Is Russia Becoming a Christian Nation Again – Decide for Yourself

—- TIMELINE OF EVENTS INDICATING THE PROMISED “CONVERSION OF RUSSIA” —-

May 13 1982
Feast Day of
Our Lady of Fatima
Pope John Paul II assailed by an assassin’s bullet in St. Peter’s Square
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-john-paul-ii-shot-1981-article-1.2212919

March 25, 1984
Feast of the Annunciation
In Fulfillment of Request by the Mother of God at Fatima, Pope John Paul II Consecrates World (including Russia) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to which Sister Lucia, the sole surviving seer responded: “it has been fulfilled.”
http://wafusa.org/the-consecration-of-russia/

May 13, 1984
Feast Day of
Our Lady of Fatima
An explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/11/world/soviet-naval-blast-called-crippling.html

April 26, 1986
Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident

May 12, 1988
Vigil of Our Lady of Fatima
As thousands prayed the Rosary at Fatima, an explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.
http://www.patriotheadquarters.com/russias-k-project-emp-threat/

Nov 9, 1989
Fall of Berlin Wall

Nov-Dec 1989
Peaceful revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania

Year of 1990
East and West Germany are unified

Solidarity brings end of Communism in Poland – Walesa elected President -Catholic renewal begins

August 19, 1991: Queenship of Mary
Hardline communists attempt to overthrow Gorbachev on the 74^th anniversary of Her August appearance at Fatima. The attempt failed and Gorbachev whom Sr. Lucia said was instrumental in the fall of communism was kept in office and the hardliners out.
http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/FatimaBook.html

December 8, 1991
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The Communist Era vanished when the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia announced its formal dissolution on Dec. 8, 1991, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
http://www.apostoladomundialdefatima.org/html/consacration_imm_heart_of_mar.html

Dec. 25, 1991
Christmas Day
Communist flag of USSR taken down for last time from atop the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of USSR
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html

January 1, 1992
Feast of the Mother of God
Russia is reborn as a sovereign nation
http://www.apostoladomundialdefatima.org/pdf/Consecration_Fatima_ALO__corrected_.pdf

May 13, 2000
Our Lady of Fatima
Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presented the official interpretation or theological commentary on the Third Secret of Fatima
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html

August 28, 2004
The icon of Our Lady of Kazan brought it to Moscow and handed it to Patriarch Alexy during a divine liturgy at the Moscow Kremlin Assumption Cathedral

The sacred Icon had been in the possession of the World Apostolate of Fatima who transferred it to Pope John Paul II
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3036

May 13, 2005
Our Lady of Fatima
Pope Benedict dispenses with waiting period for beatification of Pope John Paul II. On the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. It was on this date that John Paul II was struck by an assassin’s bullet in fulfillment of a Fatima prophecy. By John Paul II’s assessment:

“It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path”, and permitted that “the dying Pope… stopped on the threshold of death”.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/24/papal-saints-once-a-given-now-extremely-rare/

May 25, 2005
“The Russian Orthodox Church actively supports the development of interaction with the Catholic Church.

“We agree on a majority of the questions that the Christian world faces today. It is well known that both Churches are very concerned about the expulsion of religious values from the life of modern society and the need to preserve Christian ethical standards in it” Our cooperation is absolutely necessary. It is awaited by millions of people — believers and spiritual seekers alike”.
Patriarch Kirill
http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/14/95.aspx

October 7, 2005
Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
“The World Apostolate of Fatima has been established as a public association of the faithful for the universal Church. A public ceremony was held at the Vatican to celebrate the importance of this elevation”. It is with great joy that we celebrate this moment of the consignment of the decree of establishment and approval of the Statutes of the World Apostolate of Fatima”.
http://wafusa.org/wp-content/pdf/WAF-DECREE.pdf
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/world-apostolate-of-fatima-sees-status-upgraded

September 23, 2007
The Christian Faith (Orthodoxy 101) to be Taught in the PUBLIC SCHOOLS of Russia
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/europe/23russia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Feb. 13, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would dispense with the five-year waiting period established by Canon Law to open the cause of beatification of Sister Lucia, the third of three Fatima seers
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/beatification_process_for_sister_lucia_opened_new_writings_to_be_published/

July 31, 2008
Russian Church compares current Christianity in Europe to the epoch of USSR militant atheism
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=5031

June 30, 2009
Gambling Casinos to be Shut Down Throughout Russia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/29/russia-bans-gambling-casino-putin

February 5, 2010
After being elevated to Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia, Patriarch Kirill stated that,

“We (together with the Roman Catholic Church) have similar positions on many problems facing Christians in the modern world. They include aggressive secularization, globalization, and the erosion of the traditional moral principles. “It should be noted that on these issues Pope Benedict XVI has taken a stance close to the Orthodox one”
Patriarch Kirill
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6889

May 14, 2010
While presiding as pope over mass at the Fatima Shrine, he revealed his personal conviction that the Fatima message has relevancy to the development of the modern world, “we would be mistaken to think that the prophetic mission of Fatima is complete”.

He concluded by praying for the fulfillment of the Fatima message and the “Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fatimas-prophetic-mission-not-complete-pope-declares-on-solemnity/

Summer 2010
Construction of 200 Orthodox churches in Moscow by the year 2020
https://calvertjournal.com/photography/show/3469/Church-building-Moscow-suburbs-program-200

Nov. 30, 2010
Medvedev was present at the Church of Nativity of the Mother of God in the Grand Kremlin Palace to deliver a personal message to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia:

“I would like to inform you that today I have a signed a law on religious property return to religious organizations. It is a serious law that was long discussed and coordinated”
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7969

Dec. 23, 2010
Patriarch Kirill said A total of 23,000 Orthodox churches have been rebuilt in Russia in the past 20 years. “Nothing of the kind has happened in any country at any time in history; This has been happening against the backdrop of all social, political and economic confrontations.

https://sputniknews.com/art_living/20101203161616486/

June 1 2010
July 28 marked as a national holiday by president of Russia in commemoration of St Vladimir and the Baptism of the Rus (988) as a Christian nation and its Ancient Christian patrimony.

“The continual work of the Russian Orthodox Church will effect the revival of Christianity in our nation. Thanks to the Orthodox faith Russian culture through the years has acquired Biblical values on which the system of moral ideals for our nation is built”

“When we celebrated the millennial anniversary of the Baptism of Russia twenty years ago it was the beginning of churches being rebuilt and the restoration of the integrity of the Orthodox Church”

Demitri Medvedev
https://xlerma.wordpress.com/tag/medvedev/

Jan. 14, 2008
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the government is indebted to the Russian Orthodox Church and has promised to facilitate the revival of religion in Russia.“That the state will repay its debt to the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional denominations and its debt to the Russian people”.“The Russian government is indebted to the Russian Orthodox Church” and he “promised to facilitate the revival of religion in Russia” and expressed his sincere hope to “repay” the debt”.

Vladimir Putin
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=4150

“In January 2010 Putin announced that the Russian government would provide $64 million (two billion rubles) to restore ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) holy sites, monasteries, and churches destroyed by the Soviet government”.

January 7, 2008
“The Russian Orthodox Church contributes to the promotion of moral values in society. One should not completely draw a line between the culture and the church. Of course, by law in our country the church is separate from the state. But in the soul and the history of our people it’s all together. It always has been and always will be”.

Vladimir Putin
https://books.google.com/books?id=kqtOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT344&lpg=PT344&dq=%22But+in+the+soul+and+the+history+of+our+people+it%E2%80%99s+all+together.%22+Putin&source=bl&ots=J-UUulUqlu&sig=DlbhUNxcc4a1v5pafkWyS85M1ZM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCqNTkxd7PAhVDZCYKHR6uDbkQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=%22But%20in%20the%20soul%20and%20the%20history%20of%20our%20people%20it%E2%80%99s%20all%20together.%22%20Putin&f=false

Nov. 13, 2009

Mass media review: “Christianity ended the cold war peacefully. Religion brought down communism and it is religion which will help us resist naked capitalism, too”

October 7, 2010 “Patriarch Kirill emphasized the personal involvement and active support by Vladimir Putin who has facilitated “good relations of trust” between the Church and the government. The Patriarch expressed his appreciation for “full assistance rendered by the government to recover (the) cultural heritage of Orthodox Russia and its contribution in spiritual education and development of citizens.
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7782

April 8, 2011
Moscow Patriarchate: Russia’s mission is to become the Holy Rus

June 27, 2011
Patriarch Kirill: European population will die if it fails to come back to its spiritual sources

June 2011
President Medvedev signs Prolife Bill and The World Congress of Families held the world’s first demographic summit – “Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind” – at the Russian State Social University (RSSU), June 29-30.

http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/15/russian-president-medvedev-signs-pro-life-bill-on-abortion-risks/
http://newcoldwar.org/the-political-church-alliance-to-end-abortion-in-russia/

August 31, 2011
Course of Basics of Religion and Secular Ethics is likely to be introduced in all Russian schools next year.
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8691

Nov. 7, 2011
Medvedev calls rapid revival of Orthodox Christianity in Russia a miracle.
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/medvedev-calls-rapid-revival-of-orthodox-christianity-in-russia-a-miracle/

Medvedev: Orthodoxy Russia’s guardian of “indisputable truths”
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8857

Russian Orthodox Church will continue crafting “symphony” with state.
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8860

“Patriarch Kirill calls Russian Church revival unique event in world history”
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8856

Feb. 14, 2011
Pope-Medvedev meeting will help protect moral values worldwide – Vatican
https://newsessentials.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/pope-medvedev-meeting-will-help-protect-moral-values-worldwide-vatican/

Feb. 8, 2012
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has instructed the Education and Science Ministry to organize the training of school teachers in the fundamentals of religious culture and secular ethics.
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9048

April 17, 2012
Pro-church, anti-gay rally held in central Moscow
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9274

May 4, 2012
Church calls on believers to unite for country’s revival
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/church-calls-on-believers-to-unite-for-countrys-revival/

May 21, 2012
The gay pride parade which was due to take place in Kiev on Sunday has been canceled over fears for the safety of its participants.
https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/gay-pride-parade-in-kyiv-cancelled-1-127943.html

May 23, 2012
Moscow law banning homosexuality propaganda amongst minors.
http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-homosexuality-law-duma-protest/25013537.html

May 28, 2012
Moscow police detained about 40 people in Moscow on Sunday as LGBT activists attempted to hold unauthorized demonstrations.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/27/world/europe/russia-rally-arrests/

October 1, 2012
The approval rating of Patriarch Kirill is the highest in Russia (69%)
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/the-approval-rating-of-patriarch-kirill-is-the-highest-in-russia/

February 8, 2012
“That it would be one of the tasks of Russia’s foreign policy to defend Christians in other countries who are persecuted for their faith. ‘You needn’t have any doubt that that’s the way it will be,’ Putin said at a meeting with Russian religious leaders when Metropolitan Hilarion, foreign relations chief of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressed hope that Russia’s government would stand up for persecuted Christian communities abroad”.

Vladimir Putin
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9050

January 25, 2013
The Russian Duma passed the bill banning the propaganda of homosexuality among minors.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-gay-idUSBRE90O0QT20130125

February 1, 2013
Medvedev wants stronger relations between state, church, society.

“I wish for the special relationship now established between the Russian Orthodox Church, the state, and the entire society to grow stronger and serve for the good of our Fatherland”

Dmitri Medvedev
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10247

February 3, 2013
“Clerics not just do their job, they serve the Almighty, they serve the Lord, they serve people. It is impossible to intimidate them. Yet they obviously need our support and assistance. And this support and assistance must be efficient”

Vladimir Putin
http://www.interfax-religion.com/print.php?act=news&id=10242

February 4, 2013
“It is my deep conviction that we need to make every effort to boost collaboration between Church and State in key areas such as addressing urgent social problems, promoting antireligious and interethnic dialogue, and imbuing young people with respect for the extremely rich historical, cultural and spiritual legacy of the peoples of Russia.”

Vladimir Putin
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10251

Sept. 4 , 2013
Pope Francis communicates to the G-20 though President Putin with a plea for peace n Syria.
https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130904_putin-g20.html

By Nov. 2013
In the countries of the former Soviet Union, in particular in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldavia, an unprecedented religious revival is underway. In the Russian Orthodox Church over the past 25 years there have been built or restored from ruins more than 25,000 churches. This means that a thousand churches a year have been opened, i.e., three churches a day.

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, October 30
http://insidethevatican.com/news/newsflash/russians-coming

November 25, 2013
Abortion Adds Banned Throughout Russia
http://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/25/putin-signs-law-banning-abortion-ads-as-it-decimates-russias-population/

February 7, 2015
1. The Ministry of Health in Russia has signed an agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church that includes prevention of abortion and provision of palliative care. The agreement signed by Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Churchwas published on the website of the Synodal Department for ROC [Russian Orthodox Church] Church Charity and Social Service.Article 9 of the 21 article agreement establishes cooperation “on the protection of maternal and child health, including reproductive health, promotion of family values and prevention of abortion.”

The agreement includes joint actions with medical institutions for the

“creation of crisis pregnancy centers at hospitals with the participation of psychologists and participation of representatives of religious organizations of the Russian Orthodox Church in advising women who are planning to terminate the pregnancy, in medical institutions”

and for the provision of space for

“posting information of religious organizations of the Russian Orthodox Church on the stands in medical institutions.”

Additionally, the two parties will also undertake

“joint efforts to provide assistance and support to pregnant women whose prenatal diagnosis indicate to the malformation of the fetus, as well as mothers who give birth to a child with developmental disabilities.”

Under Article 5, the Orthodox Church will cooperate with the Health Ministry in the preparation of health professionals by providing formative instruction on the spiritual foundations of medical activities and by facilitating the interaction of medical organizations with organizations of the Russian Orthodox Church.

2. The Russian State Duma is considering legislation on abortion that includes limiting funding for abortion to only those that are considered medically necessary. The bill is designed to help reduce the number of Russian children destroyed through the violence of abortion.

The legislation would ban private abortion clinics and over-the-counter sale of abortion inducing medication would only be available through a doctor’s prescription. Women considering abortion would be given ultrasounds.

In response to the proposed legislation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe tabled [introduced] Written Declaration 594 which states:

We the undersigned members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly are strongly concerned about the three draft laws submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation aiming to severely restrict access of women to abortion. They aim:

1. to require women to visualise and listen to the heartbeats of the foetus before being given permission to access a legal abortion;

2. exclude coverage of abortion from the Obligatory Medical Insurance;

3. to prohibit the sale of safe medication that terminate pregnancies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has clearly stated that “ultrasound scanning is not routinely required for abortion”. It only serves to emotionally manipulate women. Excluding insurance coverage for a service that only women need is discriminatory and will affect poor, rural women and women in vulnerable situations. The State medical system must additionally ensure the availability of various methods of abortion suitable at different stages of pregnancy. These proposed measures will lead to backstreet abortions and increase maternal mortality and morbidity rates and are an affront to women’s rights.

PNCI (Russian Duma) notes that the Members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in their rush to object to the pro-life provisions with worn-out pro-abortion arguments are forgetting that the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action states in section 8.2 “Any measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process.”

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4124569.html (translate into English)

Dec.18, 2015
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has declared that it has found no military use of Iran’s nuclear technology; so far, those who claimed that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons have been blatantly lying, US columnist Jim W. Dean notes.The Iranian nuclear threat hoax has been nothing less than a large-scale coordinated propaganda campaign, which brought together experts, prominent media figures and intelligence agencies, US columnist and managing editor of Veterans Today Jim W. Dean notes.

Feb. 13, 2016
Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis met in Havana, Cuba for a historic meeting between the two churches, pledging to come together for the future of Christianity.”We spoke as brothers, we have the same baptism, we are bishops, we spoke of our churches,”

At the conclusion of their meeting, the two religious leaders signed a joint declaration which stated “We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide our mutual actions as well as those directed to the outside world.”

The document also addressed the problems of capitalism. “consumerism, the growing inequality in the distribution of material goods increases the feeling of the injustice of the international order that has emerged.”

Both leaders expressed their concern over the decreasing significance of the traditional family, and stated their positions on euthanasia and abortion.

The document reads. “In affirming the foremost value of religious freedom, we give thanks to God for the current unprecedented renewal of the Christian faith in Russia, as well as in many other countries of Eastern Europe, formerly dominated for decades by atheist regimes. Today, the chains of militant atheism have been broken and in many places Christians can now freely confess their faith.”

With the Syrian conflict threatening to push the world to the brink of war, the document calls on all Christians to pray for peace. “We exhort all Christians and all believers of God to pray fervently to the providential Creator of the world to protect His creation from destruction and not permit a new world war.”

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/02/12/joint_declaration_of_pope_francis_and_patriarch_kirill/1208117

Feb. 18, 2016
In an attempt to defend Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world where they’re being persecuted, “It’s important to join efforts [with Russia] to save Christianity in all regions [of the world] where it’s oppressed,” according to Russian Metropolitan Hilarion.

February 2017
Russia identified as Global Leader of the Religious Right

November 13, 2017

Today, Patriarch Kirill reported, the Russian Church is making huge progress in area of social work and charity; to date it has:

4,000 church social institutions, projects and initiatives
400 sisterhoods of charity
52 shelters for pregnant women and mothers with children
more than 100 centers for humanitarian assistance,
more than 400 projects for disabled people
95 shelters for homeless people
500 Orthodox organizations that help drug and alcohol addicts and their relatives

THE CHRISTIAN RENEWAL OF RUSSIA

New Era World News

WE ARE LIVING AT A PIVOTAL MOMENT of human history in which the backward relationship between the secular and sacred, discussed in a previous article is being slowly reversed. That is, the spirit of nationalism (that reifies secular values, imbues them with a sacred identity, and thereby diminishes the voice of the Spirit) is being corrected by an authentic outpouring of the Spirit. In the process, the temporal public square, rather than being increasingly secularized, is being increasingly sacralized. It is being increasingly sacralized not by a religion that has become secularized, nor by a form of secular humanism that has become sacralized, but by authentic Trinitarian Christian renewal.[1] Although imperceptible in the West, this trend is increasingly evident in the East and is becoming more evident in Europe and throughout the globe.

According to Russian President, Vladimir Putin,

”We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan. The excesses of political correctness have reached the point where people are seriously talking about registering political parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia… I am convinced that this opens a direct path to degradation and primitivism, resulting in a profound demographic and moral crisis.”[2]

Therefore, Vladimir Putin has vowed that it will be one of the tasks of Russia’s foreign policy to defend Christianity and Christians persecuted for their faith.

After Metropolitan Hilarion (Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, and Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church) informed Putin about the destruction of churches in Afghanistan, acts of terror committed against Christians in Syria and the bombing of churches in Iraq, he also expressed hope that the Russian government would defend persecuted Christians around the globe to which Putin replied,

[3]

Likewise, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto believes Russia should join with other nations to defend Christianity. In a meeting with Nikolay Fyodorov, Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council, Szijjarto said

[4]

Subsequently, over 50,000 Syrian Christians petitioned Russia for dual citizenship. In a letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the petitioners stated that,

The petitioners also stated that,

[5]

Metropolitan Hilarion also believes that Orthodox and Catholic Christians should act together to defend the Christian faith.

[6]

On March 13, 2015, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s top diplomat at the United Nations in Geneva, presented a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council entitled “Supporting the Human Rights of Christians and Other Communities, particularly in the Middle East,” along with a call for an international force to stop the Islamic State from further assaults on Christians in Iraq and Syria. Surprisingly, this is the first time ever that the plight of Christians has been addressed by the Human Rights Council.[7]

Equally surprising, the statement was initiated by Moscow in cooperation with the Vatican and Lebanon. According to Rev. Stefan Igumnov, Secretary of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church,

[8]

Beginning with the collapse of communism in the 20th century as foretold by the Mother of God at Fatima, the modern era is increasingly typified by signs of a Christian renewal in Russia and further dissolution of the West in the ongoing 21st century collapse of liberalism foreshadowing the beginnings of formative change leading to a New Era. Pope Francis voiced this social-cultural verity in Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore during his November 2015 visit to Florence:

“… It is not useful to search (any longer) for solutions in conservatism or fundamentalism,”….We are not living an era of change, but a change of era.”

Thus, if what the pope is saying is true (and we have much reason to believe that it is), religious analysis can no longer be limited to the increasingly antiquated sociological perspective of secular political conserver (conserver of cultural, political, or economic liberalism). At moments such as these, to continue viewing religion through a political or sociological lens[9] inhibits a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of what in fact is really going on.

If the intent of a news and intelligence service is a fuller more objective analysis approximating truth (and not a slip into ideology, rigid nationalism, or a limited sociological understanding of religion and social institutions), religion should no longer be simply explained as a social construct, as a secular or social-cultural phenomenon reduced to the role of political legitimization. Rather, the Church should be increasingly viewed as a free and spontaneous actor and shaper of social policy, cultural identity, and historic destiny.

The world is on the cusp of a change in Era precipitated by divine providence, what the Mother of God identified at Fatima as an “Era of Peace”.

Because of the Message of Fatima, Saint John Paul II consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and then Pope Francis did the same. Without understanding Fatima and the role of Divine Providence in modern affairs, the current changes underway (changes that are making American foreign policy and global politics increasingly difficult to grasp) cannot be properly understood. The modern world is moving away from its 18th-20th century moorings in secular liberalism toward a Christian spiritual renewal spearheaded by the Mother of God, the Queen of Peace.

At Fatima, the world was promised an “Era of Peace” beginning with the “conversion of Russia”. The purveyors of liberalism are working hard to keep us at war and from knowledge of the ongoing Christian evangelization initiated by the Mercy of God beginning in Poland and the return of Russia to its Christian patrimony with all of its ramifications for global politics and spiritual renewal.

_______________________________________

ENDNOTES

[1] For example, according to Patriarch Kirill Primate of Moscow and All Russia:

“It is very important that all healthy forces of the society today unite for the true revival of Russia. The Church, science, art, culture, education, sport – all these things should work for strengthening spiritual foundations of our person.”

“The things which define the true revival are connected with the person’s spiritual life.”

Likewise, according to the President Putin, “First and foremost we should be governed by common sense. But common sense should be based on moral principles first. And it is not possible today to have morality separated from religious values.” (http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1690757_1695787-3,00.html)

“We stand against legalization and legal justification of homosexual ‘marriages’ and other outrages in the sphere of ethics” (Interfax, Dec. 9).

[2] http://archive.larouchepac.com/node/28244

[3] http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9050

[4] http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=12425

[5] http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10818

[6] http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10016

[7] http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/03/13/vatican-backs-military-force-to-stop-isis-genocide/

[8] http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=12072

[9] Whereby authentic, not secular, religion is, in effect, removed from the public square and from political analysis.

Fatima End Time Apostles and Catholic Social Teaching

New Era World News

FATIMA AND SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

Many Catholics, including those with a cultural formation and knowledge of the theology and spirituality of the Church look upon Her Social Doctrine as a mere assistance activity to help the poor and the disabled. They often forget that the principal role of the Church is the practice of CHARITY. There is no authentic spirituality without charity. God himself is charity, according to the First Epistle of St. John: 4:8.

Charity is the basis for Divine Liturgy. The Eucharistic Sacrifice is pure charity. The Holy Communion is absolute charity. Divine Office, the official prayer of the Church is charity in its maximum expression. Thus, charity is the core of authentic spirituality! Spirituality without charity is an empty devotional practice that is unacceptable to God! It is a mere exercise of egocentric individualism.

Charity in the heart projects outward to all members of human societies, inspiring justice and fair distribution of goods according to the needs of our brothers and sisters.

Because charity comes by grace from the Holy Trinity, human ideologies with atheistic backgrounds and totalitarian control mechanisms cannot forge a New World steeped in justice and charity. These ideologies engendered oppressive structures that were the cause of great suffering and lack of authentic democracy and personal freedom for millions of people throughout the world.

On the other hand, an ideology, expressed in its version of savage ambition for profits and luxuries, cannot serve as model either. It would be like replacing one monster’s head (aesthetic materialism) with another (hedonistic materialism), but still the same dragon. Materialism is not only dialectic, it can also be pragmatic, that of consumerism. Pope John Paul II saw through this false dichotomy and therefore understood that the solution to the social question would not arise out of political competition between the two dominant systems. The savage ambition of a hedonistic system cannot serve to rebuild the world since it is characterized bu its own spiritual and moral crisis, substituting God’s primacy with greed, goods consumption and unjust distribution of riches. Such a system, though differing in name from communism or collectivism, results over time in pragmatic atheism, a different head on the same monster of Materialism – something else is needed.

GREAT LESSONS OF THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER “CENTESIMUS ANNUS”

On May 22, 2010, the Holy Father Benedict XVI pronounced a speech to the “Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation” stating:

“Today, more than ever, the human family can grow as a free society of free peoples so long as globalization is guided by solidarity and the common good and by social justice, all of which find a precious wellspring in the message of Christ and of the Church. The common good is the goal that gives meaning to progress and development, which otherwise would be limited only to the production of material goods. These goods are necessary, but without the orientation to the common good, consumerism, waste, poverty and inequality come to prevail, which are negative factors for progress and development.”

Today’s moment in history presents the terrible financial crisis of the more developed countries, specifically more profound in the United States of America and Europe, due to the wrong decisions made to embrace the war in Iraq and not to limit the greed and avarice of the financial, stock, and mortgage markets that threatens whole nations with bankruptcy. The irresponsible speculation of so many should have been restricted by upright politicians; politics must have primacy over finance, and by a system of ethics that must be the guiding force for all social action — political, economic, and cultural. Instead, we are increasingly burdened by unsustainable debt and moral malaise.

After all, this is what happens when humanity turns to the old ways of the Babel Tower, pretending to have access to heaven without God; that is, pretending to obtain happiness and glory while eradicating God from public life. But this is not possible. When human beings pretend to act as if God does not exist, they tend to get what they ask for and in the long run are abandoned to their own designs, which inevitably lead to humiliation and despair. Perhaps America and Europe will learn their mutual lessons from history, from the two great wars of the twentieth century, from the Cold War, and from the looming collapse of the Western economies?

Pope Benedict XVI wisely stated:

“The fundamental priority for the development of the entire family of peoples, however, is to strive to recognize the true scale of goods and values. The notion of integral human development presupposes such things as subsidiarity and solidarity, and interdependence between State, society and the market. In a global society made up of many different peoples and religions, the common good and integral development must be achieved with everyone’s contribution. Religions have a crucial role to play in this, especially when they teach fraternity and peace. THE EXCLUSION OF RELIGION FROM PUBLIC LIFE –AND AT THE OTHER EXTREME, RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM – HINDERS AND ENCOUNTER BETWEEN PERSONS AND THEIR COLLABORATION FOR THE PROGRESS OF HUMANITY. PUBLIC LIFE IS SAPPED OF ITS MOTIVATION AND POLITICS BECOMES DOMINEERING AND AGGRESSIVE”.

These dynamic insights coming from Papal Social teaching are echoed in the Message of Fatima, which provides three main teachings that move us in the same direction as the papal teachings of the encyclical letter:

God is first! He must be at the center of human life. All things orbit around His laws and commandments. This is the primacy of God!

The fate of nations, the fate of the world, has been entrusted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We must pray to her Immaculate Heart to obtain world peace. This is God’s will.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, the openness of Eastern Europe to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the reunification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, signs of the beginning of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary promised at Fatima, are a great grace from Heaven that must be completed by the European efforts to build new societies based on the “civilization of love” principles, thereby bringing about the “globalization of solidarity” in a world wounded by greed and exploitation and in need of healing grace rooted in justice and charity as the papal social doctrine teaches.

DIFFICULTIES IN BRINGING ABOUT SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION OVERSHADOWED BY GOSPEL AND FATIMA MESSAGE WHICH FORESHADOWS A REUNION OF EUROPE IN THE FAITH

According to Pope Benedict XVI

“Modern culture, particularly in Europe, runs the risk of amnesia, of forgetting and thus abandoning the extraordinary heritage aroused and inspired by Christian faith, which is the essential framework of the culture of Europe… Today too these roots are alive and fruitful in East and West, and can inspire a new humanism…to respond to the numerous and sometimes crucial challenges that our Christian communities and societies have to face: first among them, that of secularism, which not only impels us to ignore God and His designs, but ends up by denying the very dignity of human beings, in view of a society regulated only by selfish interests”

To secularism we must oppose the witnessing of believers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all, proclaiming that God is first, speaking about the rights of God as Creator and Redeemer to humanity. This is the great call of the Message of Fatima, capable of providing a religious experience that can transform the human heart as it transformed the hearts of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco and Venerable Sister Lucia.

Pope Benedict XVI concluded:

“Let us again let Europe breathe with both lungs, restore a soul not only to believers, but to all peoples of the continent, promote trust and hope, rooting them in the millennial experience of the Christian faith. THE COHERENT, GENEROUS AND COURAGEOUS WITNESS OF BELIEVERS MUST NOT NOW BE LACKING, so that together we may look to our shared future, a future in which the freedom and dignity of all men and women are recognized as a fundamental value, in which openness to the Transcendent, the experience of faith, is recognized as an essential element of the human being.”

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FIRST?

First, we must grow spiritually close to Christ under the Queenship of Mary who leads us to her Son in the Eucharist. Then practically speaking, we should focus on the formation of leaders that will guide our communities and societies to construct the Kingdom of God on earth, a new civilization of love so much needed to attain peace and happiness.

THE NEED TO HAVE AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN POLITICIANS

When the Holy Father, Benedict XVI received participants to the twenty-fourth plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on May 21, 2010, he invited them to reflect on the theme: “Witnesses to Christ in the political community”.

He told them that, although the “technical formation of politicians” is not part of the Church’s mission, she reserves the right to “pass moral judgment in those matters which regard public order when the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls require it”.

Christ’s disciples in our days must accomplish the great threefold mission to defeat “the spread of a confused relativism and of a utilitarian and hedonistic individualism (that) weakens democracy and favors the dominance of strong powers”:

“It is up to the lay faithful to show –in their personal and family life, in social cultural and political life-that the faith enables them to read reality in a new and profound way, and to transform it”, said the Pope.
“It is also the duty of the laity to participate actively in the political life, in a manner coherent with the teaching of the Church, bringing their well-founded reasoning and great ideals into the democratic debate, and into the search for a broad consensus among everyone who cares about the defense of life and freedom, the protection of truth and the good of the family, solidarity with the needy and the vital search for the common good”.
The Holy Father went on: “There is the need for authentically Christian politicians but, even more so, for lay faithful who bear witness to Christ and the Gospel in the civil and political community. This need must be reflected in the educational prospectus of the ecclesial community and requires new forms of presence and support from pastors, Christian membership of associations, ecclesial movements and new communities can be a good school for such disciples and witnesses, supported by the charismatic, community, educational and missionary resources of those groups”.

During his May 13, 2010 visitation to the Shrine of Fatima, Pope Benedict XVI insisted that all communities must live the Message of Fatima since all communities are called by this message to repent and do penance, to convert to Jesus Christ and abandon the evil spirit and his worldly deeds as was promised in our baptism.

The World Apostolate of Fatima, an International Public Association of the Faithful, has as its charisma the formation of lay people in the New Evangelization using as instrument the authentic Message of Fatima. This is the educational prospectus of our association, to carry on this mission enriching the ecclesial community with a new vision for our families in the present times of confusion and uncertainty. As Pope Benedict XVI said at Fatima:

“DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TALK OF GOD!” The great challenge of our times is “the separation and the opposition between secularism and the culture of faith”

Pope Benedict stressed that this is “something anomalous and must be transcended. The present moment is for the two to come together, and in this way to discover its true identity.”

This is ” is Europe’s mission and mankind’s need in our history.”

During this Year of Mercy, inpsired by divine grace and the ongoing conversion of Rusia as foretol by Our Lady, we must renew our spiritual and apostolic zeal, accepting the Gospel of Christ in its entirety and witnessing with passion the experience of charity, the religious experience of God’s mystery, that light shed from the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Fatima, which was God himself, transforming the hearts of the three little shepherds of Fatima.

The experience of God’s love to humanity is transforming the hearts of the African continent with the ever new, everlasting power of Jesus Christ Risen from the dead! Suffering, anguish and death are all overcome by the power of the Risen One! This is the great existential lesson of the Fatima Message for all.

The New Evangelization and the Message of Fatima

New Era World News

by Prof. Américo Pablo Lopez Ortiz, International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima pictured with Pope Francis at Third World Congress of Ecclesial Movements. Prof. Américo personally handed to Pope Francis an eight-page petition letter on behalf of the World Apostolate of Fatima International to establish the First Saturdays Devotion in the Universal Church, and spoke to him about this devotion, “the forgotten part of the Message of Fatima.”

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“REPENT AND DO PENANCE! THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND The evangelical call to conversion echoes more powerful than ever in the authentic Message of Fatima, the “evangelical message of prayer and penance” as Pope Paul VI called it.

The Message of Fatima has it all: The doctrinal richness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; its freshness, images, gestures of the primitive Christian catechesis; the calls to penance from Saint John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Redeemer; the strong eschatological accents of Christ before the ruins of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44); the didactic force of Jesus’ parables; the simple life of the villagers, their emotional gestures and learned prayers; the prophetic contents of the Book of Revelation with the confrontation between “the Woman clothed with the sun… and the red dragon”; as well as God’s seal with the Miracle of the Sun Fatima October 13, 1917 (video 5:32) and the profound spiritual peace found in that holy place where heaven and earth meet for the welfare of humanity.

Everything occurred in Europe: Three apparitions of the Angel, (video 3:02) the messenger who prepared the way for the visitation of the Mother of God and seven apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima (including a special one to Lucia on her departure from Fatima) were located in Portugal. Then, two apparitions of great magnitude and transcendence occurred in the other half of Iberia, Spain, at Pontevedra and Tuy, all of them forming a unique and perfect message coming from heaven, having the objective of explaining the Gospel of the beloved Son of God for our times so that nobody could excuse himself or herself from not been capable of interpreting “the signs for our time”.

Our Lady came to Fatima to speak to the world, but firstly, to speak to Europe, her beloved “old continent”, whose history of wars and conflicts, ideologies and politics, geographical and scientific discoveries as well as technological developments, had the greater influence to the rest of the world. Through Europe, Christianity was spread to most nations in a constant pattern of light and darkness that produced many saints and heroes that portrayed some of the best of what human beings are capable of, as well as some of the bigger tragedies in history, armed conflicts, persecutions and slander. Then, at our modern times, through Europe, the philosophical trends of illustration, rationalism and dialectic materialism engendered a struggle against faith and morals, against the spiritual destiny of humanity, against God himself; not only denying His existence, but also persecuting in many ways those who believe in Him.

The Message of Fatima is heaven’s reply to human pride neglecting God and pretending to build “a civilization without God” because He is not needed any more.

Lourdes in France (video 1:55) stands as heaven’s reply to illustration and rationalism, showing the great limitations of human knowledge and power when confronted with sickness, aging and death. The great advances of humanity are nothing when compared to the inexplicable intervention of God in the individual history of men and women completely cured from their infirmities when coming with faith to the waters of Our Lady’s well at Lourdes (video 1:55). Reason, technology, pride are mute and humiliated by God’s acts. Then, suddenly, God is needed again in the European heart! The heavenly mother showed the way to recover faith in God!

Fatima stands as heaven’s reply to the threats posed by substituting God with the idol of material progress and totalitarianism. The “paradise” promised on earth turns to be a real hell of hatred, struggles for power, violence, assassinations, jealousy and genocide. The twentieth century is the century of martyrs where millions of people were sacrificed to construct an elusive “paradise on earth without God” that never came! The Message of Fatima offers the best possible interpretation of the philosophy of history of that century whose developments come well into our present XXI century forcing our future generations to become protagonists in the drama of our times: We must choose between the “civilization of love” or that of hatred; we must choose between the “culture of life” or the “culture of death” as the great options that will define our own collective history!

Fatima provides an interpretation of God’s intervention on the COLLECTIVE HISTORY of men and women of the XX and XXI centuries as Lourdes (video 1:55) provided in the XIX century the historical interpretation of God’s intervention in the INDIVIDUAL HISTORY of men and women longing for health and wellness in the midst of misery and suffering caused by sickness.

God is still needed! The fall of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany, are all great signs of the fulfillment of the Fatima prophecy: “At the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph… Russia will be converted and a time of peace will be granted to the world.” The great qualitative changes in the world at the end of the twentieth century constitute an authentic new Marian Lepanto, a great Marian triumph that occurred exactly on the same dates of liturgical Marian feasts, commemorating the spiritual victories of the Woman dressed in sun:

SIGNIFICANT MARIAN DATES ASSOCIATED WITH DISSOLUTION OF USSR AND REBIRTH OF RUSSIA

1. August 22, 1991: The attempt to overthrow Russian President Mikhail Gorbachov failed. The Soviet Communist Party has sealed its fate after three days of a military take over; three days of confusion and despair in which the forces of the hard core atheistic Communists confronted the forces of grandmothers and young citizens, ending in the collapse of their attempt. –Feast of the Queenship of Mary!

2. December 8, 1991: It was announced publicly that the new Community of Independent States would replace the USSR, precisely when the Catholic world celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary!

3. December 25, 1991: On this date, the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia announced the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was Christmas Day, the greatest joy in the life of the Blessed Mother, her giving birth to her only Son, the great Solemnity of Nativity Day!

4. January 1, 1992: Russia emerges as an independent state, open to religious freedom, public cult and religious practices. The new Community of Independent States recognizes the independence and sovereignty of the former Soviet republics. The Soviet Union of Marxist and atheistic republics passed away at the age of 74 years. This day the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the principal Marian feast in the liturgical calendar. (The Soviet Union could not celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, that is, its 75th Anniversary. The Fatima Message could! Both began on October 1917 at the same time!)

The four major dates of the historical changes that ended an era are marked by the Marian presence, according to God’s will, the Lord of History! The Servant of God, John Paul II, was a wonderful instrument in the hands of God to comply with the petitions of Our Lady of Fatima, including the entrustment of Russia and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with all the bishops of the Catholic world and those of the Orthodox Church who united with them. By this collegial consecration of March 25, 1984, the Universal Church complied with the desires of Our Lady of Fatima, who prescribed this act of collegiality among the bishops of the world to convert Russia and many sinners and bring an era of peace to earth. Just six years later, the world would see the great qualitative changes in the political map of Europe without the shedding of blood!

The great efforts and contributions of Pope John Paul’s crusade to fulfill the Fatima prophesy are most remarkable: The fall of atheistic communism in Eastern Europe, beginning with Poland, the Pope’s Motherland; the collapse of the Soviet Union and its regime, without bloodshed; the openness of the old Communist countries to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and religious freedom; the prevention of a disastrous nuclear war that could have happened between 1985-1986, according to some disclosed documents of the intelligence agencies and the correspondence of Sister Lucia with the Holy Father; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany; an end to the old Cold War and the opening of a new era of collaboration and better understanding between nations. The contributions of Pope John Paul II to these achievements are of the greatest magnitude. These changes in the world can be labeled as “the Great Miracle of the twentieth century”. Such GRACE AND MERCY coming through Fatima should produce in the hearts of people the most profound gratitude to the Lord of History who saved the the world from terrible threats of war and destruction! That gratitude should move the people hearts to the conversion of many sinners!

Although there were great improvements in removing the malignant structures that prevented whole societies to believing, loving and serving God, it is also true that many more people have ignored the great GRACE AND MERCY granted from heaven.

But humanity is free to follow God or to walk away from His path. At present, the world is submerged into a spiritual and moral crisis. Pope John Paul II, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, foresaw the present crisis and launched precisely from the Shrine of Fatima the encyclical letter “Centesimus annus” commemorating the 100 years of the encyclical letter “Rerum Novarum” by Pope Leo XIII.

The social doctrine of the Church and the New Evangelization are offered by Pope John Paul II as the needed instruments to build a new world after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. It is essential to substitute the oppressive structures of the materialistic and atheistic societies of with the “civilization of love” taught by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, acquiring the values and lifestyle of Christian life. The world must be re-evangelized. God must be at the center of cultures and civilization. God must be first! God has the primacy!

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