties she had made to his predecessors Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II:

« They did not want to heed My request!... Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer. »

« They will repent and do it … », words of Our Lord that will not pass away, any more than will those of Our Lady:

« In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world. »

This is why we must pray much for the Holy Father, through the intercession of Lucy and her Blessed little cousins.

From the day they learned of the existence of the « Holy Father », they vowed to him an extraordinary devotion. One day, after the apparition of 13 July, two priests came to question them and recommended to them to pray for the Holy Father, explaining who he was and how much he needed prayers. Ever since then, Jacinta felt so much love for the Pope that, each time that she offered sacrifices to Jesus, she added to the intentions that the Angel and Our Lady had indicated: « And for the Holy Father. »

After the Rosary, she always recited three additional Ave Marias for the Pope. Sometimes she would say:

« How I would like to see the Holy Father! Many people come here, but never the Holy Father! »

When the « Holy Father » made the trip for the first time in 1967 for the fiftieth anniversary of the Apparitions, Pope Paul VI having ordered Sister Lucy, a Carmelite nun to be present, she consented out of obedience to leave the cloister. After having attended the Mass celebrated by Paul VI and received Communion from him, she threw herself to her knees before the Holy Father in order to ask him for a private talk. Paul VI did as his predecessors had done:

« Now is not the time, he replied to her. If you wish to communicate something to me, tell it to your bishop; it is he who will pass it on to me; be very trusting and very obedient to your bishop. »

What did she want to tell him? We know full well:

« Make it known to My ministers that, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My request, they will follow him into misfortune. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary. »

Dismissed by Paul VI, Sister Lucy wept in the presence of the throng that acclaimed her. That day she also let her tears fall on the tomb of Jacinta, upon recalling the recommendations that she had made to her forty-seven years earlier, shortly before her death:

« It will not be long now before I go to Heaven. You will remain here to make it known that God wishes to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When you are to say this, do not go and hide. Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that people are to ask Her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side. Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God has entrusted it to Her. »

This was not Sister Lucy’s first attempt. She had written to her director, the Bishop of Gurza, who was a friend of Pius XII and who was preparing to leave for Rome at the beginning of 1944: « If the Holy Father questions you about me and about what I would like to tell him, you can answer that it would please me to speak to His Holiness concerning the consecration of Russia and regarding the bishops of Spain. »

Two years later, in May 1945, the superiors of Sister Lucy seemed determined that she go to Rome. Yet Rome postponed the trip.

POOR LUCY! AND « POOR HOLY FATHER! »

In the face of this opposition, which would not abate until her death, she unceasingly demanded prayers and sacrifices for the Holy Father and the consecration of Russia. She told Fr. Aparicio that she was preoccupied by the « days of great affliction and torment » that still awaited the Roman Pontiff. It is also our concern today; it is our main prayer intention. It suffices for us to recall the prophetic visions of Jacinta that confirm what the Blessed Virgin had already shown to all three of them on 13 July in Her great Secret:

« I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones; others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father! We must pray much for him. »

On another day, they were prostrated on the ground, saying the prayers the Angel had taught them. Suddenly Jacinta stood up and exclaimed:

« Oh! Lucy! Can’t you see all those highways and roads and fields full of dead people with their blood pouring out, 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? »

Several days later, she asked Lucy:

« “Can I say that I saw the Holy Father and all those people?

– No! her cousin retorted sharply. Don’t you see that that’s part of the Secret? If you do, it will all come out right away!”

– All right! Then I’ll say nothing at all. »

Today, knowing the Secret, we understand. In its third part, it showed us « in an immense light that is God, “something like the image that a mirror reflects when someone passes in front of it: a Bishop dressed in White ».

Sister Lucy added:

« We had a premonition that it was the Holy Father. »

He was not alone:

« Several other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious were climbing a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a large Cross of rough-hewn trunks, as of a cork-tree with its bark; before arriving there, the Holy Father passed through a great city half in ruins and, half trembling and with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the summit of the mountain, falling on his knees at the foot of the large Cross, he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him. »

From 1917 on, only one pope, John Paul I, paid heed to the requests of Our Lady, and manifested the intention to obey her: « If I live, I shall return to Fatima to consecrate the world and particularly the peoples of Russia to the Blessed Virgin, in accordance with the instructions She gave to Sister Lucy. »

« If I live », as though he had been informed that he would not live. In fact, he did not live. Does this mean that he was « killed »? Numerous pieces of evidence plead in favour of this tragic hypothesis.

In any event, the assassination attempt of which John Paul II was the victim on 13 May 1981 cannot be considered as the fulfillment of the Third Secret, since not only Pope John Paul II was not « killed », but it earned him renewed popularity.

BENEDICT XVI , TWO YEARS LATER

When we informed the Abbé de Nantes, our Father, of the election of Cardinal Ratzinger, he only said: « It will be difficult… » The first two years of this pontificate have to a great extent confirmed this forecast. It is difficult; it is very difficult.

We can apply to Benedict XVI this part of the Secret that describes the « Bishop dressed in White » crossing through « a great city half in ruins », he himself « HALF TREMBLING ».

« HALF TREMBLING ».

On the day of his enthronement, the new Sovereign Pontiff announced his intentions: « My real programme of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He Himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history. »

We know what the “ideas” of Cardinal Ratzinger are… the Abbé de Nantes often analysed and criticised them. Nevertheless, recalling that our Father had as it were announced and even wished for his elevation: « If he is the man of great theological faith that we suppose him to be, Cardinal Ratzinger could be the next Pope, the saviour of the Church, and then we would have a sign of hope », we have resolved to adopt an attitude of supernatural hope and confidence in Jesus « who leads the Church in this hour of our history », by the hands of the Immaculate and St. Joseph, patron of the Church… and of Joseph Ratzinger.

The task of Benedict XVI is very difficult. It is even humanly impossible. Two episodes sufficed to demonstrate it:

1^o The protest of the Muslims after the discourse at Regensburg. We can say that on this occasion we saw with our very eyes Benedict XVI « half trembling ». He back-pedalled: « In no way did I want to make my own the negative words spoken by the medieval emperor in this dialogue. » He had, though, only expressed what Rome and Christendom have always unanimously thought and said about the religion of Islam, because they have been always and everywhere its first victims, as today in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere in Africa.

2^o The protest raised by the Bishops of France after the establishment of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, and the announcement of a liberalisation of the rite of St. Pius V…

Both episodes have shown to what extent Benedict XVI is the willing, persistent and unrepentant prisoner of what the Abbé de Nantes called the « Conciliar Pact », by virtue of which the Holy Father professed

1^o to the Muslims his « esteem » for Islam,

2^o to the Bishops of France his determination « not to go backward » i.e. to the pre-Conciliar Catholic religion.

Nevertheless, his concern is to revive the great millennial tradition of the Church, or rather, to show that there is no rupture.

How can that be admitted, however, if we consider, for example, the state of catechesis, that is, the teaching, the transmission of the Faith On his own admission to the Bishops of Switzerland, « precisely in the past fifty years or so, it has come a long way in its methodology. On the other hand, however, since much has been lost in anthropology and in the search for reference points, all too often catechesis does not even reach the content of the Faith. »

Let us pay attention to this! « Fifty years or so » ago, Pius XII condemned the « progressive catechism » that, precisely, prided itself on having « come a long way in its methodology ». It is the Council that revived the experiment, in 1964. To be exact, the Pope should have said: « in the past forty years ». This, however, would accuse the Council. So, he continues:

« I can understand this since, even at the time when I was a parochial vicar – some fifty-six years ago – it was already very difficult to proclaim the Faith in pluralistic schools with numerous non-believing parents and children, because it appeared to be a totally foreign and unreal world. »

The truth is that « some fifty-six years ago », i.e. in 1956, the Church was on the way to conquering the world. A clan of “progressivist” reformers, however, to which the young Abbé Ratzinger belonged, and to which the young Abbé de Nantes was opposed, already wanted « to go in search of non-believers » by substituting pedagogy for doctrine.

« Today, of course (sic!), the situation is even worse » Benedict XVI adds.

« Of course »! After such a great reforming Council? Thus, the Council brought no remedy?

The conclusion is inescapable: not only the Council did not bring a remedy, but it even worsened the situation, in accordance with the vision of the “Third Secret”, in which the children contemplated:

« a great city half in ruins »

that we today see Benedict XVI « pass through with halting step ». We cannot doubt that he is fulfilling this point of the prophecy. It suffices to listen to him setting forth his assessment of the situation before the Bishops of Germany last 10 November. The Pope began by painting a picture of the apostasy that is ravaging the West:

« The Federal Republic of Germany shares with the whole of the Western world a culture marked by secularisation, in which God is increasingly disappearing from the public conscience. »

Three days earlier, in his homily on 7 November in the presence of the Bishops of Switzerland, Benedict XVI, applying the Parable of the Wedding Feast to our times, showed his anxiety « Indeed, the Christians of the West, the new “first guests”, now  excuse themselves in large numbers; they do not have time to come to the Lord. We know well the churches that are ever more empty, seminaries that continue to empty, religious houses that are increasingly empty; we are familiar with all the forms in which this “no, I have other important things to do” is presented. And it frightens and upsets us to be witnesses of these excuses and refusals of the first guests who, in reality, should understand the importance of the invitation and should be thronging in that direction. What should we do? »

It is necessary to teach the Catholic Faith that is no longer taught in parish catechisms or in Catholic schools, or in faculties of theology, or in seminaries. In this regard, all of the speeches of Benedict XVI to the bishops of Germany, Poland and Canada repeat what he already said during the first summer of his pontificate to the clergy of the Aosta Valley, and then in the following months to the clergy of Rome and Albano. The Church is not only dying from the decrease in the number of the faithful, priests and religious, but from the loss of the dogma of the Faith that is no longer soundly taught, in its matter and form.

1. In its matter. To the Bishops of Germany, the Pope recalled that every Muslim has the right to receive « our humble and firm testimony in favour of Jesus Christ ». Yet he added, « to convey it convincingly, however, requires serious commitment. For this reason, in places with a large Muslim population, Catholic spokesmen should be available who have adequate knowledge both of languages and of the history of religion, which will enable them to enter into dialogue with Muslims. This dialogue, however, presupposes in the first place a sound knowledge of their own Catholic Faith. »

Now, this Faith is no longer nourished, handed down or invigorated. Formerly, « before the Council, one grew up in the Faith; in a certain way, it was simply present as part of life and did not need any special seeking. It needed to be formed and deepened, but seemed something perfectly obvious. » While today, « the faith of the Church seems something that belongs to the distant past. » Even « practising Christians » only retain from the deposit of the Faith, what they consider « still “tenable” ».

That, however, is not acceptable, the Pope forcefully protests, for the Faith is a whole.

« It is not at all a matter of an enormous bundle of different things; all that the Creed says and that the development of the Faith has accomplished exists only to make our perception of the Face of God clearer. He exists and He lives; we believe in Him; we live before Him, moving toward Him, with Him and of Him and in Jesus Christ. He is, as it were, physically with us. » (to the Bishops of Switzerland, 7 November)

2. That was for the “matter”. Now for the “form”: « We ourselves cannot invent the Faith, composing it with “sustainable” pieces, but we believe with the Church. »

As the Abbé de Nantes unceasingly repeats to us, quoting St. Cyprian: « No one has God for his Father if he has not the Church for his Mother. » We are children of the Church.

Of course, « we cannot understand all that the Church teaches », but we must adhere with her to all that she believes; we must enter into what Benedict XVI calls « the great “I” of the Church, in her living “We”. »

In short, the most important thing is to be part of the family and to keep one’s place within it, one’s rightful place. Regarding this question, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI speaks with anxiety when he turns his attention « to a problem that is as urgent as it is charged with emotion: the relationship between priests and lay people in carrying out the mission  of the Church. » What is at stake is faith in the « the sacramental and hierarchical structure that Jesus Christ willed for His Church », failing which… she disappears!

« The Sacrament of Orders alone authorises those who receive it to speak and act “in persona Christi”. It is this, dear Confreres, that must be inculcated ever anew with great patience and wisdom, and the necessary conclusions drawn. » (10 November 2006)

It is necessary, first, foremost, and imperatively, « that in the catechesis given within the context of school, parish, community, etc., the Faith continue (?) to be expounded fully; in other words, that children truly learn what “Creation” is, what the “history of salvation” brought about by God is, and who Jesus Christ is, what the sacraments are and what is the object of our hope… » In all this, the Pope laments, « ignorance has sunk to an alarming level ».

What remedy is there for this?

FATIMA: OR HOPE FOR HEAVEN

Truly there is but one. It was given to three children from Portugal. Yet, as we do not find in Benedict XVI the expression of the slightest anxiety for the salvation of souls beset by what is not only « ignorance », but social, moral and religious apostasy from Christianity, we must not be amazed that the Pope still does not know it!

In fact, in his addresses to the Swiss and German bishops in which Benedict XVI so vigorously denounces apostasy, we remark a dramatic absence: that of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary; not even the pious clausulae conventional in all pontifical addresses, in accordance with an age-old tradition, are dedicated to her. As though the apostasy of the Western world and the loss of the Faith did not concern Her first and foremost, Her to whom alone is promised the victory over all heresies in the entire world.

« Let us have devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, seeing Her as the seat of mercy, kindness and pardon, and as the sure door by which we may enter Heaven. »

These are the words of Sister Lucy to Fr. Fuentes in 1957.

Let us not forget that from the first apparition of the Angel of Portugal, forerunner of Mary, in the spring of 1916, this devastating apostasy that the Pope deplores under the euphemism of « secularisation », is mentioned: the apostasy of « those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love »; and the Angel provides a remedy for it by teaching to the children a prayer to which, he assures them, the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive:

« Pray with me » this “Angel of Peace” said.

« Having repeated these words three times, he arose and said, Sister Lucy wrote: “Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.” »

To pay no heed to it is truly a sin against the Holy Spirit, all the more so because all the pastoral problems of the Church find in this “message” an appropriate and immediate solution. For example, that of the loss of interest in the Sacrament of Penance; Benedict XVI is « distressed » about it:

« The Sacrament of Penance, of which the practice in the past fifty years or thereabouts has gradually diminished. Thanks be to God, cloisters, abbeys and shrines exist where people go on pilgrimage, where their hearts are opened and also prepared for confession. We must truly learn this Sacrament anew. »

« In the past fifty years ». Let us be precise: In the past forty-five years exactly, the opening of the Second Vatican Council that banished from the Church all spirit of penance in the name of « openness to the world ».

Our Lady of Fatima, however, taught to Lucy the means for « learning it anew ». It was at Pontevedra, on 10 December 1925:

« Say that to all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep Me company for fifteen minutes whilst meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist at the hour of their death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls. »

What better way to facilitate a return to the practice of the sacraments than the promise of salvation?

Now, if Fatima, or the hope of Heaven, is dramatically absent from the preaching of Benedict XVI, Fatima, or the fear of Hell, is equally so.

Of course, the Pope mentions the disastrous consequences, for both societies and individuals, of the contemptuous “forgetting” of God, but he says nothing of the eternal effect of the unrepentant “no” opposed to the commandments of God and the Church: the fire of Hell.

FATIMA, OR THE FEAR OF HELL

We read in the writings of Sister Lucy, in “Calls from the Message of Fatima”, this pressing warning:

« Our eternal life will depend on a decision made between two very different realities: Heaven or Hell. » This is why our present life is a permanent state of war in which battle « two progenies between which hostility reigns; thus they have risen up against each other: the progeny of Satan and that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Satan leads his own into the way of sin; Mary, being the Mother of the children of God, leads them in the way of truth, justice and love. God is Love, and all His children are characterised by love. »

This should appeal to the author of the encyclical Deus caritas est!

« While the children of God rise by the way of love to the possession of eternal happiness in the Kingdom of God, their Father, the children of Satan, dragged down by their base acts, descend into the abyss of eternal punishment.

« There is no dearth of unbelievers in the world who deny these realities, but it is certain that they do not cease to exist because they deny them! Their incredulity will not deliver them from the pains of Hell if their lives of sin should lead them to it. » (He is Risen no 13, September 2003, pp. 9-10)

Scriptural proofs that support these truths are abundant in the writings of Sister Lucy. Yet she adds that Our Lady showed Hell to her, as well as to her little cousins, « so that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by the false teaching of the unbelievers who deny them, and of those who have left the true path, who distort them. »

Intended to be disclosed, this vision thus has a universal import. It is addressed to the pious souls who will have the grace to imitate the « poor shepherds of Aljustrel » in their incomparable way of co-redemption, and to the « souls of poor sinners » who, more simply but with devotion, will follow the little monthly practices of the First Satudays, in order to reach in the end the souls that the life of sin is leading into Hell, by lighting in their hearts the incandescent furnace of the fear of God, which is the beginning of love.

« DISASTROUS » RUPTURES

In fact, it seems to us that in his daily teaching, Benedict XVI breaks this perfect equilibrium between the fear of God and of His Love, His Justice and His Mercy, passing over in silence the saving fear of His Justice, in order to retain only His Love and His Mercy, in accordance with the Conciliar pastoral approach as John XXIII defined it in his Opening Speech to the Second Vatican Council on 11 October 1962:

« Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than to brandish the arms of severity. She considers that she responds better to the needs of our time by emphasising the riches of her doctrine than by condemnations. »

There results a “rupture” that became apparent, from the first encyclical of Benedict XVI, in the way that he exercises his pontifical Magisterium or rather, in the way in which he does not exercise it. In fact, we remark straightaway in the title the absence of any mention of the doctrinal charge with which his recent election had invested him on the previous 19 April, unlike St. Pius X evoking the doctrinal charge that fell to him to conserve the deposit of the Faith against the invading « apostasy »:

« We saw therefore that, in virtue of the ministry of the Pontificate, which was to be entrusted to us, we must hasten to find a remedy for this great evil, considering as addressed to us that Divine command: “Look, today I am setting you over nations and over kingdoms, to tear up and to pull down, to waste and to destroy, to build and to plant.”… »

There is nothing of the sort for Benedict XVI. He did, of course, implore prayers on 27 April 2005 at the time of the presentation of the Ring of the Fisherman and the conferring of the pontifical Pallium, insignia of his mission of universal Pastor: « Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. » Yet, for two years we have not seen him confront the wolves, but only « presiding in doctrine and presiding in love » in accordance with the definition that he gave of his ministry on 7 May 2005 at St. John Lateran when he took possession of his ecclesiastical seat as Bishop of Rome, « a Bishop dressed in White », successor of Peter.

Perhaps there are no longer any wolves?

Benedict XVI « presides in doctrine » like a marvellous professor of theology, a good pedagogue, concerned about being understood by the “weakest students in the class”. The faithful rush to listen to him with delight, and his Wednesday audiences are always well attended. They never grow weary of hearing him relate the beginnings of the Church. He makes them love Peter, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Justin and Irenaeus, Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Alexandria.

Benedict XVI « presides in love ». His inaugural encyclical indicates what he means by this: « In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both very timely and of practical significance. » We saw it at Regensburg on Tuesday, 12 September 2006, when the “wolves” encircled the Shepherd of the sheep until he protested his love… for the wolves themselves: « I wish to express again my esteem for Muslims… »!

The result is that for twenty-five years, the good tremble since they are no longer defended, while the wicked triumph.

The most remarkable case of what in fact constitutes an abuse of authority is that of the Abbé de Nantes. Cardinal Ratzinger and his secretary Mgr Bertone let the French episcopate consider him anathematised when not only is there no charge against him, but also no judgement has been handed down on the accusations that he himself has levelled against the teachings of Second Vatican Council for forty years.

Still today, Benedict XVI deliberately ignores the lawsuit in order to insist upon a « hermeneutic of continuity », that is, an interpretation of the Second Vatican Council that denies its rupture with the millennial tradition of the Church. Nevertheless, the objections are there and they must be answered if we want the beautiful and living tradition of the Church to resume its course. It is not only a question of justice for our Father, who is scorned, slandered and persecuted with impunity, but it is a question of life or death for the Church, that is dying from the errors of Second Vatican Council.

« A QUESTION OF PRINCIPLE »

To a person who insistently asked him why he did not reply to the Abbé de Nantes, even if it were by condemning him if he were worthy of condemnation, the cardinal replied that it was « a question of principle ». I long wondered what this expression meant until a friend placed before my eyes a passage from the book of Cardinal Ratzinger: “The Celebration of the Faith”, in the chapter “What Corpus Christi Means to Me… Three Meditations”.

The first “meditation” ends with a veritable condemnation of the “anathemas” of the Council of Trent!

« The Council of Trent ends its declaration on Corpus Christi with a sentence that rings painfully in our ecumenical ears and that has certainly contributed more than a little to discrediting this feast in the eyes of our Protestant brothers. If, however, we purify this formulation of its passionate elements proper to the sixteenth century, we are surprised by what it reveals that is positive and great. This Conciliar text specifies that Corpus Christi must represent the triumph of the truth in such a way that “its adversaries, before such splendour and such joy of the entire Church, either give way or, struck with shame, come at last to recognise their errors.” Let us strip this sentence of all controversy: it means that the force by which the truth imposes itself must be the joy with which this truth is manifested itself. »

This partially explains the silence that Cardinal Ratzinger maintains toward the Abbé de Nantes, a born polemist and by grace “ad tuendam fidem catholicam”, as were all the Fathers of the Church and the holy Councils in the days of old! An obstinate silence, because the writings of the said the Abbé de Nantes cannot be « purified » of their « passionate elements », or more exactly, by reading and studying him we understand that the influence of the truth (which is our joy!) in our world of darkness is necessarily accompanied by the struggle against this same darkness and its errors. « What concord does Christ have with Belial? » (2 Co 6.14) If what the Council of Trent says is true, the Second Vatican Council is in error!

Thus, let us not be surprised that for a partisan of openness to the world, the only attitude of principle towards the Abbé de Nantes is to proclaim him disqualified for refusing the new rules of the game of relations between the Church and the modern world.

After two years of pontificate, it clearly appears that Benedict XVI, although definitely assisted by the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, scarcely discerns what constitutes the specificity of the gift of the virtue of Fortitude: vigour of decisions and actions capable of triumphing over obstacles, tendencies, feelings and opposing reasons, for the accomplishment of the divine will in everything and the pursuit of all that can contribute to the good, to the salvation of our neighbour and of ourselves, to the glory of God.

Even if it be at the price of shed blood.

The unanimous tradition of the Fathers and the Doctors, of the Councils and the Roman Pontiffs until 11 October 1962, leaves no doubt: the Faith cannot do without the spirit and the letter of anathemas, for “the extermination” of all heresy. In such a pastoral approach, there is no passionate element; in the Middle Ages, as during the Renaissance, it was thus that the Church practiced charity.

The proof of this is that it is also the “pastoral” approach of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, from the beginning, ever since God said to Satan: « She shall crush your head. » This Woman, so beautiful, so gentle … will crush the head of the Serpent. With Her virginal foot, She will crush his head, and yet the Devil will be able to take his vengeance upon us, Her children. Thus, in order to escape the devils, all the devils, we have no other recourse than this powerful Woman, Virgo potens, who prepares Herself for this action of a soldier: to crush the head of Her infernal adversary. Truly I say: we have no other recourse for reducing to naught our imaginings and our objections, and for winning the hearts of our “separated brothers”, than by the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the reparatory devotion of the five First Saturdays.

As St. Bernard said: « In perils, in anguish, in perplexity, think of Mary, invoke Mary. By following Mary, we do not get lost; by praying to Her, we do not fall into despair; by thinking of Her, we do not go astray. If She supports you, you will not fall; if She protects you, you will have nothing to fear; if She accompanies you, you will not know fatigue; Her protection will lead you to the end and you will thus experience in yourself how truthfully it has been said: The Name of the Virgin was Mary. »

May our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, our beloved Sovereign Pontiff, become Her instrument by obeying Her demands, as did Pius V in times past, in the days of the great Islamic peril. He will do so; we are assured of this in virtue of the promise of 13 July 1917: « In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world. »

Let us pray, let us pray much for the Holy Father.

This will be, if you so wish, the intention of all our prayers and sacrifices, in the months to come until next 13 October…

Brother Bruno of Jesus.