The Fatima Center’s recent conference on the Message of Fatima was an island of sanity in an ocean of madness.

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        I was privileged to attend and participate in a conference on the Message of Fatima sponsored by the Fatima Center in New York City, from November 10-12, 2001. The conference, entitled "Rally Against Terrorism," took place at the Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Madison Square Gardens, about three miles from Ground Zero.

Why New York Now!

        What better location than New York City for a conference devoted to the Heavenly plan for peace unveiled by the Mother of God at Fatima? Surely no one would better understand than New Yorkers how desperately we need Heavenly assistance at this time of peril in the world. If living and working near Ground Zero does not impress upon people that we are living in a state of gravest peril, what will?

        As Catholics we recognize that not only the world, but the Church, is in grave danger. Here too Fatima holds the answers. For the Catholics who came to the conference in New York, it is not difficult to recognize that the "new springtime of Vatican II" is actually one of the worst winters in Church history. By any empirical measure — be it baptisms, marriages, conversions, vocations, Mass attendance, or general adherence to Church teaching as shown in innumerable surveys of Catholics — the Church is in the midst of a profound crisis.

The Present Crisis

        We know all too well the litany of what has gone wrong in the Church since the Council. We know, above all, that the liturgy concocted by Pope Paul VI (together with the six Protestant ministers who advised him on it) lies in ruins —"the collapse of the liturgy" is how even Cardinal Ratzinger describes the situation. After decades of liturgical destruction, the Vatican is reduced to issuing a toothless document (Liturgiam Authenticam) which calls upon the bishops to undo seriously defective vernacular translations of the New Mass which the Vatican itself approved some thirty years ago. (It may be another thirty years before the American bishops direct parish priests to say "I believe" instead of "We believe" in the Creed. But not even Liturgiam Authenticam addresses what Msgr. Klaus Gamber rightly calls the "truly scandalous" translation of Our Lord’s words "for many" at the Consecration as "for all" — a falsification not even Protestant versions of the Bible have attempted.)

"Diabolical Disorientation"

        As the Vatican does next to nothing about rescuing Catholics from the ecclesial disaster area of the new liturgy, behold the following: Cardinal Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, has arranged for the Pope to apologize to Red China for the alleged "errors" of 19^th Century missionaries — in the very midst of Chinese communist persecution of the Catholic Church today. Meanwhile, good priests are routinely persecuted by their superiors, while child-molesters or professional dissenters like Richard P. McBrien and Hans Küng enjoy clerical good standing; the traditional Latin Mass is treated as if it were a strain of anthrax that must be hermetically sealed off from the rest of the Church at remote "indult locations"; and, in survey after survey, the majority of Catholics express their great affection for John Paul II while dissenting from any Church teaching (especially on marriage and procreation) they deem unduly burdensome.

        And then there is this: In 1988 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was immediately declared "schismatic" and pronounced "excommunicated" in Vatican documents because he consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate in an effort (however mistaken one might think it to be) to preserve some semblance of Catholic tradition in the midst of the growing chaos in the Church. Yet the same Vatican apparatus issues no official condemnation whatever of the blatantly schismatic Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) in Red China. The CPA has consecrated one hundred bishops without a papal mandate; its constitution expressly renounces obedience to the Roman Catholic Pope; and the CPA bishops have issued a "pastoral letter" calling on Chinese Catholics to support the communist regime’s population control policy, including forced abortion. But instead of declaring the schism and excommunication of the CPA bishops, Vatican-based Cardinals send Cardinal Etchegaray to celebrate Mass in their presence — in a Marian shrine the CPA stole from loyal "underground" Catholics who would not renounce their allegiance to Rome! This is surely madness.

Message of Fatima: Port of Serenity and Sanity

        And Our Lady of Fatima foresaw it all more than 84 years ago when She appeared above a holm-oak tree in a humble field in Portugal. Why else would the Mother of God have come to earth to show three children a vision of hell and to remind them — to remind us all — that souls are saved from hell through the intercession of Her Immaculate Heart, devotion to which God wishes to establish in the world? Why else would the Virgin have come to proclaim that Her divine Son had chosen the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart as the means of converting that nation, reversing the spread of its errors throughout the world, and bringing a period of peace to mankind? The Mother of God knew there would be a crisis in the world, and a crisis in the Church. That is why She came down from Heaven with a Message She authenticated with a public miracle even atheists who saw it had no choice but to believe.

        The Message of Fatima is an island of sanity in an increasingly insane world — a world whose disordered notions have penetrated the human element of the Church itself, as no less than Paul VI admitted when he lamented in 1973 that "the opening to the world became a veritable invasion of the Church by worldly thinking. We have perhaps been too weak and imprudent." To recall the Message of Fatima is to recall a time, not so long ago, when those who governed the Church would never have dreamed of experiments with the liturgy, a new "ecumenism" and a new "dialogue with the world." Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." [Mt. 7:20] What are the fruits of these unheard-of novelties? To ask the question is to answer it.

Informed and Encouraged

        And so, with these considerations in view, I went to the Fatima conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania. Throughout that weekend a very large and enthusiastic crowd of loyal Catholics listened to various speeches on the current crisis in the Church and the world as seen from the perspective of Fatima. They came away more informed, more encouraged and more hopeful than when they arrived. A dose of Catholic truth and common sense will have that effect on people.

The Attempt to Silence the Fatima Message

        Now, some have suggested that Catholics ought not to attend conferences put on by the Fatima Center because its head, Father Nicholas Gruner, has been declared "suspended" by the Bishop of Avellino, according to an announcement by the Vatican Press Office only one day after the carnage of 9/11 — a new low in bad taste. The announcement, which gives absolutely no reason for the "suspension" — another first in the "case" of Father Gruner — states that the world is being informed about Father Gruner by "mandate of a higher authority" who chooses not to identify himself. This "higher authority" could only be Father Gruner’s longstanding nemesis, Cardinal Sodano; for if it were really the Pope who is behind this "suspension," Sodano himself would have made certain that the world knew it. For that matter, only days before the "suspension" was announced by "a higher authority," Father Gruner was sent a personal note from the Pope’s personal secretary, Bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, wishing him well with his Fatima conference in Rome October 7-13. Clearly, then, the Pope is not behind this.

        At any rate, to those who say that one must shun Father Gruner’s organization because he is "suspended," I can only say that they know nothing (or pretend to know nothing) about his canonical situation. In the first place, a priest may not be punished at all, much less "suspended," unless he has actually committed some offense. A "suspension" without grounds makes about as much sense as a criminal conviction without an underlying crime. If a criminal court were to declare that defendant Smith "has been convicted" and said nothing more, its sentence would be laughable. Convicted of what? Likewise, if Father Gruner is declared "suspended," but no reason is given, the "suspension" cannot be taken seriously. Suspended for what?

        The Vatican announcement does not say why Father Gruner was suspended. Small wonder. The only reason given in some six years of canonical proceedings is patently ridiculous: Father Gruner is "suspended" for not "returning" to the Diocese of Avellino, Italy after he "failed" to achieve incardination in another diocese. What is never mentioned is that Father Gruner received offers of incardination from three different bishops outside of Avellino, and that Father Gruner’s own accusers in the Vatican apparatus blocked those incardinations from going forward, thereby making Father Gruner the only priest in the Roman Catholic Church who is not allowed to transfer from one diocese to another. Thus, (and this is an old story to those who know the case) Father Gruner is "suspended" for "failing" to do what his own accusers prevented him from doing. (The details of this travesty of justice are presented elsewhere in this issue of The Fatima Crusader.)

        Besides, even if there were just grounds for the "suspension" — and there are none — Father Gruner would still be as entitled as any other Catholic to express his views on Fatima, both orally and in writing. He has not, after all, been sentenced to ecclesiastical jail. Meanwhile, innumerable clerics who really should be suspended because of the damage they are causing the Church avoid all punishment and are even promoted to greater positions of authority — like Bishop Lehmann of Germany, for example, who was made a Cardinal despite his support for the German bishops’ issuance of abortion counseling certificates which women used to kill their babies. This is not a question of one guilty party pointing to the others and saying "What about them?" — like the indignant motorist who demands to know why only he has gotten a speeding ticket. No, this is a question of a morally innocent priest being punished, while the guilty go free.

        So, talk to me about Father Gruner’s "suspension" when the likes of Father McBrien, Father Küng and their fellow-travelers around the world are suspended and removed from their positions of influence in the Church. Talk to me about Father Gruner’s "suspension" when the Vatican declares that the communist-controlled, abortion-promoting bishops of the CPA are schismatic and excommunicated. Talk to me about Father Gruner’s "suspension" when the Vatican takes decisive action against the wolves in sheep’s clothing who are ravaging Catholic flocks around the world — including African clerics who have compromised nuns and even forced them to abort their children, while remaining priests in good standing. Meanwhile, don’t make me laugh. I will continue to support the "suspended" Father Gruner and his apostolate for one simple reason: they speak the truth; they are Catholic.

They Speak the Truth

        And speak the truth they did on that weekend in November. In addition to my own defense of Father Gruner there were talks on various Fatima-related subjects — all of them based on empirical evidence and the very words of the Mother of God; all of them remarking what anyone with eyes to see can see. At a time when Cardinal Sodano is engineering apologies to the blood-drenched Red Chinese regime, the speakers at this conference spoke the truth about such matters as these:

• The Message of Fatima holds the key for avoiding the annihilation of various nations predicted by Our Lady of Fatima if the Message were not obeyed.
• The events of 9/11 are only a foretaste of the calamities foretold at Fatima.
• Vladimir Putin and his regime are not to be trusted. They are continuing Russia’s military buildup in an alliance with Red China, as even the secular media can see, while funding terrorist activity throughout the world.
• There is no conversion, but rather decomposition, of Russia since the alleged "consecration of Russia" in 1984.
• The consecration of Russia needs to mention the place. (That this could be a controversial proposition only demonstrates the depth of the current confusion in the Church.)
• Something appears to be missing from the Vatican’s disclosure of the Third Secret — as even Mother Angelica has stated on live television before millions of witnesses.
• The Third Secret involves the "tail of the dragon" mentioned in the Book of the Apocalypse and in the Pope’s own sermon on the Message of Fatima on May 13, 2000 - but not mentioned in what certain Vatican officials presented as the totality of the Third Secret on June 26, 2000.
• The prophecy of Pius XII about "the suicide of altering the faith in her [the Church’s] liturgy" has come to pass.
• The long history of attempts by the Vatican apparatus to revise, censor and cover up the unecumenical and undiplomatic elements of the Message of Fatima. For example, Cardinal Ratzinger’s removal of the key words "In the end" from the Blessed Virgin’s prophetic promise: "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 Cardinal revised this most important Fatima prophecy into a mere remembrance of the fiat of the Virgin 2,000 years ago.
• The "Stalinization" of the Catholic Church: In an eerie parallel with Stalinist Russia, tradition-minded Catholics are hounded, condemned and declared non-persons ("schismatic", "suspended") because they will not accept the "new orientation" of the Church, while the real enemies of the Church are left alone and even rewarded for their betrayal.
• Satan’s war on the innocence of children.
• The theological meaning of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — restoring the social reign of Christ the King.

        There is no question that the highlight of the conference was the compelling testimony of Father Linus Dragu Popian, who came all the way from Italy to tell the story of his flight from communist Romania in 1975, when his studies at an Orthodox seminary convinced him that he must escape Romania and become a Catholic priest.

The Dramatic Testimony of Father Popian

        Father Popian related how he and his fellow seminarian arrived in Rome expecting to be welcomed into the Church with open arms, only to be denied ordination by none other than the Vatican Secretariat of State at the time — acting through then Archbishop Casaroli — which refused to allow the ordinations because they would set back Vatican diplomacy under Ostpolitik and "ecumenical relations" with the Orthodox. Father Popian was informed that he must not convert and that he should go back to communist Romania. Father Popian told the rapt audience of one miraculous event in his life after another over the next three years, culminating in his ordination to the priesthood in 1978, when the death of Pope Paul VI and John Paul I in rapid succession deprived the Secretariat of State of any power to interfere. Father Popian is now a parish priest in Civitavecchia, Italy, where he told his parishioners from the pulpit that "the fires of hell would not be sufficient" for anyone who voted communist in the upcoming local elections in May of 2000. The communists lost power in Civitavecchia for the first time in fifty years. Note: See "Vatican says, ‘You Must Not Become Catholic!’"

"Russia Would Convert in 24 Hours"

        The audience rose to its feet as one at the conclusion of this inspiring story of a priest who is living proof that Our Lady’s prophecy that "the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted" means that Russia can and will embrace the Catholic faith. It is simply a matter of God’s grace overcoming merely human obstacles in the way of the return of the Orthodox to Rome. Indeed, Father Popian declared that if Russia were properly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he believes the Orthodox would convert "in 24 hours." In view of Father Popian’s personal witness, we can see all the more clearly the scandal of the Balamand Declaration — another "triumph" of Vatican diplomacy by which Cardinal Cassidy shamefully renounced the return of the Orthodox to Rome, dismissing the Virgin’s own prophecy as "outdated ecclesiology."

A Prayer at Ground Zero

        On Sunday afternoon during the conference, Father Gruner went to Ground Zero, where he was allowed to enter into the very wreckage of the World Trade Center. While Father was there, the bodies of two firemen were discovered, and he was asked to bless the remains. The "Fatima Priest" ministered to the dead at the very place which demonstrates that the saga of Fatima is far from over. Father Gruner was overcome by emotion at this turn of events. I saw him afterwards, stunned and overwhelmed by what he had seen and done that afternoon.

        Later that Sunday I myself was privileged to pray a decade of the Rosary with Father Popian at Ground Zero, along with Michael Matt, Gerry Matatics, Daniel Matatics (Gerry’s eldest son) and the noted Catholic author Richard Cowden-Guido (who told me that he had been enlivened and greatly encouraged by the faith and intellectual vigor he had seen at the conference). To be allowed into this area, which is cordoned off by police barriers, is no small matter. The police were clearly persuaded by the prospect of prayers being said for the dead, including their own fellow officers, by a cassock-wearing priest whose very appearance attested to the efficacy of his prayer.

        To look upon the twisted remains of the Twin Towers in the hellish artificial light of that chill November night, to watch the wrecking ball smash down the last vestige of a great edifice in which thousands of men and women were toiling to support their families one moment, and then were gone the next, is to have a foretaste of Armageddon.

        What will it take for the world to see that it is preparing its own chastisement? What will it take for our Church leaders to see that Fatima is far from finished, and that the promises of the Virgin have not been fulfilled because Her requests have not been heeded? When will the Church be able to free herself from the designs of men who think themselves more prudent than the Mother of God? I fear that not even the events of 9/11 will suffice to change the course on which certain Vatican-based Cardinals and bishops have launched the Church in the post-conciliar epoch. And this can only mean that the world will soon have much worse to suffer.

        Meanwhile, Father Gruner and his apostolate soldier on, bearing the insults of an ecclesial establishment that ignores mass apostasy, heresy and scandal while it obsesses over the possibility that someone, somewhere, might be persuaded of the truth about the Message of Fatima. Such is the mystery of iniquity that afflicts us now. All we can do is paddle towards islands of sanity like the conference I have just attended.

        Editor’s Note: To order a complete set of 18 conference audio tapes at special Crusader prices, (only $90.00 U.S. postpaid) or individual tapes ($6.00 U.S. postpaid each), call us toll-free at 1-800-263-8160.

Some of the Resolutions from the Conference on Fatima
and World Peace - Rome, October 13, 2001

First,
Concerning the Consecration of Russia

        WHEREAS, it is manifest that the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary requires (as Sister Lucia has testified throughout her life) that Russia be mentioned in a public and solemn ceremony by the Pope together with the world’s bishops; and

        WHEREAS, it is equally manifest that the ceremony at the Vatican of March 25, 1984 has not produced the conversion of Russia which Our Lady of Fatima promised as the fruit of a proper consecration of that nation to Her Immaculate Heart; and

        WHEREAS, the failure to consecrate Russia in the manner required will have catastrophic consequences for the Church and the world, including the annihilation of nations; and

        WHEREAS, the current world situation is one in which terrorist attacks and a total falling away from religion and morality signal the near approach of the great chastisement of which Our Lady of Fatima warned; and

        WHEREAS, it is sheer folly not to undertake a consecration of Russia by name when there is nothing to lose and everything to gain from this act, particularly in view of the dramatic worsening of world conditions;

        NOW THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that there be a renewed effort to petition His Holiness Pope John Paul II for a Consecration of Russia, by name, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Second,
Concerning the silence imposed upon Sister Lucia

        WHEREAS, Church law was changed in 1966 so that any Catholic can publish anything on any apparition (true or false) without an imprimatur; and

        WHEREAS of all the members of the Roman Catholic Church, only Sister Lucia dos Santos of Fatima, the last surviving Fatima seer, requires not only an imprimatur but special permission from either Cardinal Ratzinger or the Pope himself to speak of the Fatima apparitions publicly in any matter not already revealed in her memoirs; and

        WHEREAS the Message of Fatima, as John Paul II has said, is "addressed to all mankind" and was given to us for the salvation of souls and the good of the Church and the whole world; and

        WHEREAS any suppression of the truth about the contents of the Message of Fatima would be an injustice to the Church and to the human race;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that His Holiness John Paul II and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger be petitioned to lift the order of silence imposed upon Sister Lucia so that she may be allowed to speak and publish freely on any and all topics concerning the Fatima apparitions.

Third,
Concerning Sister Lucia’s alleged capitulations regarding the
Consecration of Russia

        WHEREAS, stories are being circulated that Sister Lucia has retracted and repudiated her own statements about the requisites for a valid and effectual consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart as conveyed to her by the Virgin of Fatima — namely, that the Pope together with all the world's bishops must consecrate Russia by name to the Immaculate Heart in a solemn public ceremony; and

        WHEREAS, according to these stories Sister Lucia now says that the Consecration of Russia was effected in the Vatican ceremony of March 25, 1984, in which Russia was never mentioned and in which the world's bishops did not participate; and

        WHEREAS, these stories, as well as rumors being circulated and published by various members of the Vatican apparatus, contradict the facts that have been documented for over 70 years; and

        WHEREAS, the failure to consecrate Russia in the manner requested by the Mother of God will, as She Herself warned at Fatima, have catastrophic consequences for the Church, for the world and for countless souls,

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the appropriate Vatican authorities, not excluding the Holy Father, be petitioned to allow Sister Lucia the opportunity to speak on this matter openly and freely in a public forum, which would include the bishops of the world and interested Fatima scholars, so that it can be determined once and for all whether these new statements attributed to Sister Lucia regarding the Consecration of Russia are in fact her statements, and, if they are her statements, to explain what motivated her to change her testimony, and further, to answer unequivocally the simple question: Has the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary been accomplished in the manner required by the Virgin of Fatima?

Fourth,
Concerning release of Father Alonso’s suppressed work on Fatima

        WHEREAS, the 24 volumes on Fatima prepared by Father Alonso, the official archivist of Fatima, have been ready for publication since 1975 (including the 5,000-plus original documents that serve as supporting documentation of his research); and

        WHEREAS, the contents of these volumes are undoubtedly of signal importance for the Church and the world, being the result of 11 years of research by Father Alonso, including innumerable private interviews with Sister Lucia; and

        WHEREAS, these 24 volumes and the 5,000-plus original supporting documents have been suppressed by religious authorities, including the Bishop of Fatima and the Provincial of the Claretians based at Madrid, Spain; and

        WHEREAS, this suppression violates the natural right of the faithful to the truth which these volumes undoubtedly contain, and which may shed light on the continuing controversy surrounding the Message of Fatima, whose full and complete contents the faithful and the world have the right to know;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the appropriate ecclesiastical authorities be petitioned for the release and publication of Father Alonso's entire 24 volume work on Fatima and all supporting documents.

Fifth,
Concerning the unjust treatment of Father Nicholas Gruner

        WHEREAS, Father Nicholas Gruner has been subjected to an unjustified threat of excommunication by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos of the Congregation for the Clergy; and

        WHEREAS Father Gruner has also been subjected to a groundless declaration by the said Cardinal that Father Gruner is "suspended" from the exercise of his sacred priesthood, when in fact he has committed no offense against faith, morals or the law of the Church which would justify this or any other penalty against him; and,

        WHEREAS, the threat of excommunication and the alleged "suspension" give scandal to the faithful, who know that the current crisis of faith and discipline in the Church has hardly been addressed by the same Congregation which condemns Father Gruner without grounds; and

        WHEREAS, the mistreatment of Father Gruner is not only an injustice to him but also an affront to the rule of law in the Catholic Church and the Message of Fatima, on account of which Father Gruner is being punished unjustly;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Pope be petitioned to constrain Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to withdraw his threat of excommunication and his declaration of Father Guner's "suspension," and to refrain from further abuse of his authority in this matter.

Sixth,
Concerning disclosure of the Third Secret of Fatima

        WHEREAS, the disclosure of a vision pertaining to the Third Secret of Fatima by Cardinal Ratzinger and Monsignor Bertone on June 26, 2000 has raised more questions than it answers; and

        WHEREAS, the interpretation of the vision given by Cardinal Ratzinger and Monsignor Bertone in their commentary, under the evident direction of the Vatican Secretary of State---namely, that the vision and thus the Third Secret depict and culminate in the failed attempt on the life of the Pope on May 13, 1981 and that the Third Secret depicts only "events in the past"---is plainly incredible, as even the secular press has noted; and

        WHEREAS, the contents of the vision, standing alone, and the Ratzinger/Bertone interpretation of that vision do not correspond to Cardinal Ratzinger's own statements in 1984 concerning the contents of the Third Secret, or to many other known facts and testimonies about the Secret's content; and

        WHEREAS, the vision revealed on June 26, 2000 contains no words of Our Lady, even though the Vatican itself referred to the "words of Our Lady which She confided to the three children as a secret," when it announced suppression of the Third Secret in 1960; and

        WHEREAS, the commentary by Ratzinger/Bertone fails to discuss and inexplicably demotes to an insignificant footnote the key phrase "In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc." which Sister Lucia included as part of the integral text of the entire Message of Fatima in her fourth memoir, and which phrase has led every reputable Fatima scholar to conclude that the Third Secret refers to a widespread loss of faith in the Catholic Church due to the failure of the upper hierarchy; and

        WHEREAS, it is impossible that the words of Our Lady of Fatima to Sister Lucia could have ended in "etc." with nothing further; and

        WHEREAS, millions of Catholics the world over have reasonable grounds for reservations concerning the completeness of the disclosure on June 26, 2000; and

        WHEREAS, the contents of the Third Secret are undoubtedly of grave importance to the Church and the world in this time of unprecedented spiritual, moral and political crisis;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Vatican authorities be petitioned to make a full and complete disclosure of the Third Secret of Fatima, including "the words of Our Lady which She confided to the three children as a secret," or else that Sister Lucia herself be allowed to affirm publicly that what was revealed on June 26, 2000 is the Third Secret in its entirety, and that there were no words of Our Lady of Fatima which explain the meaning of the vision of "the bishop in white," nor any words following the phrase "In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc."

Seventh,
Concerning the Vatican-Moscow Agreement and Ostpolitik

        WHEREAS, the so-called Vatican-Moscow Agreement, forged in Metz, France, in 1962, wrongly constrained the liberty of the Second Vatican Council by requiring the Council Fathers to refrain from any condemnation or even mention of atheistic communism, the greatest form of systematized evil in world history; and

        WHEREAS, the Vatican-Moscow Agreement was implemented after the Council in the policy of Ostpolitik, which constrained the Church to refrain from any opposition to communist regimes which persecute Catholics, or public condemnation of communism, despite the teaching of Pius XI, Saint Pius X and Leo XIII and Blessed Pius IX that the Church cannot refrain from condemning and opposing communism in all its forms; and

        WHEREAS, Pope Paul VI was torn by moral doubts about the propriety of Ostpolitik and wondered aloud if he was not betraying the Gospel, as publicly admitted by the late Cardinal Casaroli, who implemented Ostpolitik during the reign of Paul VI and persuaded the Pope to continue to adhere to this shameful policy of silence in the face of evil; and

        WHEREAS, the policy of Ostpolitik continues to bind the Church to silence in the face of the persecution of the Church by communist regimes, including Red China; and

        WHEREAS, the Vatican-Moscow Agreement and Ostpolitik have impeded the Church's obedience to the command of Our Lord Himself, through His Blessed Mother, that Russia be consecrated by name to the Immaculate Heart, in that the Consecration is deemed diplomatically unacceptable by the current executors of both policies within the Vatican apparatus; and

        WHEREAS, Catholics are now told by Vatican authorities that the Catholic Church must now apologize for the mistakes of her members;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Vatican authorities be petitioned to establish a "Truth in Reconciliation" Commission to deal with the Vatican-Moscow Agreement and Ostpolitik, and that this Commission prepare a formal papal apology for these failed policies, which are (as Pope Paul VI himself suspected) a betrayal of the Gospel.

Eighth,
Concerning the Consecration of Nations to the Immaculate Heart

        WHEREAS, the nation of Portugal was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1931 and again in 1937 by the bishops of that nation; and

        WHEREAS, in consequence Portugal was spared the horrors of the communist revolution in Spain and the ravages of World War II, and instead underwent a great revival of Catholic social order;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the members of this Conference shall work toward and request that the bishops undertake a consecration of their respective nations to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Ninth,
Concerning the United Nations and the International Criminal Court

        WHEREAS, the United Nations has shown itself to be an organization opposed to the teaching of Christ and His Holy Catholic Church, particularly in the area of marriage, procreation and the family; and

        WHEREAS, the activities and expanding authority of the United Nations have inexorably tended toward the destruction of sovereign nations in violation of the Catholic teaching on subsidiarity, and also the erosion of public morality; and

        WHEREAS, the United Nations threatens to establish in place of sovereign nationhood a godless international regime which will answer to no authority, either human or divine; and

        WHEREAS, the International Criminal Court is an obvious extension of the United Nations and its illicit aims, in that said court is being constituted to act in a lawless manner, disregarding the natural rights and the right to due process of law of the citizens of sovereign nations; and

        WHEREAS, certain elements of the Vatican apparatus have consistently supported both the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, contrary to all prudence and the Catholic teaching on subsidiarity;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the appropriate Vatican authorities and the members of the Catholic hierarchy around the world be petitioned to disavow any further support of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, and rather to oppose these institutions as contrary to the proper constitution of societies and the rights of God and man.

Tenth,
Concerning the restoration of the traditional liturgy

        WHEREAS, Pope Pius XII (when he was still Eugenio Pacelli) observed that the Message of Fatima contained a warning about "the suicide of altering the faith in the liturgy," which warning would appear to be part of the as yet undisclosed words of the Virgin in the Third Secret of Fatima; and

        WHEREAS, the utterly unprecedented abandonment of the received and approved rite of Mass in the Church in favor of the new Missal of Paul VI has, as even Cardinal Ratzinger has noted, caused "grave damage" to the Church; and

        WHEREAS, the faithful have a right to have recourse to the received and approved rite of Mass which is their sacred heritage as Catholics and which is manifestly more pleasing to God in its perfection over the centuries; and

        WHEREAS, the Holy Father was prepared to sign a document in 1984 which would have declared the truth that, in fact, Pope Paul VI never actually abrogated the traditional rite of Mass and that no one needs "permission" to celebrate or attend it because it has never ceased to be the received and approved rite of Mass in the Roman Rite;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Holy Father be petitioned to declare in a solemn and binding way that the traditional Latin Mass of the Roman Rite, last codified in the Roman Missal of 1962, was, is, and shall always remain the received and approved rite of Mass in the Roman Rite, that all priests and bishops are free to offer it according to the traditional rubrics without any indult or other special permission, and that all members of the laity are free to attend it.

Eleventh,
Concerning restoration of traditional devotions

        WHEREAS, the post-conciliar period has witnessed the abandonment (along with the traditional liturgy) of many traditional Catholic devotions, including the Rosary, the Five First Saturdays, and investiture in the Brown Scapular; and

        WHEREAS, these devotions are part of the sacred patrimony of the Church and exist for the salvation of souls, which is the highest law of the Church;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Holy Father and the bishops be petitioned to promote vigorously these devotions as part of the life of the Church.

Twelfth,
Concerning respect for the Blessed Sacrament

        WHEREAS, respect for the Blessed Sacrament has been undermined by the post-conciliar practices of communion in the hand, which is the cause of untold sacrilege, and removal of the tabernacle from the center of the altar and even from the sanctuary, thereby insulting Our Lord Himself in His real and substantial presence in the Blessed Sacrament; and

        WHEREAS, the Blessed Sacrament is the very foundation of Catholic worship and the very food which nourishes souls for their salvation;

        NOW, THEREFORE,

        BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Holy Father and the bishops be petitioned to abolish and forbid once again the practice of communion in the hand, and to restore the tabernacle to its rightful place at the center of the altar.

ADOPTED this 13th day of October in the year of Our Lord 2001, on the 84th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun.

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