A NOTEWORTHY HISTORICAL ACCOUNT ABOUT THE SUPPOSED CONVERSION OF RUSSIA FROM MOST HOLY FAMILY MONASTERY
By
Bro. Peter Dimond, O.S.B.
-The question is: Can you handle the truth on this issue?
-The truth that you won’t hear from “Fr.” Gruner; the stunning facts on an issue that we’ve all been brainwashed only to consider from one angle
-An article that every traditional Catholic needs to read
IN THIS ARTICLE:
-FACT #1: POPE PIUS XII CONSECRATED RUSSIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF (THE JEWISH) MARY - POPE PIUS XII CONSECRATED NOT THE WORLD, BUT SPECIFICALLY RUSSIA, ON JULY 7, 1952
-FACT #2: WHAT OUR LADY MEANS BY THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA
– THE STRIKING EVIDENCE
- THIS POSITION IS FURTHER SUBSTANTIATED BY CONSIDERING
PORTUGAL
– “THE SHOWCASE OF OUR LADY”
- THIS POSITION IS FURTHER SUBSTANTIATED BY SR. LUCY’S SUMMARY OF THE TUY VISION
- “THE GOOD WILL BE MARTYRED” AND “VARIOUS NATIONS WILL BE ANNIHILATED” ARE PROPHECIES THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED
- WHAT RUSSIA WAS CONVERTED FROM – SNAPSHOTS OF THE SATANIC REGIME IN COMMUNIST
RUSSIA
- HE WILL DO THE CONSECRATION, BUT IT WILL BE “LATE”
- OUR LADY’S WORDS REVEAL TO US THAT HER TRIUMPH IS NOT A UNIVERSAL TRIUMPH OR REIGN OF PEACE, BUT ONLY A “CERTAIN” PERIOD OF PEACE
- THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA
- THE EVIDENCE
- SOME LEFTOVER OBJECTIONS – AND SR. LUCY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IF PIUS XII’S 1942 CONSECRATION OF THE WORLD WAS ACCEPTED IN HEAVEN
- PART II: THE EVIDENCE EXPOSING THE IMPOSTOR SR. LUCY
-THE FALSE MESSAGE OF “FR.” NICHOLAS GRUNER
One of the most frequent questions that we receive concerns Our Lady’s statement at Fátima on July 13, 1917:
“You see hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is a great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.”
The Vatican II “Popes” must be true Popes, so the objection goes, because one of them will finally consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary, and the entire nation will be converted to the Catholic Faith. That hasn’t happened, so you cannot be right that these are Antipopes.
First, in examining this issue it is important for people to clear their minds of any pre-conceived notions or prejudices in this area. They must be prepared to take a fresh new look at the facts. Let’s jump right into this very important issue:
FACT #1: POPE PIUS XII CONSECRATED RUSSIA TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF (THE JEWISH) MARY - POPE PIUS XII CONSECRATED NOT THE WORLD, BUT SPECIFICALLY RUSSIA , ON JULY 7, 1952
Many know that Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of “Mary” in 1942. Many do not know that Pope Pius XII specifically consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of “Mary” in 1952.
I didn’t know this until I began studying this issue in some depth. But this important fact is revealed even in the books promoted by “Fr.” Nicholas Gruner’s apostolate.
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima , Vol. 1, p. 498: “…in 1952. On July 7 of the same year, a month after the article by Dhanis, Pope Pius XII in his apostolic letter Sacro Vergente Anno, accomplished this consecration of Russia and it alone, by name – so much for Dhanis declaring it impossible!” (Immaculate Heart Publications)
This fact can also be found in the book Fátima in Twilight:
Mark Fellows, Fátima in Twilight, p. 119: “The letter went on to request that Pius consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart. He [Pius XII] did so in a letter to all Russians (Sacro vergente anno), writing in pertinent part, ‘today we consecrate and in a most special manner entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart…’” (Marmion Publications, 2003)
Here are the words of Pope Pius XII:
Pope Pius XII, Sacro Vergente Anno (Apostolic Letter), July 7, 1952: “…just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin “Mary”, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart…”
Thus, it is an undeniable fact that Pope Pius XII specifically consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary.
But didn’t Our Lady promise that Russia would be consecrated in union with all the Bishops of the world? No! This is a key point. Our Lady requested that Russia be consecrated in union with all the Bishops of the world, but on July 13 she only promised that “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.” Notice that Our Lady didn’t promise: “The Holy Father and all the Bishops will consecrate Russia to me…” Further, heaven revealed that the actual fulfillment of the consecration of Russia would not be fully in accord with heaven’s original wishes; for instance, it would be “late” (more on this in a bit).
FACT #2: OUR LADY NEVER SAID THAT THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA MEANS THAT RUSSIA WOULD BE CONVERTED TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH
The question that we must re-examine is: did Our Lady ever say that Russia would be converted to “the Catholic Faith”? Is there any evidence that Our Lady ever said that Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith? The answer, which will probably surprise many, is no. I have just completed a careful study of Frere Michel’s 3-volume work The Whole Truth About Fátima (more than 2000 pages on the issue). I was looking for some evidence, any evidence, that Our Lady ever said that the “conversion” of Russia means that the nation of Russia will be converted to the Catholic Faith. In the entire 3-volume set, there is no evidence whatsoever that Our Lord or Our Lady ever promised that Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith. [Please note: I’m not examining the question of whether heaven would want the conversion of Russia to the Catholic Faith, which of course it would, since outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation. Rather, I’m addressing the question of whether heaven ever said or promised that the nation of Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith. There is no evidence that heaven ever promised that Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith.]
“But of course it means that the entire country will be converted to the Catholic Faith,” as one person told us, “for it couldn’t mean anything else!” This person even said that it is absurd to think that Our Lady would ever use the word “conversion” to mean anything but a conversion to the true Faith. Oh really? Well, this person may be surprised to learn that in Proverbs 16:7, Almighty God Himself uses the word “conversion” not to mean a conversion to the true Faith, but the conversion of a persecuting enemy to peace (i.e. to a cessation of his persecuting ways).
Proverbs 16:7- “When the ways of man shall please “the Lord”, He will convert even his enemies to peace.”
In fact, what is striking is that Our Lady’s words of July 13 appear to be structured on Proverbs 16:7: in the context of both, conversion is immediately linked with peace, after a man fulfills the request of “the Lord.”
Proverbs
16:7- “When the ways of man shall please “the Lord”, He
will convert even his enemies to peace.” |
Our
Lady: “If they listen to my requests,
Russia
will be converted and there will be peace.” |
After studying this issue in depth, and taking a fresh new look at the facts, I am of the firm opinion that Our Lady’s words are structured on the promise of Proverbs 16:7: the “conversion” of Russia does not mean the conversion of the nation to the Catholic Faith, but rather the conversion of a persecuting enemy (Russia) to a certain period of peace. We will see exactly what this means as we go along, and that the evidence from the message of Fátima bears this out.
THIS POSITION IS FURTHER SUBSTANTIATED BY CONSIDERING PORTUGAL – “THE SHOWCASE OF OUR LADY”
To attempt to substantiate their position that Russia has not been consecrated, “Fr.” Gruner and his supporters often bring up the case of Portugal as the “Showcase of Our Lady.” They point out that when the Portuguese Bishops consecrated their nation to the Immaculate Heart of “Mary” on May 13, 1931, the result was an incredible Catholic renaissance and social reform. They say that Our Lady used Portugal as a “showcase” of what she would do for Russia and the rest of the world.
John Vennari, “It Doesn’t Add Up,” The Fátima Crusader, Issue #70: “Thus it is not hard to understand why Portugal at this time has been called the “Showcase of Our Lady.” And this triple miracle of Portugal stands as a preview of how Russia and the world will look after the Collegial Consecration of Russia.”
However, in bringing up the example of Portugal , they provide more evidence that Our Lady’s promise of the “conversion” of Russia did not mean the conversion of the entire nation to the Catholic Faith. For they fail to note that even after the Bishops consecrated the nation of Portugal (a nation that was already almost entirely Catholic in population) the country did not become a Catholic country!
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, p. 420: “Curiously, in this accord [of the Portuguese nation], the Catholic religion is not recognized as the official religion of the Portuguese State , and therefore in theory the separation of Church and State remains.”
If Portugal itself (a nation that was already almost entirely Catholic) wasn’t even changed into a Catholic country after its consecration, this is further evidence that the conversion of Russia does not mean a conversion of the nation to the Catholic Faith. The 1959 Portuguese Constitution doesn’t even mention the name of God. (WTAF, Vol. 3, p. 741)
THIS POSITION IS FURTHER SUBSTANTIATED BY SR. LUCY’S SUMMARY OF THE TUY VISION
In order to attempt to substantiate their position that Russia will be converted to the Catholic Faith, many cite the vision of Tuy, in which Our Lady promised to “save” Russia :
Our Lady to Sr. Lucy, June 13, 1929, at Tuy: “The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 464)
What is HUGELY SIGNIFICANT is that Frere Michel admits that Sr. Lucy summarized this communication at Tuy in a slightly different manner in two letters to Fr. Goncalves:
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, p. 465: “[page after quoting what you just read] Let us point out right away that in 1930, in two letters to Father Goncalves, Sister Lucy was to express in a slightly different manner the requests of heaven… [Sister Lucy]: ‘The good Lord promises to end the persecution in Russia, if the Holy Father will himself make a solemn act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Sacred Hearts of Christ and Our Lady, as well as ordering all the bishops of the Catholic Church to do the same. The Holy Father must then promise that upon the ending of this persecution he will approve and recommend the practice of the reparatory devotion already described.’”
So, according to Sr. Lucy, the message at Tuy that Our Lord will “save” Russia means that Our Lord promises to “end the persecution in Russia ,” thus corroborating the point that there is no evidence that heaven ever promised that Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith. We find the same thing in another vision that Our Lord granted to Sr. Lucy in 1940:
Our Lord to Sr. Lucy, Oct. 22, 1940: “I will punish the nations for their crimes by means of war, famine and persecution of My Church and this will weigh especially upon My Vicar on earth. His Holiness will obtain an abbreviation of these days of tribulation if he takes heed of My wishes by promulgating the Act of Consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of (Our Lady), with a special mention of Russia .” (The Whole Truth About Fátima – abbreviated: WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 732)
The consecration of Russia will “obtain an abbreviation” of the tribulation that is caused by the persecutions of Russia , perfectly coinciding with our point about what Our Lady meant by the “conversion” of Russia . Most importantly, however, we can see what Our Lady meant in context by the conversion of Russia in a careful consideration of her words on July 13.
“The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is a great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Notice, the consecration of Russia was specifically requested to prevent “war… hunger and persecution of the Church…” This shows us how firmly set within this specific context Our Lady’s words were on the consecration of Russia – converting this enemy to peace from these persecutions of “war…hunger…of the Church.”
This point is corroborated when one considers the “great sign” mentioned by Our Lady in the context of her request for the consecration of Russia . Our Lady says: “When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is a great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this…” This “sign” was not some “small sign,” but the “great sign” that heaven gave in the context of the consecration of Russia and the punishments the consecration of Russia would prevent.
Well, everyone knows that this “great sign” was the unknown light that lit up the sky on Jan. 25, 1938, just prior to the events that precipitated World War II.
“An aurora borealis of exceptional size furrowed the sky of Western Europe last night; it caused an uproar in a number of departments, which at first believed it to be a gigantic fire. In the entire region of the Alps , the population was much intrigued by this strange spectacle. The sky was ablaze like an immense moving furnace, provoking a very strong blood-red glow.” (Le Nouvelliste de Lyon, Jan. 26, 1938.)
I think that most people can agree that this sign doesn’t seem that significant to us from our vantage point today. Yet, within the context of the consecration of Russia , and the “war… hunger… and persecution of the Church…” which it was requested to prevent, this was the “great sign” that heaven gave. This shows us again how firmly within this specific context Our Lady’s words for the consecration of Russia were – converting this enemy to peace from its persecutions of war, persecutions of the Church, etc.
“THE GOOD WILL BE MARTYRED” AND “VARIOUS NATIONS WILL BE ANNIHILATED” ARE PROPHECIES THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED
In order to further understand what Our Lady meant by the “conversion” of Russia , it is important for us to understand what she meant by things she mentioned in the same context; for instance, “various nations will be annihilated” and “the good will be martyred.”
Our Lady of Fátima, July 13, 1917: “If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated…”
Many believe that Our Lady’s words “various nations will be annihilated” and “the good will be martyred” (as a result of the spread of Russia’s errors) still have not been fulfilled. However, the truth is that both of these things have already been fulfilled.
VARIOUS NATIONS WERE ANNIHILATED
As we will see, even Frere Michel, an author whose work is promoted by Nicholas Gruner’s apostolate, admits that the Soviet Union’s takeover of the Baltic nations and other small States during the period of World War II, which it simply annexed to itself making them exist no longer, constituted the annihilation of nations of which Our Lady spoke.
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 3, p. 190: “In 1939 the USSR was still the only communist state in the world… Six years later… several nations were erased from the map, absorbed by the Soviet empire, a dozen countries entered Moscow ’s orbit and retained only the appearance of liberty, while others were agitated by internal wars or gravely threatened by communist subversion. The prophecy of Fátima was being fulfilled to the letter.”
Besides the nations of Poland , Hungary , Czechoslovakia , Romania , Bulgaria , etc. which entered the orbit of the Soviet Empire, and were reduced to puppets of its machine, the Baltic nations, Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia , were actually erased from the map – completely annihilated by full absorption into the Soviet Empire.
“The small Baltic nations – Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia – were now ready for Stalin to pluck. He moved at once to impose ‘mutual assistance treaties’ on them, whose only significant clause provided for stationing large numbers of Soviet troops on their territory. These treaties were signed on September 28 ( Estonia ), October 5 ( Latvia ), and October 10 ( Lithuania ). They could now be taken over at any time.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, Christendom Press, p. 310)
An article carried on the website of the Joint Baltic American National Committee notes that:
“On July 23, 1940, Sumner Welles, acting US Secretary of State, stated that the ‘devious processes whereby the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawn to their conclusion.’” (Joint Baltic American Committee, http://www.jbanc.org/65joint.html)
Notice, the absorption of the Baltic nations by the Soviet Union “annihilated” the political independence and territorial integrity of these nations (i.e., annihilated their nationhood itself)! Another article on the website of the Joint Baltic American Committee notes that “…communism will be remembered not so much for what it left behind as for what it didn't. The decades of totalitarian rule annihilated cultures...” (http://store.yahoo.com/jbanc2000/newsun.html)
Our Lady’s words about the annihilation of nations clearly refer to the Soviet Union ’s takeover of the Baltic nations, which literally erased them from the map by absorption. But there are some who believe that Our Lady’s words refer to nuclear catastrophe that will happen in the future. To attempt to prove this point, they will quote Sr. Lucy’s words to Fr. Fuentes.
Sister Lucy to Fr. Fuentes, 1957: “Tell them, Father, that many times the Most Holy Virgin told my cousins Francisco and Jacinta, as well as myself, that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth. She said that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation.”
Sr. Lucy is obviously reiterating Our Lady’s words about the annihilation of nations. However, if a nation were devastated by nuclear catastrophe, it wouldn’t disappear. It would still be visible, but as an empty and devastated wasteland. The only way to make a nation literally “disappear” is by erasing it from the map by incorporation into another country, as happened with the Soviet Union ’s takeover of the Baltic nations. In stunning confirmation of this point, here is what the Soviet Foreign Minister, Molotov, said to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister (concerning the Soviet Union’s imminent takeover of the Baltic nations):
Soviet Foreign Minister, Molotov, to Lithuanian Foreign Minister: “You must take a good look at reality and understand that in the future small nations will have to disappear. Your Lithuania along with the other Baltic nations…” (quoted by Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 306)
This map (above) of Eastern Europe before World War II defines the Baltic nations (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) before they were annihilated and made to disappear by full absorption into the satanic Soviet Empire
This map of Eastern Europe and the Communist Bloc after WWII defines the disappearance and annihilation of the Baltic nations by full absorption into the Soviet Empire
The annihilation of nations, the making of nations “disappear,” clearly refers to the Soviet Union and its takeover of the Baltic States . Frere Michel even applies the “annihilation of nations” to the other nations that the Soviet Union incorporated into its orbit as satellites, such as Poland , etc. However, it most specifically refers to the erasing of the Baltic nations, as well as other small provinces such as North Bukovina and Bessarabia . And this surely would have happened to “many” other nations if Russia had not been consecrated.
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 3, pp. 193-194: “Is it necessary to enumerate these nations, which perhaps Our Lady of Fátima designated, announcing that ‘various nations will be annihilated’? Torn from their age-old traditions, and from their Church, their society destroyed by the great Bolshevik machine, in effect, these countries are no longer themselves… There is Albania , where the persecution against the Church began in 1945. There is Hungary , with its 7 million Catholics out of 10 million inhabitants, where the apostolic nuncio was expelled in April, 1945… There is Poland (22 million Catholics), where in September, 1945, the government decided to break the concordat. There is Czechoslovakia , where out of 12 million inhabitants, almost nine million were Catholics. There is Orthodox Romania with its valiant minority of 3 million Eastern Rite faithful, where the government awaits the favorable hour to perform the same forced integration to the schismatic Church as in Ukraine . There is Bulgaria , where the Church numbers only 57,000. There is Tito’s Yugoslavia … where a bloody persecution began in June – July, 1945.”
In every Communist nation controlled by the Soviet Union , the press, the radio and education were totally controlled by the State. This became the sad and gloomy reality in country after country that fell to Communism. All of these satellites also vigorously persecuted the Church. For instance:
“In Romania , with the active complicity of Patriarch Alexis of Moscow and the entire Orthodox national hierarchy, the communists decided on the liquidation, pure and simple, of the Greek-Catholic Church , which numbered 1,600,000 Faithful at the time. ‘Towards the end of October, 1948, they proceeded to arrest the Byzantine Catholic Bishops, vicar generals, canons, and the majority of priests, about 600 in all. The government then proceeded to the confiscation of churches, and convents of monks and religious, in spite of their resistance.’ On December 1 [1948], the communist government published the decree suppressing the Eastern Catholic Church.” (WTAF, Vol. 3, pp. 255-256)
And this led to the “good being martyred,” which has also been fulfilled:
THE GOOD WERE MARTYRED
It is simply a fact that countless Catholics were martyred at the hands of the Soviet Union and its Communist satellites. Since this is well known, I will not give many quotes to prove the point. But it is significant to note again that even Frere Michel, whose work on Fátima is promoted by “Fr.” Nicholas Gruner, admits that the “good will be martyred” has already occurred.
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, p. 764: “When, in a letter of January 21, 1940, Sister Lucy mentioned in connection with the war ‘the blood spilled by the martyrs’, which in the end would appease the divine wrath, and when Our Lady announced in her Secret that ‘the good will be martyred,’ how can we forget about these millions of Ukrainian or Polish Catholics martyred by the Bolsheviks?”
A prime example comes from Russia in 1923. At that time, Moscow attempted to blackmail the Vatican into granting its regime diplomatic recognition. Moscow gave orders for the arrest of high-placed cleric Msgr. Cieplak (apostolic administrator of the diocese of Mohilev), his vicar general, Msgr. Budkiewicz, and thirteen other priests. These clerics declared that they would not observe the 1922 law of the Soviet Union forbidding teaching the Catholic Faith to children (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 310). Moscow agreed to their release if the Vatican agreed to diplomatic relations with its regime. The Russian regime knew that once the Vatican established diplomatic relations with it, the rest of Europe would follow. But the Vatican could not grant it such recognition, so Moscow executed the sentence:
“On Holy Thursday of 1923, Msgr. Budkiewicz was martyred with frightful cruelty. Brutally pushed across a dark corridor, he fell and broke his leg… Stripped of his clothes and no longer able to walk, the martyr was dragged by the ears all the way to the detachment of guards. One of his ears had been severed. In the gaping hole, he was given a revolver shot. Father Walsh… heard the shot ring out among shouts, drunken singing and bursts of laughter. So that no relics would remain, the martyr’s body was burned and his ashes dispersed. And this was the signal for a series of attacks against the hierarchy, clergy and laity, many of whom were sent to the icy prisons of Solowki on the Black Sea , where a concentration camp was specially assigned for Christians; others died in prison, some of them reduced to madness by the torments they had endured.” (WTAF, Vol. 2, pp. 576-577)
“…during the year 1922 alone more than 800 Catholic and Orthodox priests, brothers and nuns were shot in Russia.” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 564)
Pope Pius XI, Letter to Cardinal Pompili, Feb. 2, 1930: “This past year during the Christmas holy days, not only were hundreds of churches [in Russia] closed, great numbers of icons burned, all workers and schoolchildren compelled to work and Sundays suppressed, but they even compelled factory workers, both men and women, to sign a declaration of formal apostasy and hatred against God, or else be deprived of their bread rationing cards, without which every inhabitant of this poor country is reduced to dying of hunger, misery and cold. Among other things, in all the cities and in many villages… during the Christmas holy days last year: they witnessed a procession of tanks manned by numerous ruffians clad with sacred vestments, taking the cross in derision and spitting upon it while other armored cars transported huge Christmas trees, from which marionettes representing Catholic and Orthodox bishops were hung by the neck. In the center of the city, other young hoodlums committed all sorts of sacrileges against the cross.” (quoted in WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 539)
“In 1946 the Soviet authorities removed every Lithuanian bishop but one from his diocese… From 1946 to 1948, 357 priests – one-third of all the priests in Lithuania – were deported to labor camps in Russia and Siberia . One of them, who had been sentenced to 25 years (which meant death, since virtually no one survived more than ten years in the camps) was offered his freedom, one of the largest churches in Vilinius, and 100,000 rubles if he would head a schismatic Lithuanian Catholic church. He refused, and disappears.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 364-365)
(As an aside, this priest could have been spared the horrors of the labor camps if he had simply consented to becoming an Eastern Schismatic. He refused, and suffered horribly. This shows us again the evil of false ecumenism. Post-Vatican II ecumenism, which accepts and praises Eastern Orthodoxy, holds that his martyrdom was pointless.)
Bodies of Lithuanians after the Soviet Union eliminated those it deemed threats to full takeover
In 1936, the errors of Russian communism stirred up a revolution and the Spanish Civil War. What resulted was arguably the worst persecution of the Catholic Church in history:
“Almost all at once the holocaust of Spain began [in 1936]. The chief target of the revolutionaries was… the Catholic Church. During the next three months, the Catholic priests, religious and laity who were caught in the half of Spain where the Republic retained control, were the victims of the bloodiest persecution the Church has experienced since that of the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the fourth century. In all, 6,549 priests and 283 nuns were martyred, many in the classic circumstances of martyrdom, offered life if they renounced their faith and death if they upheld it.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 285)
Hugh Thomas, considered the premier historian of the Spanish Civil War, gives us some details on these martyrdoms:
“In Cervera, rosary beads were forced into monks’ ears till their eardrums were perforated… Certain persons were burned, and others buried, alive – the latter after being forced to dig their own graves. At Alcazar de San Juan a young man, distinguished for his piety, had his eyes dug out. In that province, Ciudad Real , the crimes were indeed atrocious. A crucifix was forced down the mouth of the mother of two Jesuits. Eight hundred persons were thrown down a mine shaft.” (quoted by Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 286)
That the Spanish persecution was fueled and stirred up by the errors of Russia is beyond question; even some of the “attackers carried red banners with the hammer and sickle.” (Carroll, p. 288)
One could multiply examples of the good being martyred for pages. For instance, after the Soviet Union ’s forced “reunification” of the schismatic “Church” with the Greek Catholic Church in 1945, there were countless Ukrainian Catholics who were martyred for their Faith:
Cardinal Slipyi: “On April 11, 1945, I was arrested with all the other bishops. Less than a year later, over 800 priests had followed us into captivity. From March 8-10, 1946, the illegal Synod of Lvov took place. Under atheist pressure it proclaimed the ‘reunification,’ and by the very fact, the official liquidation of our Church was effected by brutal force. The bishops were deported to every corner of the Soviet Union. Almost all of them have died since then, or were killed in captivity… over 1,400 priests and 800 religious, to tens of thousands of the Faithful who in captivity sealed, by the sacrifice of their life, their fidelity to the Pope, the Roman Apostolic See and the Universal Church.” (WTAF, Vol. 3, p. 192)
It is a fact that doesn’t need to be proven any further: the good were martyred in the Soviet Union, in its Communist satellites, and in other countries, such as Spain , where the errors of Russia stirred up bloody persecution. Our Lady’s words that the good will be martyred, and various nations will be annihilated, have already been fulfilled.
Our Lady: “If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Sr. Lucy to Fr. Jongen, Feb. 1946: “I think that now Our Lady’s words are being fulfilled: ‘If this is not done (she had just recalled ‘the exact request’ of the Blessed Virgin) Russia will spread her errors throughout the world.’” (WTAF, Vol. 3, p. 123)
Some also ask: what about the persecution of the Holy Father, who will “have much to suffer”? What is the meaning of this? We find the answer in the aforementioned message of Our Lord to Sr. Lucy from 1940:
Our Lord to Sr. Lucy, Oct. 22, 1940: “I will punish the nations for their crimes by means of war, famine and persecution of My Church and this will weigh especially upon My Vicar on earth. His Holiness will obtain an abbreviation of these days of tribulation if he takes heed of My wishes by promulgating the Act of Consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of (Our Lady), with a special mention of Russia .” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 732)
The persecution of the Church during this period – the torture and martyrdom of priests and faithful, the suppression of ecclesiastical activity – weighed as an incredible burden and torment on the Pope who felt responsible, yet helpless, in the face of this tragedy. With these facts in mind, we can see that all four aspects of Our Lady’s message, the spread of Russia ’s errors, the martyrdom of the good, the annihilation of nations and the suffering of the Holy Father, had their application to this period.
What people fail to realize is that Our Lady’s request for the consecration of Russia was given in this very same context. The consecration and conversion of Russia was intended to prevent the punishments and torments and persecutions of Russia mentioned in this context. In line with Proverbs 16:7, and Sr. Lucy’s summary of the Tuy vision, it means converting this enemy to peace from its ways of persecution.
That is why Our Lady came to Tuy in 1929 to ask for the consecration of Russia . In fact, Sr. Lucy didn’t mention a word about Russia until 1929. 1929 was a time when the horrors of Stalin’s Gulag started to become known in the world. It was a time when the persecutions of Russia were about to reach their apex. 1929 was just prior to Stalin’s policy of “dekulakization,” a policy imposed from 1930-1934, which resulted in the death of millions of peasant farmers. 1929 was also just prior to Stalin’s unspeakable imposed famine of 1933, which resulted in the deaths of millions. It makes sense that Our Lady would come back to ask for the consecration of Russia in order to prevent these horrible persecutions when they were at, or were about to reach, their most gruesome point. The most serious demographers count at least fifteen million victims at the hands of Bolshevik Russia from the years 1929-1933 (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 457).
At this point, it is very important for us to look at what those errors of Russia had become. We need to get a closer look at the satanic regime of Communist Russia to get a better grasp on the context of the message of Our Lady.
WHAT RUSSIA WAS CONVERTED FROM – SNAPSHOTS OF THE SATANIC REGIME IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA
Vladimir Lenin, maker of the Communist revolution, mass-murderer, and leader of Communist Russia from 1917-1924
In 1917, Lenin closed all Catholic churches in Petrograd (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 169)
In 1918, Lenin shut down all newspapers in Moscow except those published by the Communists. This was soon extended to all printed material, including periodicals, etc. (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 116)
“In 1918, one could read the following words in the official organ of the Soviet of Petrograd: ‘We will render our hearts cruel, harsh, without pity. We will open the dams of this bloody sea. Without pity, without mercy, we will kill our enemies by the thousands. We will drown them in their own blood.” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 454)
A decree of February 26, 1922 confiscated all the treasures of the Church, including consecrated objects. At the same time, and this was still the very early stage of the Bolshevik horrors, Cardinal Mercier published the first figures of the persecution: “Statistics for the victims of the persecution are frightening. Since November 1917, 260,000 simple soldier prisoners and 54,000 officers; 18,000 landed proprietors; 35,000 ‘intellectuals’; 192,000 workers; 815,000 peasants; 28 bishops and 1,215 priests were put to death.” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 451)
Things were so bad in Russia in 1922, that Pope Pius XI published the apostolic letter Annus Fere, ordering a general collection in favor of the starving Russian people. In it, he spoke of the horrors suffered by the Russian people. Though he didn’t denounce the satanic Communist regime in Russia by name, Pius XI spoke of “the extreme misery of the Russian people, who were decimated by disease and famine, victims of the greatest calamity in history…” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 565)
Shortly after taking over Russia , in 1919 Lenin established the Gulag. The Gulag was a network of concentration camps to which all “enemies” of the State could be sent.
“In April 1919, following Dzerzhinsky’s recommendation and with Lenin’s approval, the Soviet government ordered the establishment of a network of concentration camps, at least one per province, the first of its kind in history, which served as a model and inspiration to Hitler and his Nazis and was later to become infamous as the GULAG. By 1923 the number of these camps had reached 315.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 142)
It’s important for us to get a glimpse of the horrors of the Gulag. For this purpose, I will quote from Warren H. Carroll who, in turn, draws from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s famed work, The Gulag Archipelago.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn as Gulag labor camp prisoner scs 262
“The famine dealt out death at home, or as far away from home as dying men could walk. The labor camps dealt out death afar…It seems almost presumptuous for any man to write of the gulag, after Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He was in it; he made its theme his own; he changed the world and history by what he wrote about it… Here we can only select, here and there, from Solzhenitsyn, and annotate him – to give a bit of the sense, the flavor, the sound of the wind from hell that blew across those killing grounds in the wilderness.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 243)
Carroll then proceeds to describe the labor camp at Orotukan:
“We may begin with Orotukan. In the middle of the second volume of The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn concludes a brief description of Orotukan (which he then locates only by a reference to the Kolyma River in far northern Siberia), whose horrors sound as bad but no worse than those of many other labor camps he has described, with this one stark sentence: ‘All who survived Orotukan say they would have preferred the gas chamber.’ All who were there and survived, and spoke about it, say they would have preferred death to survival?... On the far side of the Chersky Range from Yakutsk , the Kolyma River flowed into the Arctic Ocean . It flowed, that is, during the summer. In the winter it was a ribbon of ice, top to bottom; for the country around the Cherksy Range is the coldest spot on earth except for the center of Antarctica … On the Kolyma , the average winter temperature is sixty degrees below zero. Seventy-five below is common…
Until November they had only shelters made of branches to live in, and were given no clothing but what they had arrived in. Then they were given wooden barracks with walls made of single boards without insulation. There were stoves for heating, but the laborers had to cut their own wood – at thirty and forty and fifty degrees below zero – after completing their day’s work. These, still at Magadan, were the lucky ones. The less fortunate were sent to begin building the road to Kolyma – in the middle of the winter… There were no barracks there, only tents and branch huts. Patrolling dogs prevented escape. Some of the camps on the route to the Kolyma were wiped out to the last man and dog – not only did all the slave laborers die, but also all of the guards…
man who froze to death at a Gulag labor camp
”As soon as the ice melted in the Gulf of Okhotsk more ships began arriving carrying more ‘kulaks,’ saboteurs, wreckers, and other undesirable folk from the country… When the ice melted at the end of the spring in 1934, the Dzhurma finally arrived at the mouth of the Kolyma . Every one of the 12,000 prisoners aboard had died. Nearly all the crew survived. But on their return to Vladivostok , half of them had to be treated for ‘mental disorders.’ What had they seen?
Orotukan was built as a punishment camp for those laborers on the Kolyma who survived and proved particularly intractable. Conditions at Orotukan, therefore, had to be made worse than at any of the other camps in the region. Solzhenitsyn tells us that every hut at Orotukan was surrounded on three sides by piles of frozen corpses. The grand total death toll at the camps on the Kolyma was approximately three million. Every year, one-third of the prisoners in its camps died; almost none survived more than four continuous years there. At least one man died for every kilogram of gold extracted from the Kolyma mines…” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 243-245)
Carroll also describes the Belomor Canal labor camps:
“The Belomor Canal labor force numbered about 300,000 at its peak, not counting the almost equally large number who died of overwork, mistreatment, undernourishment, or camp-induced disease, and were replaced as fast as they fell. The death rate was 700 per day; but new prisoners came in to the camps in the Belomor Canal area at the rate of 1,500 per day. Average survival time was two years… D.P. Vitkovsky, a Solovetsky prisoner himself who was a work supervisor on the canal, describes with calm and deadly precision the working conditions and their results, even for those who were not labor camp inmates:
‘At the end of the workday there were corpses left on the work site. The snow powdered their faces. One of them was hunched over beneath an overturned wheelbarrow; he had hidden his hands in his sleeves and frozen to death in that position. Someone had frozen with his head bent down between his knees. Two were frozen back to back leaning against each other. They were peasant lads and the best workers one could possibly imagine. They were sent to the canal in tens of thousands at a time, and the authorities tried to work things out so no one got to the same subcamp as his father; they tried to break up families. And right off they gave them norms of shingle and boulders that you’d be unable to fulfill even in summer. No one was able to teach them anything, to warn them; and in their village simplicity they gave all their strength to their work and weakened very swiftly and froze to death, embracing in pairs. At night the sledges went out and collected them. The drivers threw the corpses onto the sledges with a dull clonk.
And in the summer bones remained from corpses which had not been removed in time, and together with the shingle they got into the concrete mixer.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 248-249)
Besides the countless people who were sent off to the labor camps and other regions from within Russia , the Soviet Union deported massive amounts of people from other countries which it occupied, in order to pave the way for the full takeover of these States. People from Poland , the Baltic States , etc. were deported and dumped into regions where they had to fend for themselves, or they were sent to the labor camps. This resulted in atrocious suffering and the deaths of countless Catholics:
“Massive deportations had already begun in Soviet-occupied Poland . In February 1940 more than 200,000 people, most families, had been moved to northern European Russia, where they were dumped in small villages or thinly populated countryside where they had to fend for themselves; in April a still larger number, about 320,000 of the wives and children whose husbands and fathers had already been executed or consigned to labor camps, were sent to the wastes of Kazakhstan where most of the children died; in June a quarter of a million more were sent to Siberia.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 318)
Joseph Stalin, arguably the greatest mass-murderer in history, leader of Communist Russia from 1924-1953
From 1930-1934, Stalin instituted the policy of “dekulakization.” Farmers that were opposed, or perceived as threats, to the Communist policy of collectivization of farms were dubbed “kulaks” and liquidated. This unspeakable tragedy resulted in the deaths of 14.5 million:
“Who were these ‘kulaks’?... In May 1929 the Council of People’s Commissars formally defined a kulak as any farmer who made any money whatsoever from any source or activity other than the sale of agricultural produce grown in his own fields. Any outside income, any processing of goods done on the farm (as by a small hand-operated mill), was sufficient to make a kulak. When the campaign of liquidation was launched in 1930, from ten to fifteen per cent of the small farmers in every region were arbitrarily dubbed kulaks and liquidated. If there were not enough of them fitting the May 1929 definition, others had to be added to fill up the quota. They could be selected by income level, actual or apparent; by leadership in local villages… by opposition to forced collectivization (a particularly frequent reason for designation as a kulak); or simply by being devout Christians… It was the first act of a farm holocaust from 1930 to 1934 that took ten million lives by Stalin’s own estimate given to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta , and an estimated 14.5 million when all the victims, including those sent to the labor camps and dying there later, are taken into account.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 224-225)
Here is the harrowing account of Miron Dolot. Dolot witnessed the deportations of these “kulaks” from his hometown to the labor camps and other regions:
“A cold wind blew snow on the unfortunates, who were not properly dressed, for they had not been allowed to take warm clothing with them. We wanted to help somehow, and since we could assume that they would be banished to Siberia, we had to get them some heavy clothing… Under careful supervision of soldiers, a score of sleighs moved into the square. They were to take the arrested farmers out of the village. Loading of six to eight persons to a sleigh started immediately, controlled through the use of a list… husbands were separated from their wives, and children from their parents… As one sleigh moved to join a column, a young man sprang from it and raced toward another sleigh in which his helpless and weeping wife and children were riding. The father obviously wanted to be with his family, but he did not reach them. Comrade Pashchenko, the chairman of the village soviet who was supervising the whole action, raised his revolver and calmly fired. The young father dropped dead into the snow, and the sleigh carrying his widow and orphans moved on.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 227-228)
“There are reports of ‘kulaks’ on trains to Kazakhstan or Siberia, locked in cars each carrying fifty of them, with a loaf of bread and a pail of tea or thin soup per day per ten people (on days when it was delivered), crawling with vermin, unheated in winter, suffocatingly hot in summer, throwing their dying babies out the windows to put an end to their suffering.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 228)
In 1933, in order to starve millions in the Ukraine , Stalin imposed ridiculous grain quotas on the collective farms. The grain quotas imposed by Moscow were impossible to meet. But in an attempt to comply with Moscow ’s demands, all the available grain in the Ukraine was shipped off. The result was that millions were left without food, to starve and to die. To cover for his crime, Stalin falsely accused the Ukrainians of hoarding grain.
Children in the largely Catholic Ukraine , left to starve and to die in the famine
“The cold hard essence of the situation was this: the Ukrainian farmers were going to die; and the Communist operatives feared death, or purging, or the labor camps if they did not let them die. They knew there was no grain. Everybody knew it. But no one dared say it… Meanwhile the people were eating rats, mice, sparrows, snails, ants, and earthworms, leather and shoe soles, old skins and furs, ground-up bones, acacia bark and nettles. By March, in many areas, even most of these things were gone, and there was nothing at all left to eat. A ghastly silence fell over the countryside; there were no animals to make any sound, and the people still alive rarely spoke. Victor Kravchenko, then a Party activist sent to Ukraine , who later repudiated communism and escaped to freedom, recalled what he had seen:
‘Here I saw people dying in solitude by slow degrees, dying hideously, without the excuse of sacrifice for a cause. They had been trapped and left to starve, each in his own home, by a political decision made in a far-off capital around conference and banquet tables. There was not even the consolation of inevitability to relieve the horror. The most terrifying sights were the little children with skeleton limbs dangling from balloon-like abdomens. Starvation had wiped every trace of youth from their faces, turning them into tortured gargoyles; only in their eyes still lingered the reminder of childhood. Everywhere we found men and women lying prone, their faces and bellies bloated, their eyes utterly expressionless… Some five million Ukrainians died in this genocidal, deliberate famine.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 240-241)
At this point we can clearly see why, on July 13, 1917, Our Lady mentioned persecutions of “war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia …”
These facts should show us clearly the context in which Our Lady requested the consecration of Russia , and how the conversion of Russia means a conversion of this regime to peace from its persecutions of war, of hunger, of the Church, etc.
HE WILL DO THE CONSECRATION, BUT IT WILL BE “LATE” – FITS POPE PIUS XII
It is certain that Pope Pius XI failed to consecrate Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. Pope Pius XII also failed to do so for many years, but (as we saw) he finally did consecrate Russia in 1952.
Our Lord to Sister Lucy, Summer, 1931: “Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world provoking wars and persecutions against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer.” (quoted in The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, pp. 543-544)
Freemason Pope Pius XII, Sacro Vergente Anno (Apostolic Letter), July 7, 1952: “…just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin “Mary”, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart…”
It’s clear that, as most commentators agree, Our Lord’s words “They” will repent and do it apply to the line of Popes – just as Popes in encyclicals refer to themselves as “We.” (“They” cannot refer to the Pope and all the Bishops, because all the Bishops did not delay the request and therefore do not need to repent of delaying it.)
That Pope Pius XII was the one who did it, but “late,” makes perfect sense.
First, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary in 1942. Ten years later, however, he “repented and did it” by specifically consecrating Russia .
Second, in 1939 Russia was still the only Communist nation on earth, but in the next decade the Soviet Union overtook Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (1940), Bulgaria (1944), Poland (1945), Romania (1945) and Hungary (1946). Perhaps these developments – in addition to a specific request – caused Pius XII to “repent and do it.” Thus, Our Lord’s words that “Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world provoking wars and persecutions against the Church” fit precisely to Pius XII; for what heaven had intended to prevent by the consecration of Russia – the spread of Communism, and the Soviet Union’s annihilation of nations and martyrdom of the good – had, to a large extent, already occurred when he did it.
Third, there may be another signal that Pope Pius XII (though he certainly did it late) would be the one who would actually consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (Our Lady). This signal comes in the amazing coincidence that Pope Pius XII was consecrated a Bishop the very day (and, according to Frere Michel, the very same hour) that Our Lady first appeared at Fátima.
William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fátima, 1954, p. 52 (note 1): “It is an interesting coincidence that Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli [Pius XII] was being consecrated Bishop at the Sistine Chapel in Rome on May 13, 1917, the very day when the children [first] saw the Lady of Fátima.”
Fourth, a careful consideration of Our Lady’s words reveals that the actual fulfillment of the consecration of Russia would not be in perfect conformity with heaven’s original requests, which coincides with the fact that Pius XII did it, but “late” and not with all the Bishops.
OUR LADY’S WORDS REVEAL TO US THAT HER TRIUMPH IS NOT A UNIVERSAL TRIUMPH OR REIGN OF PEACE, BUT ONLY A “CERTAIN” PERIOD OF PEACE
“If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” |
“In
the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The
Holy Father will consecrate
Russia
to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.” |
Please notice this extremely important point! In the Secret of July 13, Our Lady first expresses a conditional promise. “If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” If her requests are fulfilled precisely, she says that there will be “peace.” But when speaking of what will actually happen “In the end,” she adds something, and declares that it will only be a “certain” period of peace!
Why does Our Lady add the word “certain” when telling us what will actually happen in the end, and not (on the left) when telling us what would happen if her requests were fulfilled precisely? It’s obviously because what would happen with the consecration of Russia would not be in perfect conformity with her original requests! The consecration would be “late,” and not with all the bishops! Thus, as Our Lady’s words prove, the triumph of Our Lady is not a universal triumph or reign of peace, as so many have suggested and promoted, but rather a “certain” period of peace – a mitigated, less profound period of peace than what heaven would have granted if “they listened” to her requests and fulfilled them precisely. This is similar to the message of Fátima on August 19th, when Our Lady told the children: “If you had not been taken away [by the Administrator on Aug. 13] to the City, the miracle [of Oct. 13th] would have been greater” (WTAF, Vol. 1, p. 235.) She told the children that their arrest on August 13th by the evil administrator of Ourem, which prevented them from being at the apparition site that day, caused the miracle on Oct. 13th to be less profound than what it would have been. Likewise, the Pope doing the consecration of Russia “late” and not with all the Bishops caused its conversion to peace not to be as profound as it would have been – but only to a “certain” period of peace.
THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA = THE CONVERSION OF THE SATANIC REGIME IN RUSSIA TO A CERTAIN PERIOD OF PEACE FROM ITS PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH, ETC.
In this article we’ve seen that Our Lady’s words about the conversion of Russia parallel Proverbs 16:7, which speak of a conversion of an enemy, not to the true Faith, but to peace from its persecuting ways.
Proverbs
16:7- “When the ways of man shall please “the Lord”, He
will convert even his enemies to peace.” |
Our
Lady: “If they listen to my requests,
Russia
will be converted and there will be peace.” |
We’ve also seen that Sr. Lucy’s summary of the Tuy vision confirms that this is what Our Lady meant by her words: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Sr. Lucy to Fr. Goncalves, summarizing the Tuy Vision: “The good Lord promises to end the persecution in Russia , if the Holy Father will himself make a solemn act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Sacred Hearts of (Christ and Our Lady), as well as ordering all the bishops of the Catholic Church to do the same.” (The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, p. 465)
We’ve also seen that Our Lady specifically requested the consecration of Russia to prevent Russia ’s stirring up of wars, persecutions of the Church, etc.
“The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is a great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays...”
We’ve also seen that heaven revealed that the actual fulfillment of the consecration of Russia would not be fully in accord with heaven’s original request.
Our Lord to Sister Lucy, Summer, 1931: “Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world provoking wars and persecutions against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer.” (quoted in The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, pp. 543-544)
We’ve also seen that Our Lady’s words about her triumph over Russia do not promise a universal or ideal reign of peace, as so many have suggested, but only a certain period of peace – one that is inferior to the peace that she would have given if her requests were fulfilled precisely.
“If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” |
“In
the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The
Holy Father will consecrate
Russia
to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world.” |
We’ve also seen that Freemason Pius XII clearly consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary in 1952.
Pope Pius XII, Sacro Vergente Anno (Apostolic Letter), July 7, 1952: “…just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the “Virgin Mary”, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart…”
We’ve also seen that another vision of Sr. Lucy shows that the conversion of Russia means a conversion to a certain period of peace from the era of persecution:
Our Lord to Sr. Lucy, Oct. 22, 1940: “I will punish the nations for their crimes by means of war, famine and persecution of My Church and this will weigh especially upon My Vicar on earth. His Holiness will obtain an abbreviation of these days of tribulation if he takes heed of My wishes by promulgating the Act of Consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of (Our Lady), with a special mention of Russia .” (WTAF, Vol. 2, p. 732)
In conclusion, we can answer the question about the consecration of Russia by stating that it is a fact that Russia has been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary by Pope Pius XII. It is also a fact that Russia has been converted from its regime of persecution and the horrors which Our Lady specifically requested the consecration to prevent to a certain period of peace. The era of persecution of the Church in Russia and in all of its satellites – the era of the Gulag, the imposed famines, the martyrdom of priests, the annihilation of small nations annexed to the Soviet Union, the overt and vigorous persecution of the Church, etc. – formally came to an end with the dissolution of the Soviet Union – and the collapse of its satellites – on Christmas Day, 1991. This astonishing transformation occurred within one generation of Pope Pius XII’s consecration of Russia in 1952. Below are three different sources corroborating the fact that the collapse of the Soviet Union officially occurred on Christmas:
“After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 25 December, 1991, the Russian Federation claimed to be the legal successor to the Soviet state on the international stage despite its loss of superpower status. Russian foreign policy repudiated Marxism-Leninism as a guide to action, soliciting Western support for capitalist reforms in post-Soviet Russia .” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union#History)
“…Gorbachev formally resigned his now vanished office of President of the Soviet Union on December 25, the day of the official transfer of all power from the Soviet Union to the Russian republic in the Kremlin, solemnized by a flag change in the early evening. That change took place at 7:35 p.m. It was the stuff of dreams for some, who had imagined how it might happen on some far-off glorious day, but had never expected it so soon. Floodlit against the darkness, the red flag with the hammer and sickle whipped and crackled in the Arctic wind. For seventy-four years it had flown over the Kremlin, vivid and terrible symbol of the ultimate revolution for which the Kremlin was headquarters. Now its day was done. The world watched on television. The cameras focused. The tricolor of pre-revolutionary Russia was made ready for raising. As the bloody banner of man-made apocalypse came fluttering down the Kremlin flagpole under the radiant stars of Christmas night, the Communist Revolution in the West was dead.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 778)
“On Dec. 25 [1991], Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR and was not replaced; on the same day the United States recognized the remaining republics of the USSR as independent nations.” (http://www.answers.com/topic/union-of-soviet-socialist-republics)
Now, there are some who assert that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of its Communist satellites was all a master-plan of the Communists to deceive the West. Communists still rule, they say, but they simply have a Western style of government, which doesn’t persecute the Church, allows freedoms, abolished the Gulag, etc. in order to gain funds from the West. That’s quite a conspiracy theory, but this is the position of many, including former KGB agent Anatoliy Golitsyn in The Perestroika Deception. Even those who hold this view (I do not, as I will explain below) are still admitting (regardless of why they think it has occurred in Russia and in all of its satellites) that the era of persecution in Russia and its satellites is over, thus proving the point. As Sr. Lucy put it: “The good Lord promises to end the persecution in Russia ,” and this has occurred. And this cessation of the persecution of the Church in Russia and in all of its satellites represents a significant triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart over the satanic Russian regime, which was poised to, and probably would have (according to Sr. Lucy’s statement to William Thomas Walsh), overtaken the entire earth if the Russian regime had not been converted beforehand. I believe that this is why the official dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on Christmas; it was a sign that the conversion of this enemy into something else and to a certain period of peace from its persecutions, etc. was a triumph of heaven. (And those who don’t think that the conversion of Russia to a certain period of peace from its era of persecution is somehow “good enough” or “big enough” to be what Our Lady meant, then I suggest they re-read those passages on the situation in Russia and its satellites during that period, and ask themselves how they would have liked to be in Gulag prison camp at Orotukan, or in the Ukraine during the famine, or deported from Lithuania to the wastes of Siberia.)
Even an article carried on “Fr.” Gruner’s own website is forced to admit that the Soviet Union has “converted”!
Cornelia Ferreira, “Commentary on The Perestroika Deception by Anatoliy Golitsyn,” Catholic Family News, March, 1996: “In order to increase Communist representation and influence in the UN, the European Union and international financial organizations, the Soviet Union was deliberately converted into independent republics.” (also carried on fatima.org, Gruner’s website)
I don’t know what more one needs to prove that Russia (the Soviet Union) was “converted” into something else, which resulted in a certain period of peace from its persecutions, etc., than seeing this fact admitted in publications such as these! These are the publications that would be the most opposed to the thesis of this article, yet even they are compelled to admit that with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 a “conversion” of the regime has taken place! This “conversion” that has occurred with the Soviet Union, regardless of why you think it has occurred, has brought an end to the particular era of persecution and the things which Our Lady specifically requested the consecration to prevent. This is an undeniable fact.
That is why it is irrelevant for people such as Nicholas Gruner and his followers to continually bring up the fact that Russia is presently rife with immorality, abortion, pornography, etc. That is certainly true, but it is beside the point. Our Lady never promised that Russia would be converted to a good nation or to a Catholic one, but rather, as shown again and again in this article, she spoke of its conversion in the context of a conversion of an enemy from its persecuting ways, along the lines of Proverbs 16:7. This has occurred. Just ask anyone who lives, for instance, in the Czech Republic today as opposed to under Communism.
Shortly we will take a look at how things changed in each of the satellites of the Soviet Union . These facts will show us that even if the liberalizing policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) – which were adopted by the Soviet Union in 1980’s – were intended as a deception by the higher-ups in the Communist Party, the fact is that the plan backfired. For once these ideas were promoted and put somewhat into action, they caught on with the people behind the Communist Bloc, and the momentum for freedom from Communist tyranny became unstoppable.
THE FALL OF THE SATELLITES
The Fall of Poland:
“In 1956 the régime became more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. In 1970 the government was changed. It was a time when the economy was more modern, and the government had large credits. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union, “Solidarity”, which over time became a political force. It eroded the dominance of the Communist Party; by 1989 it had triumphed in parliamentary elections, and Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement greatly contributed to the soon-following collapse of Communism all over Eastern Europe .” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland#History)
What further corroborates that Russia was converting from its satanic regime of persecutions to a certain period of peace is the fact that, as Poland began to free itself from Communist domination, Russia did not roll in the tanks to restore order and re-assert the dominance of the Communist Party, as it had done in the past; whereas in China, during the same period, when demonstrators for Democracy got “out of hand,” the Chinese regime sent in the force to restore order by means of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The Fall of Hungary:
“Then in May [1989] the reform-minded Hungarian Communist government took a step unprecedented for a Communist country. It opened the national border with Austria. The cement and barbed-wire barricades which held the people of Hungary inside their oppressed land… were taken down… On October 7 the conference [of the Hungarian Communist Party] voted 1,005-159 to abandon Leninist ideology and rename itself the Hungarian Socialist Party. A few days later the Hungarian parliament dropped the Communist-imposed name ‘People’s Republic’ for their country… The parliament changed the constitution to provide for a multi-party system. The direct election of a president was approved… On the 33rd anniversary of the Budapest uprising of 1956, October 23, 1989, Hungary officially proclaimed itself free of Soviet domination. Free elections to parliament were held in March and April 1990. Despite a plethora of parties, the Communists, with just eight per cent of the vote, came in fourth. Historian Jozsef Antall, head of Democratic Forum, became prime minister of a non-Communist coalition government of Hungary in May 1990.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 735-736)
The Fall of East Germany:
“Rapidly as the momentum of change in the Communist world was building in the last four months of 1989, it seemed unlikely to most observers that there would be any fundamental alteration in the status of Communist East Germany soon. Conventional wisdom held that the Soviet Union, even under Gorbachev, would not and could not afford to let go this large portion of the population and territory of their supreme enemy during two world wars, and certainly would never permit the reunification of Germany . The boss of East Germany , Erich Honecker, was the toughest Communist leader west of China … [he] had ruled his artificial country with an iron hand for the past eighteen years. He had helped to build the Berlin Wall and had given repeated orders to ‘shoot to kill’ anyone trying to cross it, above or below, which took the lives of over two hundred men and women desperately fleeing his tyranny.
(top) guards on the Berlin Wall, ready to shoot anyone who crossed (bottom) the lighted “death strip,” painted white so that anyone crossing would be easy to see and shoot
“In Honecker’s capital, the Berlin Wall loomed as a constant reminder that travel to the West was prohibited to all but an officially favored few in East Germany . But travel to ‘fraternal socialist countries’ was permitted. The problem, for Honecker, was that by the end of the summer of 1989 two of those countries – Poland and Hungary – were ceasing to be fraternally socialist. Hungary in particular was a favorite vacation spot for East Germans who could afford to travel. And Hungary now had an open border with Austria, beyond which lay West Germany.
By August the West German embassy in Budapest [ Hungary ] was besieged by persons requesting entry to West Germany and assistance in obtaining documents that would allow them to leave Hungary legally. On September 11, tired of grappling with this foreign problem while its own momentous changes were in process, the Hungarian government announced that all East Germans then in Hungary , and any who wished to do so in the future, might cross the Austrian border without restraint. And the outward flood began.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 736-737)
Let us stop right here and summarize the point that is being made. Without special permission, travel from behind the Iron Curtain was strictly forbidden during the reign of the Soviet Union . But travel to fellow Communist satellites was not forbidden. Thus, once Poland and (more significantly in this regard) Hungary (two communist satellites) had fallen from Communist domination (as we saw above), there was a problem.
(not pictured here is the USSR to the right of Poland and Czechoslovakia , and Communist Romania to the lower right of Hungary)
Hungary had opened its border with Austria , and East Germans in Hungary flooded to the West via Austria . Thus, if one wanted to escape to free West Germany, all he had to do was get to Hungary, cross the (now open) border of Austria, and go to West Germany. One can see how this situation couldn’t last long, and would spell the end for the Communist Bloc’s imprisonment of peoples.
“News of this spread fast. Second to Hungary as a favorite travel destination for East Germans was Czechoslovakia , particularly Prague . Czechoslovakia was still under hard-line Communist control. But its leaders could read the newspapers; they did not want foreigners stirring up trouble at such a time. After several thousand East German tourists crowded into the West German embassy in Prague and began camping around it, demanding to go to West Germany, the Czech authorities told the West German Foreign Minister they would let them go if Honecker agreed. In a moment of fantasy which defies rational explanation, Honecker did agree on the absurd condition that the trains carrying the refugees should all be routed through East Germany , sealed. This produced scenes of more and more people in East German cities frantically trying to climb aboard the sealed trains as they passed through – as many as ten thousand in Dresden alone.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 738)
Not all the East Germans who wanted to flee to the West could reach Hungary , but some of them could get to Czechoslovakia. Seeing that others from their oppressed country had fled from Communist tyranny via Hungary , they besieged the West German embassy in Communist Czechoslovakia to let them go, and they camped out at the embassy. Not wanting to be troubled by a refugee situation, the Czechoslovakian government agreed to let them go if Honecker (the Communist leader of East Germany ) agreed. Incredibly, he did agree – probably to save his Czechoslovakian comrades the trouble of having to deal with a refugee crisis. At that point, so many East Germans started to take advantage that Honecker banned all travel by East Germans to Czechoslovakia . This was futile:
“On October 3 [1989] Honecker banned all travel by East Germans to Czechoslovakia . But he had no wall on the Czech border; it was a fraternal socialist state.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 738)
One can only imagine the enthusiasm at this point in the satellite States. Seeing that others in Poland and Hungary had been liberated from Communist domination, they longed that much more for freedom from its tyranny. The momentum was unstoppable. Huge crowds gathered in Leipzig to protest the Communist Government in East Germany .
“The anniversary ceremonies took place on October 8… The next day was Monday – prayer and rally time at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig . And this day there were no less than fifty thousand people present, as though sprung up from the polluted East German earth. Honecker had seen it coming. He had assembled a large force of secret police, regular police, and soldiers in Leipzig and had issued them live ammunition, with instructions to use whatever force was required to break up the demonstration. Another Tiananmen Square loomed. But the order to fire did not come…. But he [Honecker] adamantly refused to renounce the use of deadly force against the crowds. At a critical meeting of the East German Politburo October 10, only two members supported Honecker in this. Even hard old lifelong Communists argued against a ‘Chinese solution.’... Honecker raged in vain. Three days later he issued a vague and uncharacteristic statement promising economic reforms, more consumer goods and expanded rights to travel… On October 16 the number of Monday demonstrators in Leipzig tripled to 150,000. On the next day the East German Politburo met again… Most of the other Politburo members knew the game was up. There was to be no help from the Soviet Union …”
Huge crowds in Leipzig protesting the East German Communist government
“The East German army, which had never fired a gun in anger and was not and never had been defending a real country, could not be counted on in a crisis. If the crowds in Leipzig had tripled to 150,000 in one week, how many might be there next Monday? Willi Stoph, the 75-year-old prime minister, belled the cat. He told Honecker he must resign. The next day he did, citing reasons of health… If Erich Honecker could not maintain communism in East Germany , no one else could. The Party, for so long and until so recently almighty, fell like a sand castle in the rain. On October 30 three hundred thousand marched after the Monday prayers in Leipzig ; on November 4 half a million rallied for freedom in East Berlin , demanding effective restraints on the power of the government. On November 7 the entire East German government resigned, and Honecker was dismissed from the Politburo…
“In the dissolving chaos, some anonymous government official issued a statement that ‘private trips abroad can be requested without fulfilling requirements.’ No one knew what it meant, probably including the official who wrote it; but crowds surging up to the Berlin Wall shouted it like a slogan, and the border guards did not know what it meant either. Late in the evening of November 9 the officers commanding them at the Wall decided to let the pressing people through. By midnight hundreds of thousands were pouring through the opened gates, rejoicing and celebrating wildly, bashing chunks off the wall with improvised hammers. Government officials cut a huge hole in the wall at Potsdamer Platz. On November 11 no less than a million East Germans flooded into West Berlin on foot and by every mode of transportation… No one any longer tried to stop them… On December 3 the entire Politburo resigned and Honecker was arrested. The [Communist] Party almost dissolved itself completely on the spot… East Germany now had no future. In the course of 1990 it slipped unmourned into history as, contrary to all previous expectations and punditry, Germany was fully reunified with no significant opposition from anyone, not even the Soviet government.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 738-740)
The Fall of Czechoslovakia:
“The fall of the Berlin Wall tolled the knell for Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. On November 17 a student-led rally of 17,000 in Prague ’s broad Wenceslas Square demanded the elimination of the ‘leading role’ of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Police beat some of the demonstrators, and public anger rapidly escalated… On November 20 two hundred thousand filled Wenceslas Square from end to end, calling for a change of government, shouting ‘This is it! Now is the time!’ Every day another rally was held at Wenceslas Square ; every day the already enormous numbers grew. On November 22 more than a quarter of a million changed ‘resign! resign!’ as the names of ministers in the Communist government were mentioned… On November 27 virtually the whole country joined in a two-hour general strike, and the government… declared that the Czechoslovak Communist Party would abandon its ‘leading role.’ But [Prime Minister] Adamec did not move fast enough; the still largely Communist government he proposed was rejected by Havel and the Civic Forum, and on December 7 he resigned as Prime Minister, followed two days later by the resignation of President Gustav Husak… A new non-communist government was instituted, and millions of Czechs and Slovaks celebrated.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 740-741)
The Fall of Bulgaria:
“The day the Berlin Wall fell there was a change in the Communist leadership in Bulgaria . Todor Zhikov, who had governed this most obedient satellite of the Soviet Union for no less that 35 years, stepped down under pressure for reform which he was unable or unwilling to undertake… A month later 50,000 people rallied in previously wholly quiescent Sofia , demanding the resignation of the ‘leading role’ of the Communist Party. In an incautious outburst caught by a television reporter that destroyed him politically when it was revealed, Mladenov [now leading Communist Bulgaria] muttered ‘the best thing to do is bring in the tanks.’ But he brought in no tanks, nor does any such action seem to have been seriously proposed even by this hard-line government, which had furnished assassins to the KGB for many years. A gentle, modest philosopher named Zhelyu Zhelev formed a Democratic Union, and on December 12 the Bulgarian Communist Party agreed to relinquish its monopoly of power and hold free elections. A second round of these, in 1990, made Zhelev president.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 741-742)
The Fall of Romania ( Rumania):
“There remained, standing against the freedom tide, the long unchallenged Communist dictator of Rumania , Nicolae Ceausescu, and his coldly vicious wife, Elena… The Ceausescus loved power with a consuming passion… He kept Rumania in poverty while building enormous showcase projects… The secret police were everywhere, keeping constant watch on everyone even slightly suspected of dissidence. Every typewriter in Rumania was registered with the secret police, along with a sample of its typing so that any compromising document could be traced to the machine that typed it. Assassins tracked the few prominent persons who successfully fled the country and hunted them down to their deaths. On November 20, with Poland and Hungary and East Germany liberated and Czechoslovakia on the way to liberation, Ceausescu said he would never follow these nations in ‘blocking socialism.’
Once again, as in Poland and in East Germany , the liberation of a Communist country began with a church… The government had ordered Tokes to leave his parish. He refused to go. On December 15, the deadline given for his eviction, a thousand people rallied unexpectedly to his support. The next day the number swelled to five thousand. Ceausescu sent in the army. Its officers were reluctant to open fire, but Ceausescu condemned them for indecisiveness and on the 17th ordered a ‘Chinese solution.’ About a hundred people were killed and hundreds more wounded.
The people of the city responded with a general strike as the army began to withdraw from it, eager to put the scene of their killings behind them. Sympathy demonstrations began in other cities; Ceausescu warned that he would use similar force against any and all of them if they continued. On December 21 he went outside the presidential palace to harangue a crowd on live national television. For the first time in his 24 years of power he was met with shaken fists, hoots and jeers and shouts of ‘Ceausescu dictator!’ lasting a full three minutes. Startled, he began to wave his hands ineffectually; Elena hissed at him, ‘Be calm! Be calm!’ Then the nation’s television screens went blank. The crowd grew to 15,000 in the course of the day and was finally broken up by the security police, who killed thirteen people.
The next day large crowds surrounded the building used by the Party Central Committee in Palace Square in Bucharest. Still full of manic confidence, Ceausescu came out to speak to them. But someone had turned off the microphone. There was fighting in the streets; the people were entering the building. Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu boarded a waiting helicopter just ahead of the attacking crowd. The helicopter landed short of its destination, by an open road… Nicolae and Elena leaped out and tried to flag a passing truck. A few minutes later they were arrested. Many of the rest of the government… shed its Communist structure and very soon its Communist name, blamed Ceausescu of everything, and got away with it. The reconstituted government disposed of the Ceausescus with lightning speed. On Christmas day 1989 they were brought before a drumhead court-martial, convicted, and executed.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 742-743)
And while the era of persecution officially culminated with the fall of the satellites (1989-1991) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), the winds of change began much earlier than that. The death of Stalin in 1953 was a good start. Nikita Khrushchev actually denounced Stalin and allowed the publication of a book exposing the horrors of the Gulag labor camps:
“Speaking at a Moscow rally July 19, 1963… Khrushchev threw away his prepared text and made his most vehement recorded public assault on Stalin, calling him one of the worst tyrants in history, who had stayed in power only by ‘the headman’s axe.’…” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 529-530)
“…[in 1962] Khrushchev authorized the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s short novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the first explicit account of the horrors of Stalin’s labor camps to be printed in the Soviet Union… This act of Khrushchev may well have been, from the vantage point of history, second in importance only to his own denunciation of Stalin. For Solzhenityn’s was a voice no man and no system could silence, once it had been heard.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, p. 494)
“To many in the Party, Khrushchev’s permission for the publication of Solzhenitsyn’s book was a major error which rendered the follow-up writings inevitable and had potential for seriously endangering the regime.” (Warren H. Carroll, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution, pp. 529-530)
Of course, Khrushchev was an evil Communist who threatened nuclear war with the U.S. (which never came to pass), told the world at the U.N. that “we will bury you,” and wanted to profit politically by the denunciation of Stalin. But the fact the he could actually get away with denouncing Stalin and allowing the publication of a book exposing the Gulag showed how things were beginning to change inside the Soviet Union – how the era of persecution was coming to an end – which eventually led to the collapse of the regime in 1991.
Q. But China and North Korea still persecute Catholics as Russia did under Stalin, etc?
A. Our Lady never promised that China , etc. would convert; she indicated that Russia would be converted to a certain period of peace. The fact that Pope Pius XII did it “late” is surely why Communism was able to spread to these other countries even after his consecration, such as China, N. Korea, Cuba. As stated already, in the message of Fátima on August 19th Our Lady told the children: “If you had not been taken away [by the Administrator on Aug. 13] to the City, the miracle [of Oct. 13th] would have been greater” (WTAF, Vol. 1, p. 235.) She told the children that their arrest on August 13th by the evil administrator of Ourem, which prevented them from being at the apparition site that day, caused the miracle on Oct. 13th to be less profound than what it would have been! Likewise, the Pope doing the consecration of Russia “late” caused its conversion to peace not to be as profound as it would have been – such as preventing the spread of Communism to these other countries. God and Our Lady promised that the persecution would end in Russia , and they obviously included the satellite nations of Russia – such as Poland , etc. – in the promise; for these were, in reality, only extensions of the Soviet Empire. And this has occurred.
Sr. Lucy to Fr. Goncalves, summarizing Tuy Vision, 1930: “The good Lord promises to end the persecution in Russia , if the Holy Father will himself make a solemn act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus Christ and Our Lady, as well as ordering all the bishops of the Catholic Church to do the same. The Holy Father must then promise that upon the ending of this persecution he will approve and recommend the practice of the reparatory devotion already described.” (The Whole Truth About Fátima, Vol. 2, p. 465)
SOME LEFTOVER OBJECTIONS
Q. What about Sr. Lucy. If Pope Pius XII’s consecration of Russia in 1952 was accepted in heaven, how come she didn’t say so?
A. Sr. Lucy knew what Heaven revealed to her; she did not know what heaven did not reveal to her. It is extremely important to note that in 1947, when asked by William Thomas Walsh about Pope Pius XII’s 1942 consecration of the world, Sr. Lucy didn’t even know if it was sufficient!
William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fátima, p. 222: “After my return from Portugal I wrote several questions which His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria was good enough to send to Sister Dores [Sr. Lucy]. Her answers, written February 17, 1947, reached me just too late for the first edition of this book… Q. Is it your opinion that the Pope and the Bishops will consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) “Mary” only after the laity have done their duty, in Rosaries, sacrifices, first Saturday Communions, etc.? A. [Sr. Lucy] The Holy Father has already consecrated Russia, including it in the consecration of the world, but it has not been done in the form indicated by Our Lady: I do not know whether Our Lady accepts it, done in this way, as complying with her promises. Prayer and sacrifice are always the means necessary to draw down the graces and blessings of God.”
This was in reference to Pope Pius XII’s consecration of the world on Oct. 31, 1942! Sr. Lucy didn’t even know that this didn’t fulfill the request of heaven! Five years later, Pius XII went further and specifically consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of (the Jewish) Mary. So how could a person say that Pope Pius XII’s consecration of Russia definitely wasn’t accepted in heaven, when Sr. Lucy didn’t even know if his consecration of the world wasn’t accepted in heaven? This serves to show us that Sr. Lucy only knew what heaven revealed to her, and that she did not know – but was only speculating on – things that were not specifically revealed to her. For instance, she knew that various nations would be annihilated, as Our Lady told her, but she didn’t necessarily know exactly how that prophecy would have its fulfillment.
Q. Didn’t Fr. Alonso, the Fátima expert, also hold that Russia would be converted to the Catholic Faith?
A. Yes, in addition to “Fr.” Gruner, Fr. Alonso has probably been the biggest proponent of the idea that the consecration of Russia will convert the nation to the Catholic Faith, and that a universal reign of peace will result – an idea which finds no proof in the words of Our Lady. What people need to know is that Fr. Alonso was a liberal heretic who 1) justified Paul VI’s decision not to reveal the third secret; 2) condemned traditionalists; 3) was extremely soft on the number one enemy of Fátima, Fr. Dhanis; and 4) agreed with the bogus note from the Coimbra diocese which rejected Sr. Lucy’s 1957 interview with Fr. Fuentes.
Fr. Alonso: “An inopportune revelation of the text [by Paul VI] would only have further exasperated the two tendencies which continue to tear the Church apart: a traditionalism which would believe itself to be assisted by the Fátima prophecies, and a progressivism which would have lashed out against these apparitions…” (WTAF, Vol. 3, p. 712)
Here we see Fr. Alonso condemning traditionalists and justifying Paul VI for not revealing the third secret! Remember, this is the man who, in addition to Gruner, is largely responsible for promoting the idea (now almost universally believed) that Russia will necessarily convert to the Catholic Faith resulting in universal triumph of Our Lady and peace over the earth.
Fr. Alonso: “It must be clearly noted that certain ‘revelations’ made by the press concerning Sister Lucy cannot be attributed to her, for example, those spread by Father Fuentes and Father Lombardi.” (WTAF, Vol. 3, p. 552)
Here we see Fr. Alonso agreeing with the bogus note from the Diocese of Coimbra (more on this in a bit) which denounced Fr. Fuentes as a fabricator. Thus, the fact that Fr. Alonso held such and such a position or idea proves nothing. What is very interesting and unfortunate is that writer after writer has adopted the idea of Alonso and Gruner on the conversion of Russia and the triumph of Our Lady. This has been very significant in misleading them on the current apostasy. Notice how the following writer seems to bank everything on “In the end…”
Mark Fellows, Fátima in Twilight, p. 334: “(Our Lady) has given us this promise: ‘In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and some time of peace will be granted to the world.’ Father Alonso also wrote, ‘The final triumph of (Our Lady’s) heart is certain and it will be definitive…’
On that day history will at last be pulled into conformity with the Divine Will. The chastisement of apostasy will cease. In the new dawn all will realize that the darksome nightmare we are living through did not vitiate Christ’s promise that the gates of hell would never conquer His Church. Perfect mercy will follow perfect justice. Russia will be devotedly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart. The conversion of that tortured nation will be dazzling, blinding, as the perfect humility of the Immaculate will put the red dragon and his beasts to flight… New legends will be born that will seed cultures with the will to base society on the Kingship of Christ. This will inspire a renaissance of Christian poetry and art. Man will remember anew the supernatural reality of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. With trembling reverence, we will once more kneel before the Almighty.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it? The problem is that it has no foundation in the words of Our Lady, as we have shown. The triumph of Our Lady is a triumph “in the end” (i.e., after Russia will have already spread its errors, annihilating certain nations and martyring the good) over the satanic regime in Russia by converting it to a certain period of peace, as we have shown. It is not a universal triumph or reign of peace, but only a “certain” period of peace.
Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fátima , Vol. 3, pp. 837-838: “However, let us not be mistaken. The third Secret cannot announce the end of the world, which will not come before the fulfillment of the wonderful promise which concludes the Secret. But this promise of the imminent triumph of the Immaculate Heart of (Our Lady), which is so comforting and generates such enthusiasm, a promise which ought to be preached unceasingly, in season and out of season, Cardinal Ratzinger ignores…”
Notice that Frere Michel seems to hold the same position, banking everything on his version of the triumph of Our Lady. On page 845 of his third volume, Frere Michel goes so far as to move the words of Our Lady about “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world” to after the words “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved, etc.” The last words given by Our Lady in the secret of July 13 were: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved, etc.” The words “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph…” come before these words because they pertain to the second part of the secret, the part dealing with the period of Russia ’s persecutions covered in this article.
Q. What do you think is the meaning of the words: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved, etc.” which come just before the third secret?
A. Since we don’t have the complete sentence, we cannot say for sure, but it could be: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved in a faithful remnant…” Or: “In Portugal the dogma of Faith will always be preserved until the Great Apostasy…” The third secret undoubtedly deals with the present apostasy of the Vatican II sect.
|
