B16 In Portugal-Day 4, Related Links

Pope Benedict XVI waves from the door of a plane at the Sa Carneiro Airport, in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 14, 2010, after celebrating a mass closing his four-day visit to Portugal. (Daylife-Reuters, AP & Getty Images)




















Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate a mass at the Aliados Avenue in Porto on May 14, 2010, on the last day of his official visit to Portugal. Pope Benedict XVI on May 14 holds the last outdoor mass of his landmark tour to Portugal.(Daylife Photos)







St. Matthias:

According to Acts 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (about 120 of Jesus’ followers). Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation: “May another take his office.”

“Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22).

They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven.

Matthias is not mentioned by name anywhere else in the New Testament.

Comment:

What was the holiness of Matthias? Obviously he was suited for apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from his baptism to his ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. Must we not remind ourselves that the fundamental holiness of Matthias was his receiving gladly the relationship with the Father offered him by Jesus and completed by the Holy Spirit?

If the apostles are the foundations of our faith by their witness, they must also be reminders, if only implicitly, that holiness is entirely a matter of God’s giving, and it is offered to all, in the everyday circumstances of life. We receive, and even for this God supplies the power of freedom.

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Jesus speaks of the apostles’ function of being judges, that is, rulers. He said, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).

Related Links:

Following Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope Benedict XVI processed with the Exposed Blessed Sacrament into the crowd of pilgrims, imparting a blessing and praying for graces of healing, consolation and mercy for the faithful

The pope said abortion and efforts to promote same-sex marriage were "insidious and dangerous threats to the common good," and he encouraged pastoral workers in Portugal to keep up their efforts to protect the unborn and the traditional family

"The Governorate of Vatican City State and Vodafone Italia today signed an agreement for the supply of mobile telephone services. The agreement makes provision for around 2000 users."

After the Ascension of Jesus, St. Peter proposed to the assembled faithful that they choose a disciple of Christ to fill the place of the traitor Judas in the first missionary band. Lots were drawn, with the result in favor of Matthias

As Cyprus prepares for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI on June 4-6, the country’s ambassador to the Holy See, George Poulides, speaks to Terrasanta.net, he believes the Pope’s mere presence will act as a “vigorous protest” against the Turkish occupation of the north of the country



Fr. Federico Lombardi, the spokesman for the Vatican, said it was not a surprise that hundreds of thousands of people were in Fatima for Pope Benedict's Mass at Fatima yesterday

At 1.30 p.m. today, the Pope arrived at the international airport of the city of Porto for the departure ceremony at the end of his apostolic trip to Portugal. Following a greeting by Anibal Cavaco Silva, president of the Republic of Portugal, the Holy Father pronounced his address

Celebrating Mass in Porto, where he had arrived from Fatima early this morning, Pope Benedict called the faithful to witness the Resurrection and be missionaries of Christ

The Holy Father spent the final day of his Apostolic Visit to Portugal in the nation’s “second city” of Porto where the main event of the day was Mass in the main square. Upon his departure from the city this afternoon he thanked the country for its hospitality and said he hopes to see a renewal of the Church

Two Moroccan students who attended a university in the central Italian city of Perugia were expelled from the country last month after it was discovered that they were conspiring to kill Pope Benedict. One of them allegedly said he wished to “earn a place in Paradise.”

Farewell remarks by the Holy Father

If you missed this morning’s live coverage of the Pope’s final Mass and farewell ceremony, it will air once again on Salt + Light Television, Friday evening, May 14th, at 8pm ET/5pm PT

Here is a Vatican translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered today during a public Mass in Porto's Gran Plaza de la Avenida dos Aliados, which is in front of the municipal palace, with the participation of 120,000 faithful

Inquisition's juridical innovations included "the defense attorney, testimony under oath, appeals to a higher court, the adoption of the principle 'unus testis nullus testis,'" in which uncorroborated testimony is inadmissible, as well as reducing life sentences to a few years of incarceration and offering a public defender for the poor

Answering the call from the Italian Bishops' Conference-promoted National Consultancy of Lay Aggregations (CNAL), thousands of people are planning on attending the Regina Coeli prayer in St. Peter's Square on May 16

Benedict and his admirers face a choice straight out of Goethe’s Faust: In order to salvage Benedict’s reputation on the sexual abuse crisis, they’re almost compelled to tarnish that of Pope John Paul II

Our Lady of Fatima, B16 Day 3 Portugal

Our Lady of Fatima:

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. (See February 20 entry for Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto). Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia, who later became a Carmelite nun, revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See's Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a 'bishop in white' who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church's worldwide calendar in 2002. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Comment:

The message of Fatima is simple: Pray. Unfortunately, some people—not Sister Lucia—have distorted these revelations, making them into an apocalyptic event for which they are now the only reliable interpreters. They have, for example, claimed that Mary's request that the world be consecrated to her has been ignored.

Sister Lucia has agreed that Pope John Paul II's public consecration in St. Peter's Square on March 25, 1984, fulfilled Mary's request. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prepared a June 26, 2000, document explaining the “third secret” (available at www.vatican.va).

Mary is perfectly honored when people generously imitate her response “Let it be done to me as you say” (Luke 1:38). Mary can never be seen as a rival to Jesus or to the Church's teaching authority, as exercised by the college of bishops united with the Bishop of Rome.

Quote:

“Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion.

This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel” (The Message of Fatima, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 2000).

Third Secret-Cardinal Angelo Sodano:

This morning at the end of Mass at the Shrine of Fatima, Portugal, during which the Pope beatified the shepherd children Jacinta and Francisco, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano read out, in Portuguese, a text concerning the third secret of Fatima. The text is given in full below:

"At the conclusion of this solemn celebration, I feel bound to offer to our beloved Holy Father John Paul II, on behalf of all present, heartfelt good wishes for his approaching eightieth birthday and to thank him for his significant pastoral ministry for the good of all God's Holy Church.

"On the solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two 'little shepherds'. Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these years of his papacy. This protection seems also to be linked to the so-called 'third part' of the secret of Fatima.

"That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in Sacred Scripture, which do not describe with photographic clarity the details of future events, but rather synthesize and condense against a unified background events spread out over time in a succession and a duration which are not specified. As a result, the text must be interpreted in a symbolic key.

"The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheist systems against the Church and Christians, and it describes the immense suffering endured by the witnesses to the faith in the last century of the second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes of the twentieth century.

"According to the interpretation of the 'little shepherds,' which was also recently confirmed by Sister Lucia, the 'bishop clothed in white' who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great effort towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (bishops, priests, men and women religious and many lay persons), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire.

"After the assassination attempt of May 13 1981, it appeared evident to His Holiness that it was 'a motherly hand which guided the bullet's path,' enabling the 'dying Pope' to halt 'at the threshold of death.' On the occasion of a visit to Rome by the then bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to give him the bullet which had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might be kept in the Shrine. At the behest of the bishop, the bullet was later set in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

"The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern Europe, to the fall of the Communist regime which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heartfelt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the Church and against Christians, together with the burden of suffering which they involve, tragically continue.

Even if the events to which the third part of the Secret of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady's call to conversion and penance, issued at the beginning of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent today. 'The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times — the signs of our time — with special insight... The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness.'

"In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the secret, after the preparation of an appropriate commentary.

"Let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her protection. To her maternal intercession let us entrust the Church of the Third Millennium.

"'Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix!.'

"Intercede pro Ecclesia Dei! Intercede pro Sancto Patre Iohanne Paolo II! Amen'."

Related Links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated under this title following apparitions to three shepherd children — Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco — in Portugal in 1917. The message of Fatima includes a call to conversion of heart, repentance from sin and a dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially through praying the Rosary

Catholic Fire post entry

Our Lady of Fatima special link page

World Apostolate of Fatima

Theotokos Catholic books

The message of Fatima

At 10 a.m. today, liturgical memory of Our Lady of Fatima and the tenth anniversary of the beatification of the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta, the Pope celebrated the Eucharist on the esplanade of the shrine of Fatima in the presence of 500,000 people



At Mass this morning in the Fatima shrine's square, Pope Benedict said that it would be "mistaken" to consider the prophetic mission of the apparitions at Fatima complete. It continues to be relevant in that it continually invites men and women of good faith “to save the city of man,” he told the 500,000 people gathered for the feast of Our Lady of Fatima

An estimated 500,000 pilgrims were present this morning for Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. It was a sunny and warm morning there, despite the forecast of possible rain. 163 different pilgrim groups from 33 different countries were confirmed as participants for today’s Mass

In the wake of the sexual abuse crisis, the Church in Italy is expecting “tens of thousands” of faithful to gather in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday in a show of support and solidarity with the Holy Father, and for the purification of the Church

At Mass on Wednesday evening in Fatima, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone spoke about the importance of being like children, humble and simple in our approach to the faith, in order to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Fatima, he said, reminds us that this kingdom is at hand

Following the Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima this morning, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims in seven different languages and delivered a special message of encouragement and hope to all who are ill. In offering their suffering to Jesus, he called them to find “interior peace and even spiritual joy.”

In an audience with social workers in Fatima on Thursday afternoon, the Holy Father urged them to apply the wisdom of the Church's teachings to their causes. Among those initiatives he praised for helping build a "civilization of love" were those aimed at combating abortion—legalized in 2007—and the expected approval of same-sex "marriage."

Pope In Portugal-Running Coverage

Pope Benedict XVI (L) greets the crowd at an open-air mass in the Terreiro do Paso in Lisbon on May 11, 2010. Tens of thousands of families, teenagers and the elderly gathered in the Portuguese capital to greet the 83-year-old pontiff. (Daylife Images)









Pope Benedict XVI listens to Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi inside a plane en route to Portugal May 11, 2010. Pope Benedict said on Tuesday during his flight to Portugal the crisis of sexual abuse of children by priests should make the Church acknowledge the "terrifying" truth that its greatest threat comes not from outside enemies but from "sin within the Church". The Pope is visiting the country for a four-day pastoral visit. (Daylife Photos)


The Pope gave an opening speech thanking President Silva:

Mr President,

Distinguished Authorities,

Dear Brother Bishops,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only now has it been possible for me to accept the kind invitations of the President and my Brother Bishops to visit this beloved and ancient Nation, which this year is celebrating the centenary of the proclamation of the Republic. As I set foot on Portuguese soil for the first time since Divine Providence called me to the See of Peter, I feel greatly honoured and I am moved to gratitude by the respectful and hospitable presence of all of you.

I thank you, Mr President, for your kind words of welcome, giving voice to the sentiments and the hopes of the beloved Portuguese people. To all, whatever their faith or religion, I extend a greeting in friendship, especially to those who were unable to be here to meet me. I come as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima, having received from on high the mission to strengthen my brothers as they advance along their pilgrim journey to heaven.

Since the earliest days of their nationhood, the Portuguese people have looked to the Successor of Peter for recognition of their existence as a Nation; in due course, one of my predecessors was to honour Portugal, in the person of its King, with the title “most faithful” (cf. Pius II, Bull Dum Tuam, 25 January 1460), for long and distinguished service to the cause of the Gospel.

As for the event that took place 93 years ago, when heaven itself was opened over Portugal – like a window of hope that God opens when man closes the door to him – in order to refashion, within the human family, the bonds of fraternal solidarity based on the mutual recognition of the one Father, this was a loving design from God; it does not depend on the Pope, nor on any other ecclesial authority: “It was not the Church that imposed Fatima”, as Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira of blessed memory used to say, “but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church.”

The Virgin Mary came from heaven to remind us of Gospel truths that constitute for humanity – so lacking in love and without hope for salvation – the source of hope. To be sure, this hope has as its primary and radical dimension not the horizontal relation, but the vertical and transcendental one.

The relationship with God is constitutive of the human being, who was created and ordered towards God; he seeks truth by means of his cognitive processes, he tends towards the good in the sphere of volition, and he is attracted by beauty in the aesthetic dimension. Consciousness is Christian to the degree to which it opens itself to the fullness of life and wisdom that we find in Jesus Christ.

The visit that I am now beginning under the sign of hope is intended as a proposal of wisdom and mission.

From a wise vision of life and of the world, the just ordering of society follows. Situated within history, the Church is open to cooperating with anyone who does not marginalize or reduce to the private sphere the essential consideration of the human meaning of life. The point at issue is not an ethical confrontation between a secular and a religious system, so much as a question about the meaning that we give to our freedom.

What matters is the value attributed to the problem of meaning and its implication in public life. By separating Church and State, the Republican revolution which took place 100 years ago in Portugal, opened up a new area of freedom for the Church, to which the two concordats of 1940 and 2004 would give shape, in cultural settings and ecclesial perspectives profoundly marked by rapid change. For the most part, the sufferings caused by these transformations have been faced with courage.

Living amid a plurality of value systems and ethical outlooks requires a journey to the core of one’s being and to the nucleus of Christianity so as to reinforce the quality of one’s witness to the point of sanctity, and to find mission paths that lead even to the radical choice of martyrdom.

Dear Portuguese brothers and sisters, my friends, I thank you once more for your cordial welcome. May God bless those who are here and all the inhabitants of this noble and beloved Nation, which I entrust to Our Lady of Fatima, the sublime image of God’s love embracing all as children.

Papal response regarding sexual abuse scandal on plane:

In terms of what we today can discover in this message, attacks against the pope or the church don’t come just from outside the church. The suffering of the church also comes from within the church, because sin exists in the church. This too has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way.

The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin within the church. The church thus has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. Forgiveness does not exclude justice. We have to re-learn the essentials: conversion, prayer, penance, and the theological virtues.

Related Links:

Here is a Vatican translation of the brief greeting Benedict XVI delivered today to the youth who gathered at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon to welcome the Pope to Portugal, and receive his apostolic blessing

In as clear an example of a pope changing the Vatican’s public tone as one is ever likely to see, Benedict pointedly insisted that the real “persecution” facing him personally, and Catholicism generally, comes not from external attacks but from the reality of sin within the church

Pope Benedict XVI said the priestly sex abuse scandal is a “terrifying” crisis that comes from inside the church — not from an outside attack — and requires purification and penance to overcome

More than 40 professors and intellectuals signed a statement supporting Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts to deal with the sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church and decrying “inaccurate and unjust” media reports

"Bear witness to all of the joy that his strong yet gentle presence evokes, starting with your contemporaries. Tell them that it is beautiful to be a friend of Jesus and that it is well worth following him." Pope Benedict XVI, Lisbon Mass

"The resurrection of Christ assures us that no adverse power will ever be able to destroy the Church. Therefore our faith is well-founded, but this faith needs to come alive in each one of us. A vast effort at every level is required if every Christian is to be transformed into a witness capable of rendering account to all and at all times of the hope that inspires him." B16 Homily

Vatican translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered today during a public Mass in Lisbon's Commerce Square, also known as Palace Square

Pope Benedict celebrated the first Mass of his Apostolic Visit to Portugal this evening in Lisbon’s Terreiro do Paço. The beautiful and sacred celebration of Mass was set against the picturesque backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean

Full transcript of Pope Benedict XVI’s briefing with journalists on the papal plane to Portugal

Messages to leaders of Italy, France and Spain

Pope's First Homily in Portugal: 'No Adverse Power Will Destroy the Church'

Interview With Portuguese Ambassador to Holy See

On Tuesday evening during the papal visit to Portugal, young people from numerous parishes and ecclesial movements showed up outside the apostolic nunciature and began singing to Pope Benedict. After listening to their songs and cheers, he thanked them for “the kindness you have shown this humble Vicar on earth.”

Benedetto XVI Visits Fatima In May

AB Sheen, Fatima & Russia's Conversion

Video H/T: The American Catholic

The Great Catholic Apologist, Patrick Madrid, reminds us of Our Lady's admonition regarding Russia:

“I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.

In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”

He sees the following as a clear sign of this coming to pass.

Remembering Fatima-Victory over Evil

The 13th Day

Via Catholic Fire:

A film based on the Marian apparitions to three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May. The Miracle of the Sun occurred on the final day of the Blessed Virgin Mary's appearance in Fatima.The 13th Day premiered for the film industry on May 13th 2009, the opening day of the Marche du Film which runs alongside the world renowned Film Festival in Cannes.

The producers of the film are trying for a release date in Fall of this year (2009 A.D.) to coincide with the October 13th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun.

For more information and to learn how you can promote this film, click here.

More from Catholic Fire:

Today in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, the sixth apparition at Fatima -- the marvelous miracle of the sun --took place in the sky before 70,000 witnesses.

On October 13, 1917, the three children Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, went to the field called the Cova da Iria as Our Lady had instructed. There was a huge crowd gathered even though it was pouring rain. They were there to see the miracle. They had come from all over Portugal. The press was covering this story and it appeared in the European papers.

Our Lady spoke "I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes. Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.

"Then, opening her hands, she made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself. At this time the sun began to spin in the sky and started to plunge towards the earth. The people began to scream they were terrified. The sun stopped and returned to its place in the sky.

Everyone had been soaked from the rain but after the miracle their clothes were completely dry as was the ground. This "miracle of the sun" was seen from many miles away.

"Mary delivered her final message: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners.”

After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady clothed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph with the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.

When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady, it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner that St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Mt. Carmel".

This account of the apparitions was taken from Lucia's memoirs.

Benedetto XVI Traveling to Portugal

Marian Muslim Connection

Archbishop Fulton Sheen's 1952 analysis of Muslims and the Mother of our Lord:

XAVERIAN MISSIONS
of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers
Vol. 1, No. 2
May, 1952

There are 374 million Moslems in the world. These followers of Mohammed believe in God, but they do not believe in Christ as the Son of God. To them, Our Lord was only a prophet announcing Mohammed, as we believe Isaiah was only a prophet announcing Our Lord. For a Moslem to become a Christian is to him like a Christian becoming a Jew. For that reason, conversion of the Moslems is very slow and extremely difficult.

We have a theory about their conversion, and that is that the Revelations of Our Lady at Fatima portends the conversion of the Moslems. Here is the evidence.

1) The Moslems have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. As the Koran, which is the Bible of the Moslems, puts it: " O, Mary, Thou hast been chosen and purified and elected above all women of the world." They believe both in her Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth. She is the real Lady SAYYIDH of Paradise. Iranian women love to have a statue of her in their homes.

2) Mohammed had a daughter, Fatima, whom he intensely loved. After her death, Mohammed wrote these lines to her: "You will be the most blessed lady SAYYIDH of all women in Paradise, after Mary."

I believe the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a pledge and sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son. This explains why she chose the town of Fatima.

Supporting evidence for this view is the historical fact that the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. When they were finally driven out, the last chief in the locality where the appearance of Our Lady took place had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima.

A Catholic boy fell in love with her, and she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but embraced the Faith and became a Catholic.

Her young husband changed the name of the town where he married this last Moslem lady in Portugal, to Fatima. Thus, the very place where Our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917 has an historical connection with Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.

A final evidence of the relation of Fatima to the Moslems is the enthusiastic reception which the Moslems, in Africa and India and elsewhere, gave to the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Moslems attended church services in honor of Our Lady of Fatima; they allowed religious processions and even prayers before mosques. In Mozambique, the Moslems (who had been unconvertible) began to be Christian as soon as the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima was erected.

Missionaries in the future will more and more see that their apostolate among the Moslems will be successful in the measure that they give them Our Lady of Fatima.

Mary is the advent of Christ. She brings Christ to people before Christ is born, as she brought the unborn Christ to Elizabeth.

May our missionaries in the Moslem countries more and more see that if they can increase the Moslem devotion to Mary, then she will bring them to her Divine Son. We cannot bring them to Christ, but she can. Through Mary to Jesus...this is the key that can open Moslems' eyes to the fullness of the revelation of God in whom they already believe.

Hat Tip: Orbis Catholicvs

For more information click here.

Fatima 1917

Hat Tip: Da Mihi Animas

EWTN entry about Our Lady of Fatima can be found here.

Pope Calls for Palestinian "Homeland"

UPDATE 1:

Elder of Ziyon has a great post up here, dovetailing what I wrote about today and yesterday, the selective parsing of Benedict XVI's rhetoric and remarks.

"Mr President, the Holy See supports the right of your people to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land of your forefathers, secure and at peace with its neighbors, within internationally recognized borders.

"Benedict said he hoped both Palestine and Israel would become more secure places so that Palestinians can have more freedom in moving around the region. While he acknowledged the suffering of the Palestinian people, he called on them not to resort to violence."

I would note the utilization of that term "homeland", as opposed to a "state". Granted these are nuances, however, with Pope Benedict XVI every word he utters has rhyme and deep purpose, particularly in the present mindfield he finds Himself in.

He used similar rhetoric upon His arrival at the Tel Aviv Airport, although today at the Aida Refugee Camp He did allude to parameters of a "state" which is being pushed by the PA.

I would note that even the Netanyahu government believes in a quasi-"state"/territory type solution. Granted not within the framework of what the Obama administration, the UN, or the PA desire but some sort of working agreement, nevertheless.

Source: Vatican You Tube








Source: Rome Reports

Related Links:

Pope supports the right of the Palestinian people to have a “sovereign homeland”

Benedict in Israel has full coverage of Day 6

Opinionated Catholic has the Pope going to Palestine

Pope visits Shrine of the Last Supper

Pope's remarks leaving Bethleham

Pope's remarks at the Aida Refugee Center

Taxing issues between the Holy See and Israel

Catholic Fire regarding Our Lady of Fatima today

EWTN's entry in reference to Our Lady of Fatima

The Mysteries revealed by Fatima

1981 Flashback: Pope John Paul II shot by Muslim

Our Lady of Fatima

Hat Tip: A Catholic View

American Catholic Entry:

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. (See February 20 entry for Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto). Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia, who later became a Carmelite nun, revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell.

Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See's Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a 'bishop in white' who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church's worldwide calendar in 2002. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Comment:

The message of Fatima is simple: Pray. Unfortunately, some people—not Sister Lucia—have distorted these revelations, making them into an apocalyptic event for which they are now the only reliable interpreters. They have, for example, claimed that Mary's request that the world be consecrated to her has been ignored. Sister Lucia has agreed that Pope John Paul II's public consecration in St. Peter's Square on March 25, 1984, fulfilled Mary's request. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prepared a June 26, 2000, document explaining the “third secret” (available at www.vatican.va).

Mary is perfectly honored when people generously imitate her response “Let it be done to me as you say” (Luke 1:38). Mary can never be seen as a rival to Jesus or to the Church's teaching authority, as exercised by the college of bishops united with the bishop of Rome.

Quote:

“Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel” (The Message of Fatima, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 2000).

Our Lady of Fatima

Today is the 91st anniversary of the day that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Lucia dos Santos & her two siblings at Fatima, Portugal.
www.santuario-fatima.pt/portal

Also, it is the 27th anniversary of the attempted assassination of John Paul II by a lackey of the despicable communist regime in Moscow.

As is now well known, John Paul the Great survived and with Ronald Reagan & Margaret Thatcher led the Western world to victory over the Evil Empire.