The Last Pope!

Blackberry Under the Spotlight  D THE THIRD SECRET CONTROVERSY

The above-mentioned characteristics mean that prudence and caution are required on the part of Bishops examining these cases, especially when it is a question of granting them public worship, and even more, of possibly pronouncing on their supernatural character. This worship, however, is increasingly assuming a theological status with important pastoral implications. The International Congress at Lourdes in 2008 will focus precisely on the "theological significance" of Marian apparitions. But let us return to the Fatima message. The fruitful encounter between charism and institution, Trinitarian mystery and Christological mystery, is fulfilled in it. Mary, a sign of God's mercy, does not leave Christians on their own. She gives us hints as signs to combat the titanic battle between good and evil. Mary is the image of God's tenderness for us. There are certain characteristics at Fatima: from the consignment of pious practices to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; from spirituality to a historical and political vision (Russia, peace and war, atheism...); from a geographically limited influence to one that is universal to the point that it affects the Pontiffs, and in a special way, Pope Wojtyla. In a recent interview with Avvenire [Italian Catholic daily] newspaper, I have already had the opportunity to say that the mystery of Fatima is an event. that has affected and permeated contemporary history more than any other Marian apparition. And the fullness of its message — not only of the third part of the "secrets" — touches the hearts of human beings, inviting them to conversion and to co-responsibility for the world's salvation. Here we find an interpretative key to the 19th century, and in a certain sense its message obliges today's men and women to reckon with a supernatural dimension that they are not always prepared to consider. Even for believers, the idea of a supernatural "intrusion" into earthly events can be difficult to accept, compared with that which refers every confrontation between man and God to eschatology, which is in some ways soothing. A remote and distant God is more comfortable, as Pope Benedict XVI has said several times, than a God who is close and accessible. Many do not know that Mother Teresa of Calcutta's

last gaze before she died met that of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima placed in her bedroom. In September 1959, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina felt that he had been "miraculously cured" by Our Lady of Fatima at the very moment when her little statue was leaving San Giovanni Rotondo. In that period, the Saint with the stigmata was weakened by a dangerous "bronchial-pneumonia complicated by the effusion of serous fluid". The diagnosis was made by Dr. Sala, his regular physician. Padre Pio prayed to Our Lady of Fatima and the following day he was once again able to celebrate Mass. The book being presented today was written above all with the intention of speaking of Sr. Lucia, of her attractive and forthright humanity, typical of an ordinary woman who had had a quite extraordinary experience; and through Sr. Lucia, of Mary. It should be noted that Sr. Lucia, the illiterate child who learned to read and write in the convent, then wrote throughout her life. In the 1980s alone an average of 5,000 letters a year arrived in Coimbra, and this figure became tens of thousands after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Doubt was cast on the veracity of the integral publication of the third "secret" which she had written down in obedience to the Bishop's orders; well, had the truth been different it could have been detected in the thousands of answers which Lucia wrote to the faithful in every part of the world who asked her questions, spending many hours a day in her very personal office. Lastly, I cannot omit a reference to Pope Benedict XVI. Some of his journeys have been profoundly marked by the figure of the "Pilgrim Pope in the footsteps of Mary": Czestochowa, Poland; Altötting, Bavaria; Ephesus, Turkey; Our Lady of the Forlorn, Valencia, Spain; Aparecida, Brazil; Loreto, Italy, with the young people; and Mariazell, Austria. The Pope's Marian devotion is also being given a practical expression this year, which is the 90th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. Two. Papal Envoys will have been sent to Fatima: Cardinal Angelo Sodano on 13 May, the anniversary of the first apparition; and the Cardinal Secretary of State is to be there for the anniversary of the last apparition and the conclusion of the festivities.

10

www.globalreport2010.com