Pope Francis’s Unique Connection to Fatima
On March 13, 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis I. A few weeks later on April 8, 2013, the SSPX reported that “Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, Archbishop of Lisbon, announced that Pope Francis had asked him twice to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima.” On May 15, 2013, the Register reported that “At the Holy Father’s personal request, Cardinal José Polycarpo, the patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal, consecrated the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day, May 13.”
The mess of Pope Francis’s pontificate that followed reminds me of the mess of the Council of Ephesus, when “[St.] Cyril of Alexandria… bribed the court heavily and terrorized the city of Ephesus with a private army of monks.”[1] This mess provoked an immediate schism with the other greatest see in the east, Antioch, prompting a massive course correction in the Formula of Union in 433 (where St. Cyril showed his saintliness). Despite the mess, Our Lady was proclaimed Theotokos at the Council against the false goddess Artemis Ephesia, who was worshipped: what man is there that knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great Diana, and of Jupiter’s offspring? (Acts. xix. 35). And yet no one remembers Artemis-Ephesia-Diana, but the Theotokos is Queen over the world. See my book for more details on this.
Thus I wonder if Pope Francis’s pontificate will be another Council of Ephesus moment in the history of the Church, which nearly destroyed the Church, and then Our Lady Triumphed, because God always brings good out of evil. Because after Pope Francis consecrated his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima in a particularly unique way, a novena of years later on March 25, 2022, Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Bishop Schneider and our partners at the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima assert that this consecration was indeed the very consecration that Our Lady asked for through Sr. Lucia: “with the words and the coordination with the bishops of the world.”
The SSPX United to the Pope Against the Errors of Russia
But what is also very significant, was that the SSPX bishops enthusiastically joined Pope Francis to consecrate Russia and also saw this particular consecration as a fulfilment of Fatima. Before the Consecration, the SSPX made this announcement:
After a long wait, punctuated by fervent crusades and assiduous recitation of rosaries, the Society of Saint Pius X is happy to see the request of Our Lady of Fatima taken into account, which called for a solemn act by the Pope in union with all the bishops.
Moreover, this consecration took place on the 31st anniversary of Archbishop Lefebvre’s death on March 25, 1991. On the day of the consecration, Bishop Bernard Fellay gathered with the seminarians at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia, United States.
From the original report at OnePeterFive by Mr. J. Basil Dannebohm:
Though the SSPX was not directly invited by Rome to participate in the act of consecration, it was an event that was an answer to decades of prayers by the clergy and the faithful. For the SSPX, no invitation was necessary to join in what should be considered an historic day, regardless of the outcome.
“We have not been invited, but we definitely want to be part of this,” His Excellency, Bishop Bernard Fellay, said in his remarks before the act of consecration.
“We have many reasons to celebrate today. It seems as if our prayer to heaven for decades asking the Immaculate Heart of Mary that the pope would consecrate Russia according to the requirements of herself,” said Fellay, “well, it seems that this is going to happen today. And so, with all our heart, we want to unite ourselves to this act, expecting so many good fruits that have been promised.”
Before the act of consecration, His Excellency recalled the background of Our Lady’s request, reminding the faithful that “God had put into Her hands the peace of the nations.”
Fellay continued, “We see that there have been many attempts to make this consecration. What we have seen is that up to now, the precise requirements from Heaven have never been completely accomplished. But Heaven in its mercy has always given, we could say, a proportionate answer. Every time a pope has turned to the Immaculate Heart, some good has happened for the world and for the Church. So let us pray that this consecration made today will have the fruits so long expected.”
Without an invitation, the seminary community embraced the Holy Father’s request that the Universal Church unite in prayer. Before the consecration was to be offered, however, they took extra care to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for the sacred occasion.
On Thursday evening, the priests, seminarians, brothers, sisters, and the faithful gathered for vespers as usual. Following vespers, the community began Eucharistic Adoration that would last until 6am Friday morning. Benediction, Prime, and Solemn High Mass followed.
Then at 11:30am, the community gathered once again to offer a rosary ahead of the consecration.
“We will offer the rosary to prepare our hearts to offer this consecration the best way, the right way, as Heaven wants it,” His Excellency said.
The enthusiasm demonstrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary was indicative of the enthusiasm and prayerful support offered the world over by the SSPX as a gesture of solidarity and gratitude to Pope Francis and his landmark decision to proceed with the consecration.
The Annunciation and the Birth of St. John
And who is the only saint who leapt for joy in his mother’s womb? St. John the Baptist. At the Annunciation Our Lady was informed that her cousin was already six months into her pregnancy Because no word shall be impossible with God (Lk. i. 37). So she goes to visit St. Elizabeth, and St. John leaps in his mother’s womb.
Then three months later, St. John is born as another miraculous birth and St. Zachary’s tongue is loosed to utter the Benedictus. The Nativity of St. John is one of only three days of the calendar year which celebrate a biological birth.
So Pope Francis consecrated Russia on March 25, 2022, in union with the SSPX bishops and all the other bishops of the world, and three months later, on the date that St. John was born, June 24, 2022, during Sacred Heart Month, one of the greatest errors of Russia was overturned in these United States in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In my worthless layman’s opinion, that’s the humour of God’s Providence.
We have these feasts of conception, joy inside the womb, and birth, with the consecration of Russia by possibly the worst pope in history (?), and the child murder law in the most powerful Marxist empire in the world is struck down (“America Lost the Cold War”)
We can see when we review the three pornocracies of the Papacy in Church history, that God has miraculously brought good out of evil pontificates. And remarkably, it was a moment of intense unity between the Pope and the SSPX. It’s quite amazing indeed. And so on this year’s feast of St. John, this year of America 250, we give thanks to Pope Francis, the SSPX and all the worlds bishops for consecrating Russia, and for possibly allowing the Immaculate Heart to overturn Roe v. Wade.
VIVA CRISTO REY!
T. S. Flanders
Editor
St. John’s Eve
[1] Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 1993), digital page.
