139 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
139 lines
7.4 KiB
Plaintext
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THE CRUCIBLE <<UFONET I>> 416-237-1204 -24Hrs- 12/24/96 *HST* (250/440)
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Note: The following file was originally picked up from the Catholic
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Information Network (CIN #1) in San Francisco (415-387-3251) PCP
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Although I've had this file for sometime, I have just recently
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deemed it appropriate to upload this to ParaNet in light of a
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number of references to Fatima and the "3rd" Secret" in certain
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UFO related material. In particular, I've seen this subject
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referenced in the "Krill" files and in msg threads both on
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ParaNet and in the Compuserve Paranormal Issues Forum. Some feel
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that it is related, at least in part, to some element of the UFO
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phenomenon. Personally, I feel it relates to some "end time"
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event which could lie over the not so distant horizon. Although
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much of the speculation surrounding the 3rd Secret of Fatima
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seems to indicate some kind of earthly catastrophe, its my own
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feeling that it also has an explicit political dimension to it,
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most probably in relation to the Soviet Union.
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From *The Ratzinger Report*1, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger with Vittorio
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Messori (Ignatius Press 1985):
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Fatima and environs
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One of the four sections of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
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Faith (the so-called disciplinary section) is entrusted with the task
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of judging Marian apparitions.
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I ask: "Cardinal Ratzinger, have you read the so-called 'third secret
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of Fatima', which Sister Lucia, the only survivor of the group of
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those who beheld the apparition, forwarded to Pope John XXIII, and
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which the Pope, after he had examined it, passed on to your
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predecessor, Cardinal Ottaviani, ordering him to deposit it in the
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archives of the Holy Office?"
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The reply is immediate and dry: "Yes, I have read it."
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Undenied versions are circulating in the world, I continue, which
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describe the contents of that "secret" as disquieting, apocalyptic, as
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warning of terrible sufferings. John Paul II himself, in his personal
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visit to Germany, seemed to confirm (albeit with prudent
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circumlocutions, privately, to a select group) the undeniably
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disconcerting contents of that text. Before him, Paul VI, during his
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pilgrimage to Fatima, also seems to have alluded to the "apocalyptic"
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themes of the "secret". Why was it never decided to make it public,
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if only to counter rash speculations?
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"If this decision has not yet been made", he answers, "it is not
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because the Popes want to hide something terrible."
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Then there is "something terrible" in Sister Lucia's manuscript, I
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insist?
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"If that were so", he replies, avoiding going further, "that after all
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would only confirm the part of the message of Fatima already known. A
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stern warning has been launched from that place that is directed
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against the prevailing frivolity, a summons to the seriousness of
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life, of history, to the perils that threaten humanity. It is that
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which Jesus himself recalls very frequently: '... Unless you repent
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you will all perish...' (Lk 13:3). Conversion--and Fatima fully
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recalls it to mind--is a constant demand of Christian life. We should
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already know that from the whole of sacred Scripture."
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So there will be no publication, at least for now?
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"The Holy Father deems that it would add nothing to what a Christian
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must know from Revelation and also from the Marian apparitions
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approved by the Church in their known contents, which only reconfirmed
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the urgency of penance, conversion, forgiveness, fasting. To publish
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the 'third secret' would mean exposing the Church to the danger of
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sensationalism, exploitation of the content."
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Perhaps also political implications, I venture, since it seems that
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here, also, as in the two other "secrets", Russia is mentioned?
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At this point, however, the Cardinal declares that he is not in a
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position to go further into the matter and firmly refuses to discuss
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other particulars. On the other hand, at the time of our interview,
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the Pope proceeded to reconsecrate the world (with a particular
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mention of Eastern Europe) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, precisely
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in accordance with the exhortation of the Virgin of Fatima, and the
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same John Paul II, wounded by his would-be assassin, on May 13--
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anniversary of the first apparition in the Portuguese locality--went
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to Fatima in order to thank Mary, "whose hand (he said) had
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miraculously guided the bullet", and seemed to refer to the
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forewarnings that had been transmitted through a group of children to
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humanity and that seemed to refer also to the person of the Pontiff.
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On the same theme, it is well known that for years, now, a village in
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Yugoslavia, Medjugorje, is at the center of world attention because of
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reported "apparitions" which--whether true or not--have already drawn
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millions of pilgrims. But they have also provoked deplorable
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conflicts between the Franciscans who govern the parish and the bishop
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of the local diocese. Is a clarifying statement of the Congregation
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for the Doctrine of the Faith, the highest court in this matter, to be
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expected, with, of course, the approval of the Pope, which is
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indispensable for each one of its documents?
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He replies: "In this area, more than ever, patience is the
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fundamental principle of the policy of our Congregation. No
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apparition is indispensable to the faith; Revelation terminated with
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Jesus Christ. He himself is the Revelation. But we certainly cannot
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prevent God from speaking to our time through simple persons and also
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through extraordinary signs that point to the insufficiency of the
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cultures stamped by rationalism and positivism that dominate us. The
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apparitions that the Church has officially approved--especially
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Lourdes and Fatima--have their precise place in the development of the
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life of the Church in the last century. They show, among other
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things, that Revelation--still unique, concluded and therefore
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unsurpassable--is not yet a dead thing but something alive and vital.
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Moreover--prescinding Medjugorje, on which I cannot express a judgment
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since the case is still being examined by the Congregation--one of the
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signs of our times is that the announcements of 'Marian apparitions'
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are multiplying all over the world. For example, reports are arriving
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from Africa and from other continents at the section of the
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Congregation that is competent to deal with such reports."
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But, I ask, besides the traditional element of patience and prudence,
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on what criteria does the Congregation base itself for a judgment, in
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the face of the multiplication of these facts?
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"One of our criteria", he says, "is to separate the aspect of the true
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or presumed 'supernaturality' of the apparition from that of its
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spiritual fruits. The pilgrimages of ancient Christianity were often
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concentrated on places with respect to which our modern critical
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spirit would be horrified as to the 'scientific truth' of the
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tradition bound up with them. This does not detract from the fact
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that those pilgrimages were fruitful, beneficial, rich in blessings
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and important for the life of the Christian people. The problem is
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not so much that of modern hypercriticism (which ends up later,
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moreover, in a form of new credulity), but it is that of the
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evaluation of the vitality and of the orthodoxy of the religious life
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that is developing around these places."
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