Posted on 05/05/2010 10:48:55 AM PDT by markomalley
"Fatima is a particularly significant place for this Pope," said Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi on Tuesday, noting that it was also a destination for two former Popes. The Holy Father has a thorough knowledge of the history of the Marian sanctuary, he added.
Fr. Lombardi held a press conference at the Vatican to prepare the media for the Pope's next trip out of the Vatican. He will be visiting Portugal from May 11-14.
The spokesman referred to the Pope's stop in Fatima on May 13 as the highlight and "heart" of the upcoming four-day trip to Portugal, according to Vatican Radio. But, he pointed out, Benedict XVI will not be the first Pope to visit the Marian shrine.
Two other Pontiffs have been to Fatima. In 1967, the sanctuary hosted Paul VI, and John Paul II visited in 1982, 1991 and 2000, at which time the visionaries Jacinta and Francesco were beatified.
The Portuguese shrine is not unfamiliar to Pope Benedict, since as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger extensively studied the message of Fatima. Fr. Lombardi said on Tuesday that the Pope has been involved with history of the Marian sanctuary in a "very deep, personal way."
It was him, for example, who was called upon to give a theological perspective when the third secret of Fatima was made public in 2000.
The Vatican spokesman said that the Holy Father will also deliver an intense message during his Fatima visit. Upon his arrival at the sanctuary on May 12, he will remember John Paul II and the 29th anniversary of the assassination attempt that nearly took his life on May 13, 1981.
This visit marks the Holy Father's 15th Apostolic Journey abroad in his five years and is his first to Portugal as Pope.
During today's general audience, the Holy Father greeted the people of Portugal in their language, telling them that he will be there this coming weekend at the invitation of the president of the nation and the episcopal conference.
He said he was "happy to be able to visit the 'land of Holy Mary'" on the 10th anniversary of the beatification of the shepherd children.
According to Portuguese press reports, local police are planning for a cumulative total of 450,000 people at the celebrations in Lisbon, Fatima and Portugal during the four-day visit.
THX THX.
I’m going to have to dig up some UFO articles to post . . .
there’s too much unreality on these RC threads today.
No big offense.
Just a preference.
Alternately, folks who’s goal is to REALLY COMMUNICATE to the broadest audience can put Enlish or Greek words in parentheses and cover all the bases.
ph
When almost any sized group;
A) exists long enough—usually in hours
and/or
B) is large enough—usually 3 or more people and often 2 . . .
a leader or leaders will emerge.
IIRC, John Wimber would let such leaders emerge and then acknowledge them formally.
That parallels my understanding of God’s anointing on individuals somewhat even in the OT but certainly in the NT.
Otherwise, leadership tends to be formally acknowledging those with the best POLITICAL POWERMONGERING AND/OR SOCIAL SKILLS with little or nothing to do with Holy Spirit’s anointing.
The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote "Oh what a gift a gift to gie us, to see ourselves as others see us."
Oh, vouching for your own credibility again, are you? Have you explored, recently, how much credibility a psychologist who believes in UFOs actually possesses? So far, there doesn't seem to be much actual backup for those wild assertions. Mostly just bluster.
Funniest post of the year award, no kidding!
Dr John Mack, HEAD of Harvard’s psychiatric training hospital disagreed after extensive research in . . . drum roll . . . UFO abduction phenomena.
It’s such a welcome delight when some perspectives demonstrate such chronic thoroughly uninformed states so consistently.
Thanks . . .
for your kindly confirming my perceptions and expectations.
I expected that you, particularly, would get a kick out of it.
That’s quite true. You’ve described the natural organization of a community well.
I agree that the Holy Spirit inspires/anoints people to become leaders in the Church. Where I probably disagree with you is that I think His inspiration is two-fold: He inspires men to become candidates for certain kinds of leadership, and He then inspires the Apostles to lay their hands on some candidates, which is the act that grants the authority to be leaders in Christ’s Church.
Back to my original question, were the leaders in Acts 15 the leaders of house churches and tribes in your opinion?
Dr. Mack may be able to credibly comment on False Memory Syndrome and hallucinations, but is completely unqualified to discuss or opine on the real science of the possibility or probability of otherwise undetectable interstellar travel.
The Catholic Church doesn’t take a position on UFOs and the existence of extraterrestrial life/intelligence, leaving it entirely up to the lesser sciences to figure out.
Can we please keep this thread on the higher topic? There are other forums for politics, science, “weird”, “conspiracy”, “UFOs”, etc.
A few of them.
A few of the men mentioned
and relatively few of the clusters of believers.
It’s OK.
Doesn’t bother me a great deal.
It’s one of the few ways they think they can be dismissive and derisive in their chronic
KILL THE MESSENGER knee jerk responses . . . particularly when the points are too challenging to deal with near adequately.
It’s sad but occasionally amusing.
In any case, doesn’t matter to me that much one way or the other. Most threads have a diversity of sidebars.
There have been a lot of UFO info coming out lately. I should probably go post a new thread on a pile of it or find an old one to add to.
I believe the congregation laying hands on and anointing a leadership is as viable and Biblical as Apostles or anyone else doing so.
Holy Spirit has certainly demonstrated He agrees with His ‘signs following’ both varieties of formal anointings.
I consider the congregation laying on hands to be an “election” of the candidate. The Apostle then comes and lays his hands on the man elected by the community, to give him Apostolic authority, or part thereof.
I could certainly understand the Holy Spirit giving His supernatural gifts (tongues, prophesy, etc.) in abundance to the man chosen by the community to serve them. He will always take care of His Church.
Actually,
I think Holy Spirit distributes His gifts liberally as HE WILLS to more or less all believers who earnestly seek Him accordingly.
I recognize that the NT seems to speak of—to me—a VERY LOOSE Apostolic authority. Holy Spirit confirmed said authority with signs following as Holy Spirit has done through the ages . . . and not done.
It is human nature to end up with a RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION exactly, more or less, like the pharisees and their little club. I believe THAT sort of thing is anathema, to God.
I believe He often facilitates shaking things up to prevent that in this or that location or congregation.
I believe He often MOST ANOINTS those who have no claim to fame and who are even on the periphery of congregations in a lot of ‘social star’ respects.
HUMILITY is a huge thing with Him because only with humility are the gifts of Holy Spirit relatively safe in mortal hands.
“I never approved of a schism, nor will I approve of it for all eternity. . . . That the Roman Church is more honored by God than all others is not to be doubted. St, Peter and St. Paul, forty-six Popes, some hundreds of thousands of martyrs, have laid down their lives in its communion, having overcome Hell and the world; so that the eyes of God rest on the Roman church with special favor. Though nowadays everything is in a wretched state, it is no ground for separating from the Church. On the contrary, the worse things are going, the more should we hold close to her, for it is not by separating from the Church that we can make her better. We must not separate from God on account of any work of the devil, nor cease to have fellowship with the children of God who are still abiding in the pale of Rome on account of the multitude of the ungodly. There is no sin, no amount of evil, which should be permitted to dissolve the bond of charity or break the bond of unity of the body. For love can do all things, and nothing is difficult to those who are united.”
Martin Luther to Pope Leo X, January 6, 1519 (more than a year after the Ninety-Five Theses quoted in The Facts about Luther, 356)
This coming from a Christian who thinks the Apostle to the Gentiles (the church) was insane???
Tsk...Tsk...
That is rather humorous.
LOL.
Thx.
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