Thursday, April 21, 2005 AD
Fatima: the other stuff
In my post on Tuesday on the new Pope, I mentioned an item I had found on the Vatican website recently about The Message of Fatima, issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in April 2000.
The "secret of Fatima" - the prophetic message given, we are told, by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the children to whom she appeared at Fatima in 1917 - has apparently given rise to all sorts of whacked-out conspiracy theories and sedevacantist paranoia, which I'm not planning to go into here. The "third secret", which allegedly predicted the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, was not disclosed until this document's release in 2000.
There are two main aspects to this document that intrigued me. Firstly, the description of how Pope John Paul II read the "third secret" following the attempt on his life and responded by "consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary". Secondly, the radically different tone of (the then) Cardinal Ratzinger's "Theological Commentary" at the end of the document.
Firstly, the Immaculate Heart thing. Here's an excerpt from the Pope's recorded address played at an "Act of Entrustment" in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981 (emphasis in original):
I'm sorry if this offends any Roman Catholic readers, but this is really alarming stuff. Every justification I've ever heard from Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christians for seeking the intercession of the saints is that it is merely analogous to asking our fellow Christians in the Church Militant to pray for us. Guess I was misinformed, as this is something else entirely (again, all emphasis is in the original):
The document then continues to set out the wording of the third secret, which claimed that only such an act of consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary could restore Christianity to Russia (and, by implication, destroy Communism) and bring peace to the world.
What is interesting about this is the strong link made between the achievement for which Pope John Paul II is most revered by non-Roman Catholics - his contribution to the downfall of Communism - and his devotion to Mary that is probably the tendency many of us most deplored (and yes, I'm well aware that, from a Roman Catholic perspective, there is quite a simple explanation for this!).
The document doesn't quite say in so many words that this "Act of Entrustment" is what brought about the end of Communism, but that's the clear implication. The first part of the document concludes:
So, where does Cardinal Ratzinger come in to all this? Well, that's for the next post. Let's just say it's quite a striking contrast.
The "secret of Fatima" - the prophetic message given, we are told, by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the children to whom she appeared at Fatima in 1917 - has apparently given rise to all sorts of whacked-out conspiracy theories and sedevacantist paranoia, which I'm not planning to go into here. The "third secret", which allegedly predicted the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, was not disclosed until this document's release in 2000.
There are two main aspects to this document that intrigued me. Firstly, the description of how Pope John Paul II read the "third secret" following the attempt on his life and responded by "consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary". Secondly, the radically different tone of (the then) Cardinal Ratzinger's "Theological Commentary" at the end of the document.
Firstly, the Immaculate Heart thing. Here's an excerpt from the Pope's recorded address played at an "Act of Entrustment" in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981 (emphasis in original):
Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope.On 25 March 1984, Pope John Paul II followed this with a "prayer" in St Peter's Square that "entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary" (Hello? What's this "all"? Was I at that meeting?).
I'm sorry if this offends any Roman Catholic readers, but this is really alarming stuff. Every justification I've ever heard from Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christians for seeking the intercession of the saints is that it is merely analogous to asking our fellow Christians in the Church Militant to pray for us. Guess I was misinformed, as this is something else entirely (again, all emphasis is in the original):
Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call!Good grief. For some reason, Acts 10:25,26 springs to mind here:
Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son!
Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.
In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.
Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the 'sin of the world', sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!".
When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man."Or, for that matter, how about the Magnificat, which at least we can be sure really does come from Mary herself:
He has shown strength with his arm;"Mother of the Church ... from every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us"? You're talking to the wrong person, dude.
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate...
The document then continues to set out the wording of the third secret, which claimed that only such an act of consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary could restore Christianity to Russia (and, by implication, destroy Communism) and bring peace to the world.
What is interesting about this is the strong link made between the achievement for which Pope John Paul II is most revered by non-Roman Catholics - his contribution to the downfall of Communism - and his devotion to Mary that is probably the tendency many of us most deplored (and yes, I'm well aware that, from a Roman Catholic perspective, there is quite a simple explanation for this!).
The document doesn't quite say in so many words that this "Act of Entrustment" is what brought about the end of Communism, but that's the clear implication. The first part of the document concludes:
The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the third part of the "secret" of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love of God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the Church.This is then followed by various facsimile documents, transcripts of the three "secrets", etc.
So, where does Cardinal Ratzinger come in to all this? Well, that's for the next post. Let's just say it's quite a striking contrast.
