"It was not the church that imposed Fatima but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church!"

Pope on Fatima: Heaven Opened

Over Portugal - Like a Window of

Hope God Opened When Man

Closed the Door to Him!

  "It was not the Church

that Imposed Fatima,

Rather, it was Fatima that

Imposed itself on the Church!"

Arriving in Lisbon, Pope Benedict declared, "I come as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima, invested from on high with the mission of confirming my brothers and sisters as they advance on their own pilgrimage towards Heaven. Heaven itself was opened over Portugal - like a window of hope that God opens when man closes the door to him heaven.

The Virgin Mary came from heaven to remind us of the truths of the Gospel which for humankind—lacking in love and without hope of salvation—represent a source of hope. - 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!"

On the plane the pope was asked by reporters:

 "If the message of the secret could be

extended, beyond the assassination

attempt against John Paul II to

other sufferings of the popes?

The pope responded; "Here too, beyond this great vision of the suffering Pope, which we can initially circumscribe to John Paul II, other realities are indicated which over time will develop and become clear. Thus it is true that beyond the moment indicated in the vision, (concerning the 3rd secret) one speaks about and sees the necessity of suffering by the Church, which is focused on the person of the Pope.
 

The Pope stands for the Church,


and Therefore the Sufferings


of the Church are Announced.

The Lord told us that the Church will always be suffering in various ways, up to the end of the world.  In terms of what we today can discover in this message, attacks against the Pope or the Church do not only come from outside; rather the sufferings of the Church come from within, from the sins that exist 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

 Does not Come from Enemies

on the outside, but is Born from

the Sin Within the Church.

The Church therefore has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the need for justice. Forgiveness is not a substitute for justice. In one word we have to  re-learn these essentials: conversion, prayer, penance, and the theological virtues.


That is how we respond, and we need to be realistic in expecting that evil will always attack, from within and from outside, but the forces of good are also always present, and finally the Lord is stronger than evil and the Virgin Mary is for us the visible maternal guarantee that the will of God is always the last word in history. Read More

 The Pope will participate in a similiar 

Candelight vigil on Wednesday night

the eve of the Fatima apparitions