What reforms? Hasn't he done enough?

I had heard that the cardinals were wanting someone in the office with administrative ability who could reform finances and the Vatican bureaucracy. Supposedly, Pope Francis possessed those abilities. You will have to make your own judgments on how effective he has been.

Right now, I would settle for an orthodox and RICH father.

Slumber Snot Norsleeps: An Insomniac's Nightmare.

Coming soon to churches near you for your Lenten enjoyment.

Any reflections on this passage from the papal address?

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church itself adopts the mystagogical way to illustrate the liturgy, valuing its prayers and signs. Mystagogy: this is a suitable way to enter the mystery of the liturgy, in the living encounter with the crucified and risen Lord. Mystagogy means discovering the new life we have received in the People of God through the Sacraments, and continually rediscovering the beauty of renewing it.”

Fatima is an apparition no one is required to accept, and you know that. LOL. Private revelations are not binding on anyone.

There has never been a private revelation where 100,000 people saw the same exact miracle! It was the greatest miracle since the resurrection and not one (Masonic) US Newspaper reported on it! (Fake News!)

And If we look deeper into it, if the Woman Clothed with the Sunis The Blessed Virgin Mary, as Pope Paul VI declared in one of his encyclicals, than in a certain sense, The Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima are not really a Private Revelation, but in fact part of the Deposit of Faith, and so mandatory for Salvation!

It really seems that Fatima is in another category all by itself and all of us (even the Hierarchy and our beloved Holy Father) need to take a deeper look at it! Back on May 13, 2010 before an audience of 500,000 pilgrims, Pope Benedict XVI issued this dramatic pronouncement during his homily in the very sanctuary of the Fatima shrine: “One deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.”

Our Lady of Fatima said to: Pray the Rosary every day! We need to act on this or things are going to get a lot worse as She had warned us!

May Our Lady of Fatima pray for us!

Although it is still "private" as far as revelations go, The early parts of it do make some sense. The parts about World Wars I and 2, seem to have been accurate. They played out nearly as predicted, though some parts could still be questioned. Private revelations seem surrounded by legions of folks who will, essentially, believe anything and everything.

Then there was the part about the secrets. Why would the Mother of God come to earth then give secrets which could not be revealed? Seems kind of pointless. When the "secret" was finally revealed, it was more nonsense than substance. My thought was, "this is what we've been waiting for? Why?"

Then there was Fr. Gruner and his ilk. These folks did more to muddy the waters than anyone. It became a case of, the consecration has not been done, yes it has, no it's not, yes it is, blah, blah, blah. Even when the consecration was done and Sister Lucia agreed it was done, the naysayers and conspiracy theorists went on and on about how someone must have pressured her to get her to say that. The whole Fatima thing became an exercise in how to be petty, self-serving, and downright silly. Many who promote these apparitions have their own axes to grind and it shows.

Again, no one is required to believe any private revelation. We have all we need to know from Tradition and Scripture.

Again, no one is required to believe any private revelation. We have all we need to know from Tradition and Scripture.

Our Lady does not come all the way from heaven for us to have a take it or leave it attitude! The reason the Catholic Church is experiencing a crisis of unheard of proportions, (Scandals, disgraceful effeminate Liturgy, etc.) is precisely that millions of Catholics, and in particular, Bishops and even, sadly, Popes, treat Her APPROVED apparitions with such a lukewarm and indifferent attitude. Catholics need to get on the ball and respond to Heaven's admonitions or we will be in WWIII and the living will envy the dead. If Tradition and Scripture is enough for us, why does such a loving Mother make so many efforts to get through our thick heads?

"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one has never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead." - Our Lady of Akita, Japan, October 13, 1973 (on April 22, 1984, Most. Rev. John Shojiro Ito, Bishop of Niigata, Japan, after years of extensive investigation, declared the events of Akita, Japan to be of supernatural origin)

Notice the connection with Fatima, this apparition occurring on the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, October 13, perhaps the greatest public miracle of all time!

More gloom and doom. Isn't it always such? I don't think the church ever "approves" apparitions. It declares them as either worthy of belief or not worthy of belief. It is still up to the individual to believe or not. As for prayer, we should all do that anyway.

I look at Fatima and besides the problems I mentioned earlier some other things occur to me. I see the "pray the rosary" and all will be well argument made often. Billions of rosaries have been said. Russia is still not converted. Yes, there has been a resurgence in the state controlled church but it is still under the thumb of the government. There is no peace in the world with strife and war or near war everywhere. Our Lady of Fatima evidently didn't see China or any other countries that are proving to be threats to world peace. There is chaos in the church where even its leadership seems to bungle everything it touches. But yet, the consecration has been made. Does anyone else besides the hysterical crowd see inconsistencies here between what was promised and what has happened? Oh right, say more rosaries. Good luck with that.

I am quite happy although there is certainly enough going on in the world to worry over. However, I didn't cause it and I can't fix it. No need to worry.

I will pray them for special events, for example, like one I did as part of a group for pro-life causes not long ago. There was another for the country before that. Normally, I don't pray rosaries. I gravitate more toward chotkis and Divine Praises. Amazing how few people actually pray the hours any more. Psalms are always good prayers, too.

Charles

I am not announcing gloom and doom, I am just reiterating what Our Lady wants us to know and that is we are wandering off the right path and we need to repair our lives. SHE comes and always asks us to repair, hence the theology of reparation which began at the crucifixion. Her messages (including Fatima) gave us very clear directives on how to make reparation. To reinforce her request she appeared month after month on the same day and announced that she would do a public miracle on a particular day and everybody knew it in advance and it did take place. 70,000 people witnessed it, and all of the media including the secular media reported it.

If we despise prophecy, then we are not open to the work of the Holy Spirit and to God in our time. We can not tell God that he can’t speak to us any longer through people, through events and through private revelation.

The king of France chose to do this and he lost his head to the day of the warning he received since he did not follow the request from the seer who spoke to him.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

BrotherMonk, if we are living in chapter 13 of the book of Revelation, who was that great Angel who appeared in chapter 10? How did we go through history totally missing him?