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 AND OUR LADY OF FATIMA 

(…) Last 7 February, Benedict XVI received the parish priests and the clergy from the diocese of Rome for the traditional meeting at the beginning of Lent, which unfolded in the form of questions and answers. The third question, asked by the Salesian Fr. Pietro Riggi is extraordinary:

Fr. Riggi: « Most Holy Father, I work in an after-school prayer and recreation centre and in a centre for minors at risk. I want to ask you this: on 25 March 2007, you spoke extemporaneously expressing your regret that today the Novissimi [“last things”] are seldom mentioned. In fact, in the catechisms of the Italian Bishops’ Conference that are used for teaching our Faith to children who are preparing for Confession, Communion and Confirmation, it seems to me that certain truths of the Faith have been omitted. Hell is never mentioned, nor Purgatory, Heaven only once, sin only once and then only original sin. Without these essential parts of the Creed, does it not seem to you that the logical system that leads us to see Christ’s Redemption crumbles? By the absence of any mention of sin, by not speaking of Hell, even Christ’s Redemption is diminished too.

« Does it not seem to you that this has encouraged a loss of the sense of sin, and hence, of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and even of the saving, sacramental figure of the priest, who has the power to absolve and celebrate in Christ’s name? Today, unfortunately, we priests too, when the Gospel speaks of Hell, we avoid the Gospel itself. We do not speak about it. We do not know how to talk about Heaven either. We do not know how to talk about Eternal Life. We risk giving the Faith a purely horizontal dimension or one in which the horizontal is too detached from the vertical. Unfortunately, this is also now missing in the underlying structure of catechesis for children, if it is not the priests who take the initiative for it.

« If I am not mistaken, this year is the 25^th anniversary of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. To mark this occasion, would it be possible to consider solemnly renewing this consecration for the whole world? The Berlin wall collapsed, but there are still so many walls of sin that must fall: hatred, exploitation, untamed capitalism. Walls must fall and we are still waiting for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in order to be able to realise this dimension also.

« I also wanted to point out that the Virgin Mary was not afraid to speak about Hell and Heaven to the children of Fatima, who, incidentally, were of catechism age: seven, nine and twelve. So often, on the contrary, we omit this. Can you tell us something more about this? »

This is what is called asking the right question!

The answer of Benedict XVI: « You correctly spoke of the fundamental themes of the Faith that unfortunately rarely appear in our preaching. »

Fr. Riggi incriminated enormous gaps « in the catechisms of the Italian Bishops’ Conference ». The Pope seems neither surprised nor disposed to take measures for remedying them. He passes on.

« In the Encyclical Spe Salvi I wanted to speak also about the Last Judgement, judgement in general, and in this context about Purgatory, Hell and Heaven. »

We saw, in fact, how Benedict XVI « speaks about Hell » in his encyclical, but confuses it with « Purgatory » (cf. He is Risen no 64, January 2008, p. ……….).

« I think we are all still victims of the objection of the Marxists that Christians have only spoken of the afterlife and have ignored the earth. »

Thus, the Pope explains the omissions deplored by his interlocutor by a concern common to « all of us », that of responding to the « objection of the Marxists ». He shows himself to be their « victim » in his answer. In fact, far from refuting the said “objection”, for example by recalling twenty centuries of Christian civilisation, he explains the omissions in the Italian catechism by the concern to show Marxists that we are at last going to get down to it with them: « Thus, we want to show that we are truly committed to the earth and are not people who talk about distant realities [sic!], who do not help the earth. »

As though Marxists « helped the earth »! The narco-terrorists of the farc (The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), struggling against the Catholic religion « opium of the people »... That takes the cake! The Pope does not contradict it. He only asks « not to forget »… Not to forget what? Heaven? No, not even Heaven:

« Now, although it is right to show that Christians work for the earth – and we are all called to work to make this earth really a city for God and of God – we must not forget the other dimension.

« If we do not take it into account, we do not work well for the earth: to show this was one of my fundamental purposes in writing the Encyclical. »

In other words: let us work for the earth, without forgetting Heaven, in order to succeed on earth. Jesus said the opposite: “Seek first the Kingdom of God [“the other dimension”, first], and all these things will be given you besides. The unique goal of our works, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus used to say, is to go to Heaven!

« When one does not know the judgement of God one does not know the possibility of Hell… »

The Pope falls precisely into the error that the Salesian father denounces: he does not speak about the reality of Hell that « the Virgin Mary was not afraid » to show to the children of Fatima, as his interlocutor just recalled to him, but only about its « possibility ».

« … of the radical and definitive failure of life » [which is the eternal damnation of Hell; the Pope illustrates the omission deplored by the Salesian father by omitting by this paraphrase to specify it]; one does not know the possibility of and need for purification [in this world, it is called “penance”; in the other, it is Purgatory]. Man then fails to work well for the earth because he ultimately loses his criteria; he no longer knows himself – through not knowing God – and destroys the earth. »

This is still nothing in comparison with the eternal damnation incurred. It is clear, however, that the Pope shows no concern for the salvation of souls. What is important, in his eyes, is to “build” the earth:

« All the great ideologies have promised: we will take things in hand; we will no longer neglect the earth; we will create a new, just, correct and brotherly world. Instead, they destroyed the world. We see it with Nazism; we also see it with Communism, which promised to build the world as it was supposed to be and instead destroyed it. »

Because it also wanted to contribute to « building the world as it was supposed to be », the Council did not want to condemn Communism. Forty years later, Pope Benedict XVI who, being the “peritus” of Cardinal Frings, was a kingpin of the Council, persists and signs on... even though he sees the damage:

« In the ad limina visits of Bishops from former Communist countries, I always notice that in those lands, not only the planet and ecology, but above all and more seriously, souls have been destroyed. »

Although Communism continues to « destroy » in China, Vietnam, and Cuba, the Pope speaks as though of something from the past: on his lips, the observation concerns the « formerly Communist countries. »

Furthermore, it is not the eternal loss of souls that he deplores, but their destruction. What does this mean?

« Rediscovering the truly human conscience illuminated by God’s presence is our first task for the rebuilding of the earth. This is the common experience of those countries. The rebuilding of the earth, while respecting this planet’s cry of suffering, can only be achieved by rediscovering God in the soul with the eyes turned towards God. »

These remarks constitute a profession of “deist” faith, illustrating precisely what the Salesian father deplores: « Christ’s Redemption is diminished too » Far more, it is shrugged off. The name of Jesus Christ has not been uttered, still less that of Mary, even though it is towards Her that the Salesian father had « his eyes turned ». The Pope deliberately turns away his eyes away from the Immaculate Heart of Mary by not replying to the question that was asked...!

« You are therefore right: we must speak of all this precisely because of our responsibility to the earth, to the people who are alive today. »

In order to lead them to Heaven? No, Benedict XVI obviously remains within the earthly, ecological horizon. His obsession with showing Marxists that we work for the earth… as they do ! illustrates the conclusion that the Abbé de Nantes made to his commentary on the first two chapters of the decree Unitatis Redintegratio on ecumenism (infra, pp. ……..), an advance warning about the entire thought of Benedict XVI.

« We must also speak of sin itself as the possibility of destroying oneself [and of offending God? Benedict XVI does not attach importance to the entreaties of Our Lady of Fatima: « Do not offend the Lord Our God any more, for He is already too greatly offended! »], and also other parts of the world. In the Encyclical I tried to show that it is God’s last judgement that guarantees justice. We all want a just world. Yet we cannot atone for all the destruction of the past, all the people unjustly tortured and killed. God alone can create justice, which must be justice for all, even for the dead, »

« As the great Marxist [again!] Adorno said, only the resurrection of the body, which he considered as unreal, would be able to create justice. We believe in this resurrection of the body in which not all will be equal. »

« Today people have become used to thinking: God is great, He knows us, so sin does not count; in the end God will be good to us all. [What is a “goodness” that is indifferent to sin?] It is a beautiful hope [Really? Not theological hope in any case]. Yet both justice and true guilt exist. Those who have destroyed man [and offended God?] and the earth cannot immediately sit down at God’s table together with their victims [not “immediately”, but later on… Hitler and Stalin will go to Heaven, but not immediately!]. God creates justice. We must keep this in mind. Therefore, I felt it was important to write this text also about Purgatory, which for me is such an evident and necessary truth, but also such a comforting one [in the encyclical Spe salvi, the existence of Purgatory dispensed him from considering that of Hell, except as an unreal “possibility”] that it could not be absent.

« I tried to say that perhaps those who have destroyed themselves in this way, who are forever incorrigible, who no longer possess any elements on which God’s love can rest, who no longer have the slightest capacity for loving, may not be so numerous. »

Sister Lucy said the opposite to Father Lombardi: « Many are those who are lost. » Our Lady said: « Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them. » (19 August 1917)

« This would be Hell », the Pope continues, using the unreal conditional mood, with the thought that it will not be!

« On the other hand, those who are so pure that they can enter immediately into God’s communion are undoubtedly few – or at any rate not many. »

Here the Pope did not say: this would be Heaven, because he is going to say that it is Heaven. Heaven in this world, or in the other? The speech of the Pope leaves this whole question vague:

« A great many of us hope that there is something in us that can be saved, that there is in us a final desire to serve God and serve men, to live in accordance with God. Yet there are so very many wounds [made in the Immaculate Heart of Mary by our offenses, Most Holy Father?], there is so much filth. »

The Pope obviously does not speak about wounds made in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is “without stain”, without “filth”… We would even say that he avoids the idea of “sin” in the sense of an offence against God, although he writes the word further on:

« We need to be prepared, to be purified. This is our hope: even with so much dirt in our souls, in the end the Lord will give us a possibility; He will wash us at last with His goodness that comes from the Cross. In this way He makes us capable of being His for eternity. Thus Heaven is hope; it is justice brought about at last. It also gives us criteria by which to live, so that this time may be in some way a paradise, a first gleam of paradise. Where people live according to these criteria, a hint of paradise appears in the world and is visible. It also seems to me to be a demonstration of the truth of the Faith, of the need to follow the road of the Commandments, of which we must speak further. These are really the road signs on our way and show us how to live well, how to choose our life.

« Therefore, we must also speak of sin and of the Sacrament of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. A sincere man knows that he is guilty, that he must start again, and that he must be purified. This is the marvellous reality that the Lord offers us: there is a chance of renewal, of being new. The Lord starts with us again and we can thus start again with the others in our lives. »

« This aspect of renewal, of the restitution of our being after so many errors, so many sins, is the great promise, the great gift that the Church offers, but which psychotherapy, for example, cannot offer. »

Psychotherapy cannot, but devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary can. Our Lady said to Sister Lucy that it is the « way that will lead you to God ». It was the reply that the question asked by the Salesian father required.

« Today, in the face of so many destroyed or seriously wounded souls, psychotherapy is very widespread and also necessary. Yet the possibilities of psychotherapy are very limited: it can only try to restore a little balance to an unbalanced soul but cannot provide true renewal, the overcoming of these serious diseases of the soul. It is therefore always temporary and never definitive.

« The Sacrament of Penance gives us the opportunity to be renewed totally with God’s power – ego te absolvo –, which is possible because Christ took these sins, these faults, upon Himself. It seems to me that this is truly necessary today. We can be healed. As everyone knows from experience, souls that are wounded and ill need not only advice but true renewal, which can only come from God’s power, from the power of Crucified Love. It seems to me that this is the important point common to the mysteries that in the end truly mark our lives. We must meditate on them ourselves and so bring them once again to our people. »

« THE ERRORS OF RUSSIA »

What about the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, of which the Salesian father asked the renewal? Silence! This silence is not that of forgetfulness but of an insurmountable contempt for the message of Fatima. In this way Benedict XVI shows himself faithful to the legacy of the Council. When you think about it, you feel that the Pope was informed of the question in advance, and that his response aimed at putting an end to that chapter once and for all.

From Pius XI to Benedict XVI, the Popes have not paid attention to the warnings of Our Lady… and the “errors of Russia” have “spread throughout the world” even into the Church, in the Acts of an ecumenical Council on which our Holy Father the Pope adjusts his thinking and his action today.

When a Salesian of Don Bosco, certainly inspired by his holy patron founder and by Mary Help of Christians, speaks to him about the “consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary”, he does not reply to his request… no more than to that of the Virgin Mary, because he neither can nor wants to answer it. It is a “matter of principle”, as he said to someone who asked him why he did not reply to the Abbé de Nantes when he was in charge of his file at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. With the Salesian father, it is the same thing:

« If I am not mistaken, the latter said, this year is the 25^th anniversary of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. » What did he mean by that? Undoubtedly he was thinking about “the act of offering” made by Pope John Paul II on 25 March 1984, pronounced in Saint Peter’s square before the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. In order to reply to the question, it would have first been necessary to specify this point and, at the same time, affirm that this “act of offering” truly responded to the demand of the Virgin Mary. This is precisely what is debated, because for years Sister Lucy said that it did not, that it was not yet what was requested. Then, one day in 1989, she received the order to say that it was, and she obeyed… Benedict XVI cannot be unaware of this even if it was the Secretariat of State that transmitted the order of John Paul II to Mgr do Amaral. The latter related to our Brother Francis how he had been charged with making it known to Sister Lucy.

The holy messenger of Our Lady had already been forced into this “retraction” during World War II, concerning the consecration of the world carried out by Pius XII. Fr. Alonso made it perfectly clear:

« 1942 was the jubilee of the Apparitions [1917-1942: twenty-five years] and, at the same time, that of the jubilee of the episcopal consecration of Pius XII. The war, however, cast gloom by its horrors over all of humanity. Yet he Pope did not seem determined to follow the suggestions that Sister Lucy had communicated to him on behalf of Heaven. She herself deplored it with great tact with regard to the Holy Father […].

« Suddenly, as though it were an inspiration from Heaven, on 31 October 1942, Pius XII carried out the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a veiled mention of Russia:

« … To You, to Your Immaculate Heart, We as Common Father of the great Christian family, as Vicar of Him to whom was given all power in Heaven and on earth, and who has confided to Us the care of all the souls redeemed by His Precious Blood, who populate the whole earth; to You, to Your Immaculate Heart in this tragic hour of human history, we confide, we consecrate, we deliver, not only Holy Church, the Mystical Body of Your Son Jesus, which bleeds and suffers in so many places and in so many ways, in the midst of so much tribulation, but also the whole world, torn by mortal discord, burning with the fires of hate, victim of its own iniquity […].

“To peoples separated by error and discord, and especially to those who profess a singular devotion to You, among whom there was no house that did not honour Your holy icon – today hidden perhaps until better days –, give peace, and lead them again to the one and only flock of Christ under the one true Shepherd […].”

« Was this really the fulfilment of the demand of Heaven that was addressed to Sister Lucy? From a historical and critical viewpoint, we must recognise that it was not. Here is a significant paragraph from Sister Lucy at the beginning of 1943, of which we give an exact translation:

« “The Good God has already shown me His contentment with the act, although incomplete according to His desire, performed by the Holy Father and several bishops. He promises in return to end the war soon. The conversion of Russia is not for now. » (Mary under the symbol of the Heart, Téqui, 1973, pp. 54-55)

Did Don Riggi realise to what extent he was entering into the plans of the Blessed Virgin by asking his question of Pope Benedict XVI? In 1989, « the Berlin wall fell », and we are told that it was John Paul II, this “giant”, who knocked it down. So be it! « There are still so many walls of sin that must fall: hatred, exploitation, wild capitalism », the Salesian father points out. He could not have said it better. The collapse of the U.S.S.R. was not the signal of a “conversion of Russia”, except to the untamed capitalism of the oligarchs, plundering the country for ten years until the arrival of Putin, who brought it to an end through wise politics; a manifestation, on the part of God, of a certain « contentment with the act, although incomplete according to His desire, performed by the Holy Father », John Paul II, on 25 March 1984.

Thus, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has not yet taken place. This priest said it very well to the Pope publicly: « We are still waiting for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. » We know that this triumph will only come about when the Pope consents at last to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The dispensation granted by Benedict XVI to open the cause of beatification of Sister Lucy, without waiting for the expiration of the five-year delay is only a vain attempt to beguile us. Far from « bringing out the message of the Virgin Mary », as the Bishop of Fatima immediately stated, this measure seems destined rather to sweep it under the carpet, if we believe the remarks made by the same bishop declaring that this message « refers to the most dramatic and the most tragic events of the history of the twentieth century ». That is to say, of a time that is past.

This is a profound error: « the most dramatic and the most tragic » events, symbolically represented in the vision of the “Third Secret”, are still to come because the world is awaiting the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

« After the two parts that I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little higher up we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; it flashed and gave out flames that seemed as though they would set the world on fire; but they were extinguished on contact with the brilliant light that Our Lady radiated against them with Her right hand; pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice:

“Penance, Penance, Penance!”

« And we saw 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. “We had the presentiment that it was the Holy Father.”

« 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, and in the same way there died one after another the Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people, men and women of different ranks and positions.

« Beneath the two arms of the Cross, there were two Angels, each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. »

Brother Bruno of Jesus