THIRD SECRET UPDATE The Final Battle over Marriage and Family Intensifies as Cardinal Burke Speaks the Truth about the Third Secret of Fatima by Christopher A. Ferrara When he was in the process of founding the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family, the future Cardinal Carlo Caffarra wrote to Sister Lucia to ask her to pray for the success of the undertaking. To his great surprise, he received a lengthy letter from her in reply, wherein she warned the future Cardinal, clearly in light of the Third Secret of Fatima, that the final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Do not be afraid [she added], because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. Today, 36 years after the founding of the Institute in 1981, Pope Francis has appointed as the new Grand Chancellor of the Institute none other than Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who has supported the Kasper proposal that would allow remarried divorcees living in a state of adultery to receive Holy Communion, and shown himself to be in favor of recognizing extra-marital unions. Moreover, Paglia has been accepting of homosexual relationships on several occasions, most notably at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia last year. In 2015, he appeared to praise the prohomosexual television show Modern Family as initiating dialogue about the family. This is the same Archbishop Paglia who commissioned a homoerotic mural for his former diocesan cathedral, in which he had himself depicted in a state of undress in the midst of a tangle of semi-nude bodies a work of art so obscene it cannot be reproduced on these pages. 12 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 12 6/28/2017 11:30:51 AM
The Catastrophic Admission of Unrepentant Public Adulterers to Holy Communion As you read these lines, it is obvious that the final battle of which Sister Lucia warned is at an advanced stage. Pope Francis promulgation of Amoris Laetitia has provoked a dramatic fracturing of the Church s bimillenial discipline forbidding Holy Communion to public adulterers who purport to have divorced and remarried. The teaching of John Paul II himself against this sacrilege is now being overthrown in diocese after diocese. The bishops of Buenos Aires, and of Malta, and now the bishops of Sicily have joined the growing ranks of the episcopate who are authorizing the reception of Holy Communion by divorced and civilly remarried people living in what the Catechism of John Paul II calls a situation of public and permanent adultery. The sole authority for this approval of mass sacrilege, of course, is nothing more than Amoris Laetitia (AL), which attempts to apply situation ethics to a universally binding, exceptionless negative precept of the natural law, divinely proclaimed in the Sixth Commandment. The Sicilian bishops, for example, cite the novelties of AL in publishing guidelines for implementing AL which openly declare that situation ethics will now be applied to violations of the Sixth Commandment on the part of the divorced and remarried : Consequently, we cannot expect unique rules for each situation, but we need a discernment over time among different situations, which does not rule out a priori or by decree the possibility of ecclesial communion for some, taking into account different levels of complementarity: between personal discernment and pastoral care (see AL 122), between the internal forum and the external forum (see EG 44), between ecclesial participation and access to the sacraments (see AL 299). In this respect, it is no small matter that Pope Francis states in EG 47: The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. It is no coincidence that this text is cited in footnote 351 in AL 305. In other words, the Sicilian bishops, following The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 13 CR119 Book.indb 13 6/28/2017 11:30:51 AM
AL, have declared that the Sixth Commandment applies differently to different people depending upon their different situations, which is nothing but situation ethics, an invention of the devil. The Sicilian bishops conceal their outright subversion of the moral order with meaningless blather: The formulations of AL cautiously open up a possibility of access to the Sacraments, which lies only in the place of discernment based on dialogue: it is not a canonical norm, but the potential outcome of a journey, the fruit of discernment and of a personal and pastoral maturity (see AL 298). The phrases cautiously open up a possibility, only in the place of discernment based on dialogue, not a canonical norm and discernment and of a personal and pastoral maturity are mere window dressing for the authorization of mass sacrilege. The claim that this will be allowed only in cases of personal and pastoral maturity is laughable: a mature Catholic conscience will recognize adultery for what it is and cease offending God if the sinner is truly repentant. So, what about true repentance? Citing only AL s novelties as their authority, the Sicilian bishops declare: In every situation, the Pope remembers when dealing with those who have difficulties in living God s law to the full, the invitation to pursue the via caritatis must be clearly heard. (AL 306). This welcoming of the invitation is necessary even if one cannot demand from the repentant penitent more than he can give. The requirement to gain access to the sacraments is repentance and the commitment to pursue a new path, human and spiritual, in the present objective situation in which the person finds himself, and not the abstract perfection. There are circumstances, in fact, in which every norm gets brought back to its proper end, which is the salvation of souls, the good of persons. Translation: a public adulterer can continue his adultery while receiving Holy Communion if ceasing his adultery is more than he can give. Thus, the Sicilian bishops, following AL, now authorize Holy Communion for unrepentant adulterers who, through a nonsensical process of discernment, have persuaded themselves with the help of the Sicilian bishops! that God does not expect them to cease their 14 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 14 6/28/2017 11:30:51 AM
May 12 Vigil awaiting Our Lady of Fatima with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims holding candles. A sight to behold. adultery because this would be more than they can give. Secret Commission To Reinterpret Humanae Vitae Based on Amoris Laetitia The catastrophic introduction of situation ethics into the life of the Church via AL is now being extended to accommodate the intrinsic evil of contraception. The redoubtable Roberto De Mattei has confirmed the existence of a secret commission tasked by Pope Bergoglio to find a reinterpretation of the constant teaching of the Church on the intrinsic evil of contraception, affirmed by Paul VI in Humanae Vitae. Prof. De Mattei reveals that Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo is the coordinator of the commission nominated by Pope Francis to re-interpret the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ by Paul VI, in the light of Amoris laetitia, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the former s promulgation, which falls next year. The other members of this commission are Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, Professor Philippe Chenaux and Monsignor Angelo Maffeis. The commission has, quite ominously, been given the task of procuring from the Vatican Archives, the documentation related to the preparatory work The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 15 CR119 Book.indb 15
on Humanæ Vitæ, which took place over a period of three years, during and after the Second Vatican Council. That preparatory work resulted in the recommendation that the Church relax her teaching to permit contraception a recommendation that Paul VI, no doubt under the influence of the Holy Ghost, ultimately rejected despite his personal liberal inclinations, as any compromise of that teaching would destroy the credibility of the infallible, universal ordinary Magisterium (i.e., what the Church has constantly taught even without a formal, infallible dogmatic definition). The planned modus operandi for the pastoral abandonment of the Church s infallible teaching on the intrinsic evil of contraception would appear to be the same as that which AL proposes for the pastoral abandonment of the Church s teaching on the intrinsic immorality of adultery and thus the intrinsically impossible admission of public adulterers in second marriages to Holy Communion. Leaving little doubt of the matter, Msgr. Marengo, the very coordinator of the not-sosecret commission, has already told Vatican Insider (as De Mattei notes) that it is time to consider abandoning a conception of the doctrinal patrimony of the Church as a closed system, impermeable to questions and provocations of the here and now, in which the Christian community is called to justify its faith, through its proclamation and testimony. Marengo proposes the classic Modernist opposition between Catholic teaching and the here and now, as if the mere passage of time could alter immutable doctrines and dogmas rooted in divine revelation. Only this year, in the same journal, Marengo all but declares that AL s false disjunction between, on the one hand, abstract ideas meaning the divine precepts of the moral law and, on the other hand, pastoral action in the face of reality is the way this commission plans to subvert the Church s infallible teaching against contraception. The infallible teaching will be affirmed in principle but negated in practice, just as AL does with the indissolubility of marriage and the intrinsic immorality of adultery. Quoth Marengo (as recounted by De Mattei): [T]he polemical game the pill yes the pill no, like today s Communion to the divorced yes Communion to the divorced no is only an appearance of discomfort 16 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 16
and strain, [ which is] much more decisive in the fabric of ecclesial life. [E]very time the Christian community falls into error and proposes models of life derived from too abstract and artificially constructed theological ideals, it conceives its pastoral action as the schematic application of a doctrinal paradigm. A certain way of defending and acknowledging the teaching of Paul VI was, probably one of the factors for which [alluding to AL] we have presented a too abstract theological ideal on marriage, almost artificially constructed, far from the concrete situation and the effective possibilities of families as they really are. This excessive idealization, above all when we have reawakened trust in grace, has not made marriage more attractive and desirable, but quite the opposite. Clearly, we have reached a critical stage in the final battle over marriage and family that was surely predicted in that part of the Third Secret we have yet to see i.e., the Virgin s own words explaining the meaning of the enigmatic vision of a Bishop dressed in White who is executed on a hill outside a devastated city filled with the dead. Father Gruner s Legacy Bears Fruit Cardinal Burke Tells the Truth about the Secret and the Consecration of Russia In the midst of this dire state of affairs, however, there is great good news as well. In an address given during the recently held Rome Life Forum, which met to address the growing crisis post-amoris Laetitia, Cardinal Raymond Burke called for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Certainly, Pope Saint John Paul II consecrated the world, including Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 1984. But, today, once again, we hear the call of Our Lady of Fatima to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, in accord with her explicit instruction. In fact, the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary did not take place, as she requested, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays did not become the practice of the universal Church. For decades, Father Nicholas Gruner was mocked and marginalized for insisting upon The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 17 CR119 Book.indb 17
this obvious truth. But now a Prince of the Church has declared it to the world without equivocation. But there is something just as important in this historic address. While being prudent about his manner of expression, Cardinal Burke implicitly confirms that the Vatican has not disclosed the entirety of the Third Secret. The relevant passages merit quotation at length (bolding and paragraph breaks added for readability): The third part of the Secret, indicated by the etc. at the end of the second part, has to deal with the spiritual chastisement brought about by the rebellion of man who instead of giving his heart to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary gives over his heart to the corruption of the worldly materialism and relativism of the age... [I]t seems clear from the most respected studies of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, that it has to do with the diabolical forces unleashed upon the world in our time and entering into the very life of the Church which lead souls away from the truth of the faith and, therefore, from the Divine Love flowing from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus. Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, in his monumental study of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, writes the following regarding the third part of the Secret or what is often called the Third Secret: In short, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary undoubtedly refers much more to the third Secret than even the second. As horrible as are the physical chastisements associated with man s disobedient rebellion before God, infinitely more horrible are the spiritual chastisements for they have to do with the fruit of grievous sin: eternal death. The teaching of the Faith in its integrity and with courage is the heart of the office of the Church s pastors: the Roman Pontiff, the Bishops in communion with the See of Peter, and their principal co-workers, the priests. For that reason, the Third Secret is directed, with particular force, to those who exercise the pastoral office in the Church. Their failure to teach the faith, in fidelity to the Church s constant teaching 18 The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 CR119 Book.indb 18
and practice, whether through a superficial, confused or even worldly approach, and their silence endangers mortally, in the deepest spiritual sense, the very souls for whom they have been consecrated to care spiritually. As we can see, Cardinal Burke has essentially adopted the position of the longderided Fatimites, especially Father Gruner, even citing Father Gruner s internationally promoted primary source material: Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité s monumental study of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. In particular, the Cardinal affirms: That the Third Secret begins with Our Lady s reference to Portugal, ending with Lucia s famous etc. indicating further words of the Virgin; That the Secret predicts a terrible crisis of faith and discipline a veritable apostasy involving the failure of the Church s pastors from the Pope on down to teach the faith, in fidelity to the Church s constant teaching and practice a clear reference to AL, among many other disastrous hierarchical departures from Tradition over the past fifty years; That the resulting spiritual chastisement is infinitely more horrible than the material chastisement seen in the vision published in 2000. May God bless Cardinal Burke for his courageous witness to the truth about Fatima, to which Father Gruner dedicated his priestly and apostolic mission.* As we can see, the Third Secret cover-up has failed to bury the Secret in its integrity, as its prophecy of an unparalleled crisis in the Church unfolds before our eyes. For a summary of the Third Secret controversy, see my pamphlet on this issue published by The Fatima Center, entitled The Third Secret Made Simple. [Order information is on page 63 of this issue.] *We are grateful to say that Cardinal Burke has reconsidered his earlier position on Father Gruner as stated in his unfortunate introduction to the book entitled Fatima For Today. Footnotes: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abortionhomosexuality-show-final-battle-between-godand-satan-has-come-car https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/newvatican-book-suggests-opening-door-tocommunion-for-remarried-catholics http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edwardpentin/recent-key-appointments-unsettlejohn-paul-ii-institute-on-marriage-and-fam https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/06/demattei-plan-of-reinterpretation-for.html http://voiceofthefamily.com/full-text-cardinalburkes-historic-call-for-consecration-of-russia/ The Fatima Crusader Summer 2017 19 CR119 Book.indb 19