Editor’s Note: This lengthy article was originally published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 74, Summer 2003. It is being reprinted here and on subsequent days as a series of five much shorter articles. [Read Part 3.]
The Pope’s and All the Bishops’ Obligation to Listen to Fatima
There are people who think that somehow or other the Message of Fatima exempts the hierarchy, priests or bishops, or the Cardinals, or the Pope, from obeying the Message of Fatima. I’m not here to pass judgment on anybody, but that is not theologically accurate.
Some would ask: “Who is more important, Sister Lucia or the Pope?” I think the question is put badly. It’s not a question of whether Sister Lucia commands the Pope. She doesn’t have any pretense of doing that, nor do I. But am I now contradicting what I just said? I am not. The answer is simple. It is for the prophet to give the message as God gives it to the prophet, in this case Sister Lucia. It is for the Church to examine whether the prophecy comes from God, which it has done. And the Church has said, “Yes, this message comes from God.” It is then the obligation of the Church, including the Pope and the bishops, to obey God, Whose message was given through the prophet.
So, the relationship between the prophet and the hierarchy is not one in which the prophet commands the hierarchy. It is God Who commands the hierarchy. It is God Who gives His message through the prophet to the hierarchy, and it is for the hierarchy to obey, once it has determined that the message indeed comes from God.
More Reflections on Scripture
Is there any Scriptural basis for this? Certainly. You will find various examples in the Acts of the Apostles of just such a relationship in the time of the Apostles. For example, the very consecration of St. Paul as bishop was done through the voice of prophecy. While they were praying together, the Holy Ghost spoke, obviously through a prophet, and said, “Separate Me Saul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto I have taken them.” (Acts 13:2)
And so, the Catholics praying together there prayed and fasted further, and then a bishop among them made Paul and Barnabas bishops. But they were appointed bishops through the voice of prophecy. And we also have the example of St. Paul writing to the Ephesians (in Eph. 2:20), in which St. Paul says that the Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets.
According to Father Joseph de Ste. Marie, the context tells us the prophets talked about are the prophets of the New Covenant, who are the foundation of the Church together with the Apostles and the bishops their successors. St. Thomas tells us God sends prophets of the New Covenant to every generation, not to give a new doctrine, but to remind the faithful what they must do to save their souls.
Father Joseph de Ste. Marie develops this theme further, and we have published it in The Fatima Crusader and also in my book, World Enslavement or Peace.[14] I think you’ll find much of the argument I’ve given here between pages 83-157 of my book.
It’s now thirteen years in publication and has been sent to all the bishops. I’ve yet to have one theologian disagree with us. The obligation to believe and to obey is a solemn one and you’ll find that the examples of the history of the Church also confirm this.
The Example of the Beheaded King of France
There is also the revelation of St. Margaret Mary.[15] The Sacred Heart of Jesus told St. Margaret Mary that the King of France must consecrate his country to the Sacred Heart. Not simply privately, but publicly, and to put the emblem of the Sacred Heart on the standard, on the flag of France, and on his coat of arms. Now this was given without a Miracle of the Sun. This was given in the message given to St. Margaret Mary on June 17, 1689.
This message was written down and transmitted to the kings of France. They knew of the request and they ignored it; so on June 17, 1789, one hundred years later to the day, the King of France had his legislative power taken from him by the Third Estate, and four years later, after being in prison for some time, he was executed.[16]
Our Lord, in the Message of Fatima, makes reference to that very fact when He says, “Make it known to My ministers, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune.”[17]
Now, does it make sense that Our Lord should say that the King of France was punished for not obeying a “private revelation” if in fact it did not obligate him to believe and obey? But as it happened, the King of France was punished very severely for his delaying the execution of Jesus’ command! Now Our Lord Himself is formally warning that a number of bishops and possibly the Pope himself – and maybe even a number of His priests – will be following the King of France into misfortune for one reason; and that reason is the delaying of obedience to His command to consecrate specifically Russia. That is the clear intent of the message given by Our Lord.
It doesn’t make sense that God should give us a message so clearly, so authoritatively and yet we can say with impunity to God, “Well, I don’t read it in Scripture, according to my reading of Scripture, so I don’t have to listen to You.” But there are those blind people who are leaders of other blind people who say we don’t have to pay attention to the Message of Fatima. They say this even though they acknowledge that they cannot be certain it is not already in Scripture, in prophecy. Now if I were a betting person, I would not bet on my salvation knowing all that. In other words, if I – knowing that it could be in Sacred Scripture, knowing that I have the obligation to do God’s will and that God’s gone to the trouble of telling me what His will is – should say, “Well, I think I can create a doubt in my mind sufficient to excuse me on Judgment Day” – well, no one’s ever argued with God and won the case.
And Our Lord is saying, “Because they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune.” I think the obligation – not only of the faithful to believe and obey Our Lady of Fatima, but also the obligation of the bishops and the Pope – is quite clear and quite certain.
Part III
Do Not Call Evil Good
This is not to pass judgment on anybody, because I am not anyone’s judge – except if someone comes to me in confession, then I have to fulfill my role as minister of the sacrament and judge the penitent. So I’m not here to judge anybody, but it would not be right for me to simply say, “Since I’m not your judge, I cannot affirm certain truths.” It’s one thing to say, “I don’t know if somebody’s guilty or not.” It’s quite another thing to say, “I don’t know if this is a sin or not.”
It says in Sacred Scripture, do not call evil good and do not call good evil.[18] And, therefore, in my capacity as a publisher of the Message of Fatima, in my capacity as a Catholic priest, I cannot call the refusal to obey Our Lady of Fatima good. I have to call it a sin. Am I therefore saying that Cardinal X, or Bishop Y, or whoever, is guilty of sin? No, I’m not saying that. I am not their judge. But I am saying that in the objective moral order it is a sin. There’s no other explanation for it, and if I had to defend this in a theological debate, I could do so.
[Continue reading Part 5.]
END NOTES
[14] Available from The Fatima Center.
[15] St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a religious in the Convent of the Visitation at Paray le Monial in the province of Burgundy, France. She lived from 1648-1690. She was recognized as a saint even while she was still alive; thus King Louis XIV, the King of France at that time, should have obeyed the message as having come from God Himself.
[16] King Louis XVI, the grandson of King Louis XIV who had been the recipient of the message of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, was stripped of his power by the French revolutionaries and later executed by the guillotine.
[17] Message of Jesus to Sister Lucia in August of 1931 in Rianjo, Spain, as documented in Fatima ante La Esfinge by Father Joaquin María Alonso, Ediciones “Sol de Fátima”, Madrid 1979, p. 97. cf.: Sister Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia’s own words, page 200.
[18] “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” (Isaias 5:20)