November 2005 Print

FATIMA Pilgrimage of Reparation 2005

I think the most important question to ask, regarding Fatima itself, is this: What significance does Fatima have for botht he world and Church in 2005?

I think Fatima was one of the two great lights of God for the poor 20th century, the other one being Pascendi. Fatima was a great illumination for the Church and for politics as well. I say this because of the reference to Russia spreading her errors throughout the world, which is a religious problem with very grave political consequences. The consequences arrived in spades because the religious message was not sufficiently heeded. Recall that the Mother of God complained to Sr. Lucia at some point that people were not paying attention to her message. Further, I think it is accurate to say that without the reaction of the Portuguese people from 1917 on, the hierarchy would never have approved anything, which they did in 1930. I say this only because the hierarchy is generally so anti-apparition. Nevertheless, it was a tremendous orientation going down to and including the Third Secret, which was not revealed in 1960 and has not been revealed since. Almost certainly the content  involves the loss of the Faith and the apostasy we are witnessing today. If it had been revealed in 1960 as the Mother of God wished, it would have been a tremendous monkey wrench thrown in the way of Vatican II and this is precisely the reason why it was hidden, has been hidden ever since, and is still being hidden. When Pope Benedict XVI was still Cardinal Ratzinger, a few years ago, he went to speak to an Austrian bishop with whom he is friends. Cardinal Ratzinger told this bishop there were two things on his conscience–Fatima and Archbishop Lefebvre. He said in the case of Fatima, his hand was forced. (Although this is an aside, with regards to Archbishop Lefebvre, Cardinal Ratzinger simply stated that he failed.) Nevertheless, his comment about Fatima means that the Cardinal knew he was taking part in a campaign of deceit on the part of Rome to smother the message of Fatima, down to and including recent attempts on the part of Roman authorities to smother Fatima. This is because what the Mother of God said runs directly contrary to the craziness and crisis in the Church, and if many people followed what the Mother of God did say at Fatima, there would be no crisis in the Church.

Your Excellency, Rome has claimed repeatedly that the consecration to Russia has been completed. Is this true?

No.

Didn't Pope John Paul II do it on three separate occasions though?

He never did it exactly in the manner in which the Mother of God requested. She asked in 1929 that Russia be consecrated–not the world–by the Holy Father in union with the bishops of the world. This has never happened. The Holy Father, even Pius XII, has made one or two efforts in that direction, and each occasion, the effort has been blessed with some fruits. However, it has never been done as the Mother of God wished, thus it has not achieved its effect. The whole world, though, is waiting for this consecration to take place, and when it takes place, this wretched situation we have will begin to turn around. Since the Son of God said, essentially, "Russia must be consecrated to the Heart of My Mother," if Our Lord allowed anything else to sort out this crisis, He would be making a liar out of His Mother, which is not possible. Everything then depends upon this consecration. Recall further that Our Lord said, around the early 1930's, that the consecration would be done, but it would be late. It appears similar to the situation in France in the 18th century with the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which would have prevented the French Revolution. Louis XVI performed it in jail, before he got his head cut off, but it was too late. Similarly this time, eventually the Pope is going to do it, whether it is Benedict XVI or his successor. It will be done, but it is already very late. Globalism is running rampant and globalism is simply mutated communism; it is the same revolution.

Traditional Catholics are hoping, praying, and waiting for the day when the Church will be restored. Is the consecration to Russia the answer?

Yes. If there is one simple answer, that is it. Without that, God would be making His Mother a liar. With that, at last men will be doing the simple thing that God put in their hands in 1929 to head off this crazy, insane modern world. Until men do it, the sick modern world will continue to go its crazy way.

Can you say a few words about what happened in Fatima in 2004 that prompted Bishop Fellay to ask for this Pilgrimage of Reparation?

Broadly speaking, the Rector of the Shrine at Fatima organized and presided over an inter-religious service in the sanctuary of Fatima. During this, the Hindus celebrated whatever it is they celebrate in the little chapel of the apparitions, that is, the very site where the Mother of God appeared to the three children six times. On that very spot, the Rector of this Catholic sanctuary invited the Hindus to perform their service. Also, you will notice that there is a circular bunker blocking the entrance to the esplanade of the church. The basilica used to have a magnificent esplanade in front of it with columns on each side, between which the pilgrims used to visit. This is now blocked off because of the construction of a new basilica. This new basilica is certainly not Catholic in style or intent; it is meant to be inter-religious and ecumenical. In other words, Catholicism is not the one, unique, exclusive truth anymore. It is merely one truth amongst many, which is obviously completely false. You thus have a gigantic monument and a very important ceremony which both deny and desecrate truth. This is reason enough to make some gesture of defense in honor of the truth.

Can you say a few words about the evil of ecumenism? Many people think ecumenism is a good thing, e.g., to reach out to other religions. Can you highlight the proper perspective of this?

Well, there is a true ecumenism and a false ecumenism. True ecumenism is precisely "Catholic outreach" to all souls in order to attempt to reach them with the truth they need to save their souls. As Ruben Mondalgo used to say, "Get to the lost at any cost." Rather, "get to the lost with the truth at any cost." False ecumenism, on the other hand, means reaching out to people, regardless of the truth which, in effect, puts man in front of God. It is to say that our fellow human beings are more important than the truth of God. Of course, Our Lord died on the Cross for the sake of the truth, yet very few people stood with Him. It was the truth of His Father despite what anything or anybody would say or do. In John 6, at the synagogue of Capharnaum, when Our Lord preaches the Eucharist, He realized it would look like cannibalism, and sure enough, practically all of His disciples are scandalized and walk out. Instead of saying "Okay, forget it, I take it back; come back, we will all be friendly and have a great party," He says to His apostles, "Will you also leave me?" Then St. Peter says, "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." The apostles don't abandon Him, but a mass of people do. Our Lord put the truth in front of a mass of people, which is true ecumenism. How can you bring people to God if you abandon God? If you start by abandoning God, how can you bring people to God? If you don't bring people to God, what is religion about? It becomes just human beings getting together, which is essentially what false ecumenism does. So the difference between true and false ecumenism is like night and day.

Obviously, the ceremony which was allowed to take place in the sanctuary of Fatima was very grave, but there have been many abominations perpetrated by the Conciliar Church in the name of ecumenism. Why would the Society pick this specific event and call for a pilgrimage to Fatima itself?

Well, the Society could be calling for pilgrimages and ceremonies of reparation all the time. However, let's suppose Fatima is one of the great lights that God gave to the 20th century, even without the Third Secret revealed. Fatima was designed as God's answer to the 20th century. If the Church is gouging out the eyes of Fatima, one of the two great lights of the 20th century is being deliberately extinguished, supposing the other light is indeed Pascendi. So Fatima has a special importance, and the desecration of Fatima therefore has a special gravity. This is why the Society decided to make some serious gesture of reparation, humble though it may be, in honor of the truth and the Mother of God.

How is it that the Church has fallen so far in just 40 years? How is this possible?

Well, the termites were in the woodwork already, so although the wooden building was standing, all of the pillars were worm-eaten and thus one push caused the entire structure to collapse. The woodwork is Catholic doctrine and truth and the worms are subjectivism, modernism, liberalism, and Protestantism, which are all literally one can of worms. And this is what has eaten into the fabric of people's minds today. If you get into a car today for a drive, everything is human, everything is man-made, everything is man-determined, and everything is rushed. It is against the tranquility of God, thinking, and recollection. Every freeway is against tranquility, thought, reflection, peace of body and mind, and is to the glory of man and his technology to the exclusion of God. The freeway is merely an example, but the entire fabric of people's lives is anti-God, and if people live an anti-God fabric of life 24/7, they're going to lose God and the sense of God. The appearances will be kept for a time until one day, they will wake up and realize, "This doesn't mean anything to me. I'm going to forget it and get rid of it and join the party." This is what happened at Vatican II and what affects modern man still.

Our Lady asked for reparation and we have all come to Fatima to do so. How is reparation being done this weekend?

Firstly, it is a long journey. Secondly, there are a lot of ceremonies which can last even three and a half hours in the blazing sunshine. Thirdly, a number of people, especially Germans, took part in a night vigil. Then there is the Way of the Cross and the processions, which are all gestures that are both pious and penitential. Every pilgrim does not necessarily do heavy penance, but almost all of them will do penance. Remember also that the Mother of God told us that the reparation Our Lord asked for was not hair shirts and starving, but the five First Saturdays. This is because an act of spiritual reparation is greater than an act of bodily reparation. This is not to despise acts of bodily reparation, i.e., penance, which are extremely useful in their place. The simple fact of taking part in this pilgrimage is definitely an act of spiritual reparation for the honor of the Mother of God.

This is my first time at Fatima, as it is for most of the seminarians. We just recently came from Lourdes, and one of the most noticeable things about both places is the massive amount of Catholics who come from all over the world to these two locations. The Faith seems to be alive and well in such places, such as the daily candlelight processions. What are we to think of this?

What we have is especially popular piety surviving the worst that the intellectuals could do. The intellectuals are gone, but the fish rots from the head, so while the head is rotten, parts of the rest of the fish can still be healthy. If the head, however, continues to put out nothing but rot, eventually in 10 or 20 years' time, perhaps you will find these candlelight processions poorly attended. It is definitely true that at the moment there is still some faith amongst Catholics. One cannot say that within the official Church there is no faith left. It is simply not true. But if one considers the Faith in that structure, which is held, operated, led, and guided by intellectuals, usually prelates and clerics who are more and more modernist, the outlook is grim for simple people. When a tree is dying, the first thing that dies is the core, but the leaves are still fine. The longer the core goes on rotting, however, eventually even the leaves at the end of the branches give way. So what you see at places like Lourdes and Fatima are the branches which are still bearing some leaf, but if the core continues to rot, it is only a matter of time until even the branches with leaves disappear.

In 2004, the Society released a dossier entitled From Ecumenism to Silent Apostasy. Is the Society trying to send a message to Rome as well as make a pilgrimage of reparation, and is there any anticipated reaction from the hierarchy?

Firstly, the Society is numerically insignificant, just as Our Lord in His lifetime was numerically insignificant. The Sadducees and Pharisees nevertheless watched what Our Lord was doing very carefully since they knew what He represented, namely, the truth. They knew that He would undermine them. It is similar to the authorities in Rome today. If the Church was in good health, we would be completely insignificant. But since the Church is not in good health, we represent a monkey wrench in their works since we are witnessing to the truth which Rome is trampling on with all our feebleness and faults. And Rome basically knows they are changing the Faith so they want to get rid of us. Thus, the authorities are well aware of a pilgrimage like this and of our presence here. They have told us they don't mind what we do outside the sanctuary but they have laid down certain conditions for us to be able to enter the sanctuary. This is similar to the pilgrimage to Rome in 2000 when they laid down certain conditions to use the basilicas. For instance, we were not allowed to say Mass either in the Roman basilicas or the sanctuary at Fatima. So, they lay down certain conditions because they are very leery of a traditional pilgrimage. They don't like the idea at all. I would further bet you anything you'd like that there were spies of the Rector in our congregation this morning. It's normal; when Our Lord spoke, there were always some Pharisees watching for false words in order to destroy Him. The Society hopes, as always, that we will have some effect on the official Church. It is basically an illusion to think that we will make a tangible effect with our insignificant numbers, but it's not, humanly speaking, what counts or really matters. What really matters is what counts in front of God.

What would Archbishop Lefebvre have thought of what's being done here today?

In 1987, the Archbishop himself led a pilgrimage here on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. The Archbishop understood the importance of Fatima and he was happy for the Society to do what it could to give some importance to Fatima. He wanted Fatima to enter the bloodstream of the Society, so to speak. I am sure the Archbishop is very happy with what the Society did at Fatima this year since it is entirely in line with the defense of Catholic Tradition. I say this, again, because Fatima is one of the great lights of the 20th (and 21st) century for the Faith and people are still not paying attention to the message. Rather, they are doing their darnedest to smother, twist, and silence the Third Secret of Fatima; they are constructing ecumenical monuments and holding ecumenical ceremonies in order to twist Fatima out of shape.

Angelus Press would like to thank Rev. Mr. Paul Robinson and Mr. Michael Sestak, both seminarians of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, for the interviews of Their Excellencies Bishops Fellay and Williamson which appear above. They were conducted on-spot during the Fatima Pilgrimage of Reparation. A special thanks to Fr. Yves le Roux, Rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, for granting the seminarians permission to help Angelus Press. Interviews were transcribed and edited by Angelus Press.