05-14-2021, 06:41 AM
From Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité's The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. III [here]:
It is Jesus Himself Who first predicted this terrible crisis of the Faith which will open the “last times.” Along with famines and earthquakes, wars and persecutions, Our Lord clearly predicts that there will also be grave deficiencies even within the Church:
«Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and will put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray. And because iniquity will abound, the charity of the many will grow cold. But whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved.» (Mt. 24: 9-13)
«… For false christs and false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have foretold it to you.» (Mt. 24: 24)
Finally, we are familiar with these stupefying words of Jesus:
«Yet when the Son of man comes, will He find, do you think, faith on the earth?» (Lk. 18: 8)
This question of Our Lord, explained by His other prophecies on the last times – which are utterly definite and unconditional – takes on an even more dramatic resonance. The apostasy will come, Jesus evokes its most extreme extension, and He leaves us in uncertainty.
THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING
The Apostles understood this tragic teaching very well. There are countless texts where they evoke this menacing apostasy. They multiply warnings against its artisans, the false prophets and false doctors of all sorts, who come from the Church’s very bosom and are already at work against Her, striving furiously to destroy the Faith of the faithful. But “in the last days”, they make it clear, the false prophets will multiply most dangerously. We must reread chapters II and III of Saint Peter’s Second Epistle:
«But there were false prophets also among the people, just as among you there will be lying teachers who will bring in destructive sects. They even disown the Lord Who bought them, thus bringing upon themselves swift destruction.» (2 Pet. 2: 1)
«This first you must know, that in the last days there will come deceitful scoffers, men walking according to their own lusts, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”… But beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord does not delay in His promises, but for your sake is long-suffering, not wishing that any should perish but that all should turn to repentance. (2 Pet. 3: 3-9)
We must reread Saint Jude, taking up the same theme:
«Be mindful of the words that have been spoken beforehand by the apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who kept saying to you that at the end of time there will come scoffers, walking impiously according to their desires.» (Jude 17)
As for Saint John, he denounces «the Antichrist who is coming», and the many antichrists who have already come, as his precursors and first manifestations. Saint Paul is no less insistent, from the beginning of his ministry until his last epistles to Timothy and Titus. He attacks the heretics who trouble his churches as the first of a long line of “deceitful spirits and liars”, who will go on multiplying during the “last times”. He writes to Timothy:
«Now the Spirit expressly says that in the last times some will depart from the Faith (literally: «apostatize from the Faith»), giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils, and having their conscience branded …» (1 Tim. 4: 1-2)
«But know this, that in the last days dangerous times will come.» Saint Paul goes on to describe the growing iniquity mentioned by Our Lord. How relevant that picture is! And note well – he is not speaking about the pagans, but about Christians at the time of the great apostasy.
He continues: «Men will be lovers of self, haughty, covetous, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, criminal, heartless, faithless, slanderous, incontinent, merciless, unkind, treacherous, stubborn, puffed up with pride, loving pleasure more than God; having a semblance indeed of piety, but disowning its power.» (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
In other words, under a surface piety, they will be overcome by the impiety around them and will fall into apostasy. The apostle continues:
«For there will come a time when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves teachers according to their own lusts, and they will turn away their hearing from the truth and turn aside rather to fables.» (2 Tim. 4: 3-4)
An attentive reading of all these texts shows clearly that the Apostles, using the occasion of those who were stirring up trouble in their own time, definitely intended to give a more vast and prophetic teaching. «There will come a time», says Saint Paul.
A SECRET FOR THE TIME OF THE GREAT APOSTASY
If, as we have shown, the third Secret announces a terrible crisis of the Church, the loss of Faith on the scale of nations or entire continents, does it not correspond, in a striking manner, to the prophecies of Scripture concerning the apostasy of the “last times”? Perhaps it even refers to them in an explicit enough manner.
Sister Lucia, as we have seen, was not afraid to tell Father Fuentes that Our Lady’s messages imply that we have entered «the last times of the world». We now have a solid proof that this theme really belongs to the third Secret, in Cardinal Ratzinger’s declaration to Vittorio Messori, in August 1984. After stating that he had read the Secret, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith answered the journalist, who had asked why this Secret was still not revealed:
Here we have a declaration of capital importance! Granted, the Cardinal could have spoken without circumlocutions and told us simply, without ambiguous periphrases, what themes properly belong to the third Secret. It is clear however that in his enumeration, three elements, which cannot be connected with the message of Fatima already known, certainly refer us to the specific contents of the third Secret. They are:
«Dangers to the faith.»
«The importance of the last times.»
The fact that the prophecies «contained in the third Secret correspond to what is announced in Scripture.» This is tantamount to stating in a different way that the third Secret concerns the “last times”.
What, in effect, are the prophecies of Scripture which have not yet been fulfilled, if not those which concern «the last times»?
Besides, as we will have occasion to repeat, there is the series of great manifestations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary (from 1673 to 1689); at the dawn of the 18th century, there is the extraordinary mission of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, apostle of Mary Mediatrix, and prophet of Her apocalyptic role in the great battle of the last times, whose imminence he foresaw; and in the nineteenth century there is the series of great apparitions of the Immaculate Virgin, especially those of Rue du Bac, La Salette, Lourdes, and Pontmain – all these are situated in this context of the “last times of the world”, preparing the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the striking victory of Christ the King, for the inauguration of the spiritual, social and political reign of Their two united Hearts.
Did not Heaven propose the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and then devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to revive in souls charity, which had grown so cold «in these last centuries», and in some way propose them as the two final and divine remedies to the growing iniquity and menacing impiety?
WE ARE IN THE TIME OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE ANTICHRIST POWERS
Since we have good reasons to think that the sad times we are living in really are “the last times”, marked by apostasy, the prophecies of Scripture are most especially addressed to us, and we would be inexcusable not to seek there our light, strength, and consolation in the great trial coming. So let us continue to listen, with docility, to the teaching of the Apostles on the future awaiting us…
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY» ACCORDING TO SAINT PAUL
The Apostle is speaking to his Christians of Thessalonica, who were persuaded of the imminent coming, or “parousia”, of Our Lord. No, he answers them, it is still not here. And here is the vitally important text, concerning the apostasy of the last times:
«Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the Man of sin (the Man of impiety) is revealed, the Son of perdition, the Adversary, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God and gives himself out as if he were God.» (2 Thess. 2: 3-4)
Let us leave aside, for a moment, the verses dealing with the obstacle to his appearance, to describe right away his coming and his work:
«And his coming (i.e. the coming of the Impious one) is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all wicked deception to those who are perishing. For they have not received the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have preferred wickedness.» (2 Thess. 2: 9)
WHO IS THIS «MAN OF SIN», THIS ANTICHRIST?
We can say Antichrist, although the word is not from Saint Paul, since all the exegetes are in accord in identifying the Impious one he speaks of with the Antichrist, whom Saint John speaks about in his epistles. Who is he, this artisan of apostasy? Saint Paul uses three terms to define him.
The first is difficult to translate: “o anthrôpos tês anomias”, the Man of Sin, of Impiety. The Greek term is more general and richer than all our translations: it is the Lawless man, in revolt against all laws, divine as well as human. He is the Impious one and the Revolutionary, in this sense, that he refuses to submit to all authority inasmuch as it derives from God, as well as all divine law: “I will not serve!” he cries. Parallel expressions well express the content of the word: he is the man «without faith or law», whose motto is «neither God nor a master»… other than himself.
This man is not only impious, he is an apostate, that is, a traitor: the term employed by Saint Paul, “the Son of perdition”, “o uios tês apôleias”, undoubtedly is reminiscent of Our Lord’s words, reported to us by Saint John: in this way Jesus designated Judas, the Apostle who was going to betray Him. (Jn. 17: 12) In almost all the passages of Scripture dealing with the apostasy, we find this insistence on the betrayal of the Church by the faithful, and even the Pastors.
Thus does Saint Paul denounce the “false apostles”, writing to the Corinthians:
«For they are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. It is no great thing, then, if his ministers disguise themselves as ministers of justice. But their end will be according to their works.» (2 Cor. 11: 13)
Bidding his adieus to the “elders” of the Church of Ephesus, he solemnly warns them:
«Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of God, which He has purchased with His own Blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock. And from among your own selves men will rise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Watch, therefore…» (Acts 20: 28-31)
Saint Paul, following an increasing progression in his description, finally applies to this “Man of Sin” the very name of the devil: he is “the Adversary”, “Satan”, whose henchman he is. Saint John tells us of Judas, who had decided to betray Jesus: «Satan entered into him…» (Jn. 13: 37; Lk. 22: 3) Similarly, the Antichrist is the instrument of Satan, «who communicates his superhuman power to him, a little like the way the Spirit of Christ communicates itself to Christians», comments Father Rigaux. 1133 As in the Apocalypse, the Dragon, symbol of Satan, confers his power on the Beast, who symbolizes the powers in his service. (Apoc. 13: 12)
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY IS ALREADY AT WORK
Before the second coming, the parousia of Christ, must come that of the Impious one. (2 Thess. 2: 1, 9) However, his diabolical work has already begun: «the mystery of iniquity is already at work». (2 Thess. 2: 7)
Already, in secret, the Powers of evil foment the apostasy. Saint John teaches exactly the same thing: «You have heard that an Antichrist is coming; so now many antichrists have arisen…» (1 Jn. 2: 18) «… It is the spirit of Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he is coming, and now is already in the world.» (1 Jn. 4: 3) All the heretics that the Apostles denounce appear to them already as so many manifestations, embodiments of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is not an impersonal force. He never acts except through concrete persons. But he is not alone. The principle of unity is Satan, who inspires all his instruments, and makes them work in his service. What is clear, for Saint Paul as well as Saint John, is that every arch-heretic is already an antichrist, and every heresy is at bottom diabolically inspired.
This does not exclude that at the end of time, a «Son of perdition» will appear, who will embody within himself all satanic malice and perversity. He will lead the struggle against the Church to its paroxysm, and provoke the universal apostasy.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE ANTICHRIST POWERS
Finally, at the end of an unstinting battle, there will come a day when «the mystery of iniquity» will seem completely victorious. The apostasy being quasi universal, the Man of Sin will manifest himself openly and bring the Impiety to its fullness. This will be his “revelation”, his great “manifestation”, a diabolical aping of Christ’s manifestation. Saint Paul tells us that he will go so far that he will «sit in the temple of God and give himself out as if he were God». (2 Thess. 2: 3-4)
These are very mysterious words. An old commentator asks: «But what will be this temple of God in which he will sit? Perhaps it will be one of the most august churches of Rome, such as Saint Peter’s basilica, or perhaps the temple of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem…»
These words are all the more horrible since the text does not suggest a profanation coming from a persecuting power, such as Antiochus Epiphanes. It is in the naos, that is, the part of the temple where only the priests could enter, that the Impious one will sit – in other words, in the very heart of the Church. Moreover, the word kathisai does not include any nuance of usurpation by violence. It seems that he must sit through a fully legitimate right, as it was said to the Twelve: katêsesthe, «you will sit».
FATIMA BEFORE THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY
Does the final Secret of Fatima allude to this terrible teaching of Scripture touching on the “last times”? Sister Lucia’s insistence on «the diabolical wave sweeping over the world» seems to us an indication. Does it not mean, in effect, that we are living in the time of the triumph of the anti-Christ powers? If the Secret really does announce the great apostasy, how could it not refer more or less explicitly to Saint Paul’s prophecy where it is precisely this apostasy in question, inseparable from the “mystery of iniquity” at work in the world and the triumph of the Impious one in the Church’s very bosom?
A TEXT OF BISHOP VENANCIO
Bishop Venancio, who had probably received precise orders of John XXIII and then Paul VI, was always extremely discreet on the subject of the third Secret. But as the Bishop of Fatima, he was probably aware of certain elements of its contents, either through Sister Lucy or through Pope John XXIII.
In view of the celebration of the Fatima Jubilee, on July 25, 1966, he published a pastoral letter, where the few lines concerning the third Secret are worth retaining our attention. «Fatima has not yet said its last word.» After explaining that these words of Cardinal Cerejeira concerning the third Secret have given rise to many illusory commentaries, the Bishop of Leiria continued:
«Neither has Fatima come to give reason to the prophets of imaginary world catastrophes. Fatima cannot be reduced to sensational prophecies of frightful wars… We affirm that Fatima is something much more serious than all that. Fatima, really, in this too, “actualizes” the whole evangelical meaning of a Church launched eschatologically towards a future which is, to be sure, most assuredly in God’s hands; but which, however, is continually threatened by the mystery of iniquity “which is already at work” (2 Thess. 2: 7).»
It would be astonishing that as he publicly brought up the question of the third Secret’s real contents – this «subject so difficult and even perilous», as he himself says in his pastoral letter – Bishop Venancio would have cited by chance, and carelessly, “the mystery of iniquity already at work” spoken of by Saint Paul. This precise reference to the prophecy of the second chapter of the second epistle to the Thessalonians, in such a context and under the pen of a man as circumspect as Bishop Venancio, is undoubtedly significant.
THE LOGIC OF THE PROPHECIES
Moreover, do we not know that the manifestation of the Impious or wicked one spoken of by the Apostle will be tied to the apostasy as its final development, before the final triumph and arrival of Christ Jesus? «And then the wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming.» (2 Thess. 2: 8) But does not the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have to prepare and immediately precede that of Her Son?
If this is so, do not the great apostasy and the revelation of the Impious one have to precede, in turn, the «final triumph» of the Immaculate Heart of Mary announced by the conclusion of the Secret? In the unfolding of the prophecies, the events predicted by Saint Paul seem to correspond to the same “intermediate period” as the one directly touched on by Our Lady’s third Secret.
We know that on July 6, 1851, Mélanie, the seer of La Salette, when writing down her secret so as to pass it on to Pope Pius IX, «asked the meaning of the word “infallibly”, and the correct spelling of the words “polluted city”, and “antichrist”.»
A STRIKING PROPHECY OF SAINT PIUS X
What we also know with sure knowledge, because it is an unquestionable fact, is the frightful progress made by impiety in our modern society. It is not an illusion to say that no period of the world’s history has seen this impiety, denounced by Saint Paul, pushed to such a point.
At the dawn of the century, Saint Pius X, in his inaugural encyclical, “E supremi apostolatus cathedra“, made this observation, seized with fright. The apostolic office frightened him, he avowed, precisely for this reason:
And Saint Pius X, referring to the text we have just commented on, goes so far as to state that the Apostle’s prophecy has perhaps begun being fulfilled in our century:
Saint Pius X gave this frightening diagnosis of the situation of the world on October 4, 1903. Who could dispute that since this date, the same evils he denounced then have only grown, and in gigantic proportions? What would he say today, when the atheistic, satanic Bolshevik Revolution is little by little extending to the entire planet… with the active complicity of so many leaders of the Church?
What would he say when the most scandalous immorality, [Ed.: think institutionalized perversion in society and even in the Vatican itself.] when murder on a grand scale, are permitted and encouraged by the law in Catholic nations themselves? What would he say, now that Modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies”, manifests itself openly and enjoys the favour, or benevolent tolerance, of all the Pastors? In eighty-five years, the evil has grown beyond measure and penetrated the very heart of the Church; it has reached its highest summit.
~ ~ ~
[Ed. Note: Below, Frère Michel demonstrates how eloquently Pope Paul VI, in his closing speech for the Second Vatican Council, expressed the program of the enthroned enemy, which had been warned of by Saint Pius X.]
~ ~ ~
One text alone is sufficient to show the immense distance covered, in falling into the abyss of apostasy. It is the discourse of Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965, for the closing of the Council. It is impossible to reread these words, pronounced on such a solemn occasion, without pointing out the resemblances that impose themselves – both with the prophecy of the Apostle, as well as the interpretation clearly inspired by the Spirit given to us by Pius X, the saintly Pope of the twentieth century. Here is the essential passage, but the discourse is completely in the same vein:
'Secularizing and profane humanism', the 'religion of man who makes himself God', this is undoubtedly the Marxist religion – for it is a religion – and even more, the Masonic religion. But according to Saint Paul, and according to the entire, unanimous Catholic tradition up to Saint Pius X, up to Pius XII, this is precisely the religion of the Impious one, the religion of Antichrist.
Well, now! Towards this open, shameless Impiety, the supreme sin which Saint Paul abominates because it is satanic in its very essence, because it is the sin of the “Son of perdition”, who provokes God’s just wrath and merits eternal damnation – faced with "this monstrous and detestable iniquity proper to the times we are living in, and through which man substitutes himself for God," as Saint Pius X said – the Council felt no animosity, Pope Paul VI declares to us. On the contrary, before this «son of the earth», this «modern humanist» who today makes himself "greater" than ever in his open revolt against God, «an unlimited sympathy has pervaded the entire Council».
For the first time, between the Ministers of God and the children of Belial, between the Vicar of Christ and the henchmen of the Adversary, there was neither a clash, nor a battle, nor an anathema. No, «a current of affection and admiration has overflowed from the Council over the modern human world». It is hardly necessary to make it clear that neither Jesus, Who «is Love» (1 Jn. 4: 8), nor Saint John His Evangelist, nor Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, had ever thought of interpreting «the old story [sic] of the Samaritan» this way. This new exegesis confuses the victim – «the man who fell among robbers» and was left by them «half dead», over whom the “Good Samaritan”, Jesus Himself, lovingly bends – with the murderers, the “lawless men” which here mean Satan and his henchmen.
Is not this fallacious exegesis, instead, one of the «lying prodigies» of which Saint Paul speaks to the Thessalonians? And one wonders: by what «misleading influence, that they may believe falsehood» (2 Thess. 2: 11-12), not a single one of the 2,400 bishops present dared to denounce, immediately, the Impiety of such statements? Only one priest had the farsightedness and the courage to do so at that very moment, and untiringly since then, even going so far as to complain about it openly to the Pope in 1973, making it the “capital accusation” of his Liber accusationis. Quoting and commenting on this Discourse of December 7, 1965, «a discourse, it is certain, such as there has never been in the Church’s annals, and never will be again, this discourse which culminates in the proclamation, before the face of the world and the Face of God, of the cult of Man», our Father [Frère Michel refers here to the Abbe de Nantes, whose own apostolate was usurped after his death] wrote:
See how this sentiment of immoderate love leads you to be reconciled with the Goliath of the modern World, to bend your knees before the Enemy of God, which defies you and hates you. Instead of taking courage and fighting, like David, against the Adversary, you declare yourself full of love for him, you adulate him and before long you place yourself at his exclusive service! Your charity idolizes and serves the Enemy of God, and to flatter him, you go so far as to rival him in his error, even in his blasphemy. «You are making a covenant with man, who makes himself God! You claim to surpass them all, these atheistic humanists of our time, mad with pride, in the fact of the cult of man.
One shudders to think that Pope Paul VI pronounced this impious discourse, where he dared to proclaim openly his own «cult of man», seated on his throne at Saint Peter’s, at Rome itself. Has not the hour come to recite once more, with Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, his prophetic «Prière embrasée», beseeching God to intervene to save «His Church, so weakened and so soiled by the crimes of its children», to extinguish the raging fire of apostasy, which is in the process of devouring it:
Tempus faciendi, Domine, dissipaverunt legem tuam: it is time, Lord, to do what You have promised to do. Your Divine Law is transgressed, Your Gospel is abandoned, the torrents of iniquity flood the entire world, and even carry away Your servants, the whole earth is desolate, Impiety is on the throne, your Sanctuary has been profaned and the Abomination is even in the Holy Place (Dan. 9: 27; Mt. 24: 15).» «Oh, permit me to shout everywhere: Fire, fire, fire! Help, help, help! Fire in God’s house, fire in souls, fire even in the Sanctuary!
Is it not this same prophetic warning, this same vehement appeal which the Immaculate Virgin Herself came to give the Church, in the triple Secret of July 13, 1917?
«Fire in souls»: this is the first part of the Secret, the vision of hell.
«Fire in God’s house»: this is Christendom threatened by the Bolshevik conflagration.
«Fire in the Sanctuary»: this is the devastating apostasy, which has reached even the summit of the Church. It is the prophecy of the Third Secret.
[End of quote from Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité.]
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
The Age of Apostasy
It is Jesus Himself Who first predicted this terrible crisis of the Faith which will open the “last times.” Along with famines and earthquakes, wars and persecutions, Our Lord clearly predicts that there will also be grave deficiencies even within the Church:
«Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and will put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray. And because iniquity will abound, the charity of the many will grow cold. But whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved.» (Mt. 24: 9-13)
«… For false christs and false prophets will arise, and will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have foretold it to you.» (Mt. 24: 24)
Finally, we are familiar with these stupefying words of Jesus:
«Yet when the Son of man comes, will He find, do you think, faith on the earth?» (Lk. 18: 8)
This question of Our Lord, explained by His other prophecies on the last times – which are utterly definite and unconditional – takes on an even more dramatic resonance. The apostasy will come, Jesus evokes its most extreme extension, and He leaves us in uncertainty.
THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING
The Apostles understood this tragic teaching very well. There are countless texts where they evoke this menacing apostasy. They multiply warnings against its artisans, the false prophets and false doctors of all sorts, who come from the Church’s very bosom and are already at work against Her, striving furiously to destroy the Faith of the faithful. But “in the last days”, they make it clear, the false prophets will multiply most dangerously. We must reread chapters II and III of Saint Peter’s Second Epistle:
«But there were false prophets also among the people, just as among you there will be lying teachers who will bring in destructive sects. They even disown the Lord Who bought them, thus bringing upon themselves swift destruction.» (2 Pet. 2: 1)
«This first you must know, that in the last days there will come deceitful scoffers, men walking according to their own lusts, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”… But beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord does not delay in His promises, but for your sake is long-suffering, not wishing that any should perish but that all should turn to repentance. (2 Pet. 3: 3-9)
We must reread Saint Jude, taking up the same theme:
«Be mindful of the words that have been spoken beforehand by the apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who kept saying to you that at the end of time there will come scoffers, walking impiously according to their desires.» (Jude 17)
As for Saint John, he denounces «the Antichrist who is coming», and the many antichrists who have already come, as his precursors and first manifestations. Saint Paul is no less insistent, from the beginning of his ministry until his last epistles to Timothy and Titus. He attacks the heretics who trouble his churches as the first of a long line of “deceitful spirits and liars”, who will go on multiplying during the “last times”. He writes to Timothy:
«Now the Spirit expressly says that in the last times some will depart from the Faith (literally: «apostatize from the Faith»), giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils, and having their conscience branded …» (1 Tim. 4: 1-2)
«But know this, that in the last days dangerous times will come.» Saint Paul goes on to describe the growing iniquity mentioned by Our Lord. How relevant that picture is! And note well – he is not speaking about the pagans, but about Christians at the time of the great apostasy.
He continues: «Men will be lovers of self, haughty, covetous, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, criminal, heartless, faithless, slanderous, incontinent, merciless, unkind, treacherous, stubborn, puffed up with pride, loving pleasure more than God; having a semblance indeed of piety, but disowning its power.» (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
In other words, under a surface piety, they will be overcome by the impiety around them and will fall into apostasy. The apostle continues:
«For there will come a time when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves teachers according to their own lusts, and they will turn away their hearing from the truth and turn aside rather to fables.» (2 Tim. 4: 3-4)
An attentive reading of all these texts shows clearly that the Apostles, using the occasion of those who were stirring up trouble in their own time, definitely intended to give a more vast and prophetic teaching. «There will come a time», says Saint Paul.
A SECRET FOR THE TIME OF THE GREAT APOSTASY
If, as we have shown, the third Secret announces a terrible crisis of the Church, the loss of Faith on the scale of nations or entire continents, does it not correspond, in a striking manner, to the prophecies of Scripture concerning the apostasy of the “last times”? Perhaps it even refers to them in an explicit enough manner.
Sister Lucia, as we have seen, was not afraid to tell Father Fuentes that Our Lady’s messages imply that we have entered «the last times of the world». We now have a solid proof that this theme really belongs to the third Secret, in Cardinal Ratzinger’s declaration to Vittorio Messori, in August 1984. After stating that he had read the Secret, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith answered the journalist, who had asked why this Secret was still not revealed:
Quote:«Because, according to the judgment of the Popes, it adds nothing to what a Christian must already know from revelation: a radical call to conversion, the absolute gravity of history, dangers threatening the faith and life of the Christian, and therefore the world. And also the importance of the “last times”… But the things contained in this third Secret correspond to what is announced in Scripture…»
Here we have a declaration of capital importance! Granted, the Cardinal could have spoken without circumlocutions and told us simply, without ambiguous periphrases, what themes properly belong to the third Secret. It is clear however that in his enumeration, three elements, which cannot be connected with the message of Fatima already known, certainly refer us to the specific contents of the third Secret. They are:
«Dangers to the faith.»
«The importance of the last times.»
The fact that the prophecies «contained in the third Secret correspond to what is announced in Scripture.» This is tantamount to stating in a different way that the third Secret concerns the “last times”.
What, in effect, are the prophecies of Scripture which have not yet been fulfilled, if not those which concern «the last times»?
Besides, as we will have occasion to repeat, there is the series of great manifestations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary (from 1673 to 1689); at the dawn of the 18th century, there is the extraordinary mission of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, apostle of Mary Mediatrix, and prophet of Her apocalyptic role in the great battle of the last times, whose imminence he foresaw; and in the nineteenth century there is the series of great apparitions of the Immaculate Virgin, especially those of Rue du Bac, La Salette, Lourdes, and Pontmain – all these are situated in this context of the “last times of the world”, preparing the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the striking victory of Christ the King, for the inauguration of the spiritual, social and political reign of Their two united Hearts.
Did not Heaven propose the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and then devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to revive in souls charity, which had grown so cold «in these last centuries», and in some way propose them as the two final and divine remedies to the growing iniquity and menacing impiety?
WE ARE IN THE TIME OF THE TRIUMPH OF THE ANTICHRIST POWERS
Since we have good reasons to think that the sad times we are living in really are “the last times”, marked by apostasy, the prophecies of Scripture are most especially addressed to us, and we would be inexcusable not to seek there our light, strength, and consolation in the great trial coming. So let us continue to listen, with docility, to the teaching of the Apostles on the future awaiting us…
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY» ACCORDING TO SAINT PAUL
The Apostle is speaking to his Christians of Thessalonica, who were persuaded of the imminent coming, or “parousia”, of Our Lord. No, he answers them, it is still not here. And here is the vitally important text, concerning the apostasy of the last times:
«Let no one deceive you in any way, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the Man of sin (the Man of impiety) is revealed, the Son of perdition, the Adversary, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God and gives himself out as if he were God.» (2 Thess. 2: 3-4)
Let us leave aside, for a moment, the verses dealing with the obstacle to his appearance, to describe right away his coming and his work:
«And his coming (i.e. the coming of the Impious one) is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all wicked deception to those who are perishing. For they have not received the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have preferred wickedness.» (2 Thess. 2: 9)
WHO IS THIS «MAN OF SIN», THIS ANTICHRIST?
We can say Antichrist, although the word is not from Saint Paul, since all the exegetes are in accord in identifying the Impious one he speaks of with the Antichrist, whom Saint John speaks about in his epistles. Who is he, this artisan of apostasy? Saint Paul uses three terms to define him.
The first is difficult to translate: “o anthrôpos tês anomias”, the Man of Sin, of Impiety. The Greek term is more general and richer than all our translations: it is the Lawless man, in revolt against all laws, divine as well as human. He is the Impious one and the Revolutionary, in this sense, that he refuses to submit to all authority inasmuch as it derives from God, as well as all divine law: “I will not serve!” he cries. Parallel expressions well express the content of the word: he is the man «without faith or law», whose motto is «neither God nor a master»… other than himself.
This man is not only impious, he is an apostate, that is, a traitor: the term employed by Saint Paul, “the Son of perdition”, “o uios tês apôleias”, undoubtedly is reminiscent of Our Lord’s words, reported to us by Saint John: in this way Jesus designated Judas, the Apostle who was going to betray Him. (Jn. 17: 12) In almost all the passages of Scripture dealing with the apostasy, we find this insistence on the betrayal of the Church by the faithful, and even the Pastors.
Thus does Saint Paul denounce the “false apostles”, writing to the Corinthians:
«For they are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. It is no great thing, then, if his ministers disguise themselves as ministers of justice. But their end will be according to their works.» (2 Cor. 11: 13)
Bidding his adieus to the “elders” of the Church of Ephesus, he solemnly warns them:
«Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of God, which He has purchased with His own Blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock. And from among your own selves men will rise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Watch, therefore…» (Acts 20: 28-31)
Saint Paul, following an increasing progression in his description, finally applies to this “Man of Sin” the very name of the devil: he is “the Adversary”, “Satan”, whose henchman he is. Saint John tells us of Judas, who had decided to betray Jesus: «Satan entered into him…» (Jn. 13: 37; Lk. 22: 3) Similarly, the Antichrist is the instrument of Satan, «who communicates his superhuman power to him, a little like the way the Spirit of Christ communicates itself to Christians», comments Father Rigaux. 1133 As in the Apocalypse, the Dragon, symbol of Satan, confers his power on the Beast, who symbolizes the powers in his service. (Apoc. 13: 12)
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY IS ALREADY AT WORK
Before the second coming, the parousia of Christ, must come that of the Impious one. (2 Thess. 2: 1, 9) However, his diabolical work has already begun: «the mystery of iniquity is already at work». (2 Thess. 2: 7)
Already, in secret, the Powers of evil foment the apostasy. Saint John teaches exactly the same thing: «You have heard that an Antichrist is coming; so now many antichrists have arisen…» (1 Jn. 2: 18) «… It is the spirit of Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he is coming, and now is already in the world.» (1 Jn. 4: 3) All the heretics that the Apostles denounce appear to them already as so many manifestations, embodiments of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is not an impersonal force. He never acts except through concrete persons. But he is not alone. The principle of unity is Satan, who inspires all his instruments, and makes them work in his service. What is clear, for Saint Paul as well as Saint John, is that every arch-heretic is already an antichrist, and every heresy is at bottom diabolically inspired.
This does not exclude that at the end of time, a «Son of perdition» will appear, who will embody within himself all satanic malice and perversity. He will lead the struggle against the Church to its paroxysm, and provoke the universal apostasy.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE ANTICHRIST POWERS
Finally, at the end of an unstinting battle, there will come a day when «the mystery of iniquity» will seem completely victorious. The apostasy being quasi universal, the Man of Sin will manifest himself openly and bring the Impiety to its fullness. This will be his “revelation”, his great “manifestation”, a diabolical aping of Christ’s manifestation. Saint Paul tells us that he will go so far that he will «sit in the temple of God and give himself out as if he were God». (2 Thess. 2: 3-4)
These are very mysterious words. An old commentator asks: «But what will be this temple of God in which he will sit? Perhaps it will be one of the most august churches of Rome, such as Saint Peter’s basilica, or perhaps the temple of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem…»
These words are all the more horrible since the text does not suggest a profanation coming from a persecuting power, such as Antiochus Epiphanes. It is in the naos, that is, the part of the temple where only the priests could enter, that the Impious one will sit – in other words, in the very heart of the Church. Moreover, the word kathisai does not include any nuance of usurpation by violence. It seems that he must sit through a fully legitimate right, as it was said to the Twelve: katêsesthe, «you will sit».
FATIMA BEFORE THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY
Does the final Secret of Fatima allude to this terrible teaching of Scripture touching on the “last times”? Sister Lucia’s insistence on «the diabolical wave sweeping over the world» seems to us an indication. Does it not mean, in effect, that we are living in the time of the triumph of the anti-Christ powers? If the Secret really does announce the great apostasy, how could it not refer more or less explicitly to Saint Paul’s prophecy where it is precisely this apostasy in question, inseparable from the “mystery of iniquity” at work in the world and the triumph of the Impious one in the Church’s very bosom?
A TEXT OF BISHOP VENANCIO
Bishop Venancio, who had probably received precise orders of John XXIII and then Paul VI, was always extremely discreet on the subject of the third Secret. But as the Bishop of Fatima, he was probably aware of certain elements of its contents, either through Sister Lucy or through Pope John XXIII.
In view of the celebration of the Fatima Jubilee, on July 25, 1966, he published a pastoral letter, where the few lines concerning the third Secret are worth retaining our attention. «Fatima has not yet said its last word.» After explaining that these words of Cardinal Cerejeira concerning the third Secret have given rise to many illusory commentaries, the Bishop of Leiria continued:
«Neither has Fatima come to give reason to the prophets of imaginary world catastrophes. Fatima cannot be reduced to sensational prophecies of frightful wars… We affirm that Fatima is something much more serious than all that. Fatima, really, in this too, “actualizes” the whole evangelical meaning of a Church launched eschatologically towards a future which is, to be sure, most assuredly in God’s hands; but which, however, is continually threatened by the mystery of iniquity “which is already at work” (2 Thess. 2: 7).»
It would be astonishing that as he publicly brought up the question of the third Secret’s real contents – this «subject so difficult and even perilous», as he himself says in his pastoral letter – Bishop Venancio would have cited by chance, and carelessly, “the mystery of iniquity already at work” spoken of by Saint Paul. This precise reference to the prophecy of the second chapter of the second epistle to the Thessalonians, in such a context and under the pen of a man as circumspect as Bishop Venancio, is undoubtedly significant.
THE LOGIC OF THE PROPHECIES
Moreover, do we not know that the manifestation of the Impious or wicked one spoken of by the Apostle will be tied to the apostasy as its final development, before the final triumph and arrival of Christ Jesus? «And then the wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming.» (2 Thess. 2: 8) But does not the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have to prepare and immediately precede that of Her Son?
If this is so, do not the great apostasy and the revelation of the Impious one have to precede, in turn, the «final triumph» of the Immaculate Heart of Mary announced by the conclusion of the Secret? In the unfolding of the prophecies, the events predicted by Saint Paul seem to correspond to the same “intermediate period” as the one directly touched on by Our Lady’s third Secret.
We know that on July 6, 1851, Mélanie, the seer of La Salette, when writing down her secret so as to pass it on to Pope Pius IX, «asked the meaning of the word “infallibly”, and the correct spelling of the words “polluted city”, and “antichrist”.»
A STRIKING PROPHECY OF SAINT PIUS X
What we also know with sure knowledge, because it is an unquestionable fact, is the frightful progress made by impiety in our modern society. It is not an illusion to say that no period of the world’s history has seen this impiety, denounced by Saint Paul, pushed to such a point.
At the dawn of the century, Saint Pius X, in his inaugural encyclical, “E supremi apostolatus cathedra“, made this observation, seized with fright. The apostolic office frightened him, he avowed, precisely for this reason:
Quote:We felt a sort of terror, considering the disastrous conditions of humanity at the present hour. Can we ignore such a profound and grave evil, which at this moment much more than in the past, is working away at its very marrow and leading it to its ruin? You know what this malady is, Venerable Brethren, it is the abandoning of God and apostasy from Him; and without any doubt, nothing leads more surely to ruin, according to these words of the prophet: “Those who depart far from You perish.” (Ps. 72: 27)
We understood that it belonged to Us, in virtue of the pontifical office entrusted to Us, to provide a remedy for such a great evil. We believed that this order of God was addressed to Us: “Behold, today I set you over nations and kingdoms, to tear down and destroy, to build up and to plant.”» (Jer. 1: 10) Further on, he denounces «the impious war which has been stirred up, and which continues almost everywhere, against God…
What is the remedy?
«It is necessary, by every means, and at the price of any effort, to uproot entirely this monstrous and detestable iniquity proper to the times we are living in, and through which man substitutes himself for God.»
And Saint Pius X, referring to the text we have just commented on, goes so far as to state that the Apostle’s prophecy has perhaps begun being fulfilled in our century:
Quote:"Truly, whoever ponders these things must necessarily and firmly fear whether such a perversion of minds is not the sign announcing, and the beginning of the last times, and that the Son of Perdition spoken of by the Apostle (2 Thess. 2: 3) might already be living on this earth. So great is the audacity and so great the rage with which religion is mocked everywhere, and the dogmas of the faith are fought against, there is a stubborn effort to completely suppress man’s duties towards God!
Now this, according to the same Apostle, is the character proper to Antichrist; man, with unspeakable temerity, has usurped the place of the Creator, lifting himself above everything that bears the name of God. It has reached such a point that, being powerless to completely extinguish in himself the notion of God, he nevertheless shakes off the yoke of His Majesty, and dedicates the visible world to himself in the guise of the temple, where he pretends to receive the adoration of his own kind… “He sits in the temple of God, and gives himself out as if he were God” (2 Thess. 2: 4).”
Saint Pius X gave this frightening diagnosis of the situation of the world on October 4, 1903. Who could dispute that since this date, the same evils he denounced then have only grown, and in gigantic proportions? What would he say today, when the atheistic, satanic Bolshevik Revolution is little by little extending to the entire planet… with the active complicity of so many leaders of the Church?
What would he say when the most scandalous immorality, [Ed.: think institutionalized perversion in society and even in the Vatican itself.] when murder on a grand scale, are permitted and encouraged by the law in Catholic nations themselves? What would he say, now that Modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies”, manifests itself openly and enjoys the favour, or benevolent tolerance, of all the Pastors? In eighty-five years, the evil has grown beyond measure and penetrated the very heart of the Church; it has reached its highest summit.
~ ~ ~
[Ed. Note: Below, Frère Michel demonstrates how eloquently Pope Paul VI, in his closing speech for the Second Vatican Council, expressed the program of the enthroned enemy, which had been warned of by Saint Pius X.]
~ ~ ~
One text alone is sufficient to show the immense distance covered, in falling into the abyss of apostasy. It is the discourse of Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965, for the closing of the Council. It is impossible to reread these words, pronounced on such a solemn occasion, without pointing out the resemblances that impose themselves – both with the prophecy of the Apostle, as well as the interpretation clearly inspired by the Spirit given to us by Pius X, the saintly Pope of the twentieth century. Here is the essential passage, but the discourse is completely in the same vein:
Quote:The Church of the Council, it is true… has been very much occupied with man, with man such as he proposes himself in reality to our time: living man, man completely occupied with himself, man who makes himself not only the centre of everything that interests him, but who dares to proclaim himself the principle and ultimate reason of all reality. This whole phenomenal man, that is, clothed with his innumerable appearances, has been placed before the assembly of Council Fathers…
Secularizing and profane humanism has appeared finally in its terrible stature, and has, in a certain sense, defied the Council. The religion of God Who became man has encountered the religion (for it is one) of man who makes himself God.
What happened? A clash, a battle, an anathema? This could have happened; but it did not take place. The old story of the Samaritan has been the model of the Council’s spirituality. An unlimited sympathy (sic) has pervaded it completely. The discovery of human needs (and they are all the greater, to the degree that the son of the earth [sic] makes himself greater) has absorbed our Synod’s attention. Recognize for it at least this merit, you modern humanists, who deny the transcendence of the highest things, and recognize our new humanism: we too, we more than anybody, have the cult of man.
'Secularizing and profane humanism', the 'religion of man who makes himself God', this is undoubtedly the Marxist religion – for it is a religion – and even more, the Masonic religion. But according to Saint Paul, and according to the entire, unanimous Catholic tradition up to Saint Pius X, up to Pius XII, this is precisely the religion of the Impious one, the religion of Antichrist.
Well, now! Towards this open, shameless Impiety, the supreme sin which Saint Paul abominates because it is satanic in its very essence, because it is the sin of the “Son of perdition”, who provokes God’s just wrath and merits eternal damnation – faced with "this monstrous and detestable iniquity proper to the times we are living in, and through which man substitutes himself for God," as Saint Pius X said – the Council felt no animosity, Pope Paul VI declares to us. On the contrary, before this «son of the earth», this «modern humanist» who today makes himself "greater" than ever in his open revolt against God, «an unlimited sympathy has pervaded the entire Council».
For the first time, between the Ministers of God and the children of Belial, between the Vicar of Christ and the henchmen of the Adversary, there was neither a clash, nor a battle, nor an anathema. No, «a current of affection and admiration has overflowed from the Council over the modern human world». It is hardly necessary to make it clear that neither Jesus, Who «is Love» (1 Jn. 4: 8), nor Saint John His Evangelist, nor Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, had ever thought of interpreting «the old story [sic] of the Samaritan» this way. This new exegesis confuses the victim – «the man who fell among robbers» and was left by them «half dead», over whom the “Good Samaritan”, Jesus Himself, lovingly bends – with the murderers, the “lawless men” which here mean Satan and his henchmen.
Is not this fallacious exegesis, instead, one of the «lying prodigies» of which Saint Paul speaks to the Thessalonians? And one wonders: by what «misleading influence, that they may believe falsehood» (2 Thess. 2: 11-12), not a single one of the 2,400 bishops present dared to denounce, immediately, the Impiety of such statements? Only one priest had the farsightedness and the courage to do so at that very moment, and untiringly since then, even going so far as to complain about it openly to the Pope in 1973, making it the “capital accusation” of his Liber accusationis. Quoting and commenting on this Discourse of December 7, 1965, «a discourse, it is certain, such as there has never been in the Church’s annals, and never will be again, this discourse which culminates in the proclamation, before the face of the world and the Face of God, of the cult of Man», our Father [Frère Michel refers here to the Abbe de Nantes, whose own apostolate was usurped after his death] wrote:
See how this sentiment of immoderate love leads you to be reconciled with the Goliath of the modern World, to bend your knees before the Enemy of God, which defies you and hates you. Instead of taking courage and fighting, like David, against the Adversary, you declare yourself full of love for him, you adulate him and before long you place yourself at his exclusive service! Your charity idolizes and serves the Enemy of God, and to flatter him, you go so far as to rival him in his error, even in his blasphemy. «You are making a covenant with man, who makes himself God! You claim to surpass them all, these atheistic humanists of our time, mad with pride, in the fact of the cult of man.
One shudders to think that Pope Paul VI pronounced this impious discourse, where he dared to proclaim openly his own «cult of man», seated on his throne at Saint Peter’s, at Rome itself. Has not the hour come to recite once more, with Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, his prophetic «Prière embrasée», beseeching God to intervene to save «His Church, so weakened and so soiled by the crimes of its children», to extinguish the raging fire of apostasy, which is in the process of devouring it:
Tempus faciendi, Domine, dissipaverunt legem tuam: it is time, Lord, to do what You have promised to do. Your Divine Law is transgressed, Your Gospel is abandoned, the torrents of iniquity flood the entire world, and even carry away Your servants, the whole earth is desolate, Impiety is on the throne, your Sanctuary has been profaned and the Abomination is even in the Holy Place (Dan. 9: 27; Mt. 24: 15).» «Oh, permit me to shout everywhere: Fire, fire, fire! Help, help, help! Fire in God’s house, fire in souls, fire even in the Sanctuary!
Is it not this same prophetic warning, this same vehement appeal which the Immaculate Virgin Herself came to give the Church, in the triple Secret of July 13, 1917?
«Fire in souls»: this is the first part of the Secret, the vision of hell.
«Fire in God’s house»: this is Christendom threatened by the Bolshevik conflagration.
«Fire in the Sanctuary»: this is the devastating apostasy, which has reached even the summit of the Church. It is the prophecy of the Third Secret.
[End of quote from Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité.]
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre