Posted on 11/06/2003 10:23:05 AM PST by Land of the Irish
Delegates attending the Vatican and United Nations (UN) inspired annual interfaith congress "The Future of God", held during October in Fátima, heard how the Shrine is to be developed into a centre where all the religions of the world will gather to pay homage to their various gods. The Congress was held in the Paul VI Pastoral Centre and presided over by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon José de Cruz Policarpo.
The Shrine's rector, Monsignor Luciano Guerra, told the Congress that Fátima "will change for the better." Addressing Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox, Buddhist and African Pagan representatives he stated: "The future of Fátima, or the adoration of God and His mother at this holy Shrine, must pass through the creation of a shrine where different religions can mingle. The inter-religious dialogue in Portugal, and in the Catholic Church, is still in an embryonic phase, but the Shrine of Fátima is not indifferent to this fact and is already open to being a universalistic place of vocation."
The Hindu representative Ansshok Ansraj, described how already in the Far East millions of Hindus are getting "positive vibrations" from visiting Marian shrines without endangering their faith.
Monsignor Guerra pointed out that the very fact that Fátima is the name of a Muslim and Mohammed's daughter, is indicative that the Shrine must be open to the co-existence of various faiths and beliefs. According to the Monsignor: "Therefore we must assume that it was the will of the Blessed Virgin Mary that this comes about this way." Traditional Catholics opposed to the Congress were described by the Monsignor as "old fashioned, narrow minded, fanatic extremists and provocateurs."
For the first time in the 86-year history of Fátima all of the Pagan and Christian delegates were invited to participate in the Ecumenical celebrations. One of the principle speakers, the Jesuit theologian Father Jacques Dupuis, was insistent that the religions of the world must unite. "The religion of the future will be a general converging of religions in a universal Christ that will satisfy all", he said.
The Belgium born theologian argued: "The other religious traditions in the world are part of God's plan for humanity and the Holy Spirit is operating and present in Buddhist, Hindu and other sacred writings of Christian and non-Christian faiths as well." In an impassioned plea he said: "The universality of God's kingdom permits this, and this is nothing more than a diversified form of sharing in the same mystery of salvation. In the end it is hoped that the Christian will become a better Christian and each Hindu a better Hindu."
An official statement put out by the Congress called for a non-proselytising approach by all religions. "No one religion can irradiate another", it said "or strengthen itself by downplaying others and an open dialogue is the way to building bridges and tearing down walls of centuries of hate. What is needed is that each religion be true to its faith integrally and treat each religion on the same footing of equality with no inferior or superiority complexes." It emphasised that the secret to peace amongst all religions is admitting that contradictions exist between creeds but to concentrate on what unites them as opposed to what separates them.
Delegates agreed that religious shrines, including Fátima, should be revamped every 25 years to reflect modern day trends and beliefs. The Shrine of Fátima is about to undergo a complete reconstruction with a new stadium-like basilica being erected close by the existing one built in 1921.
(1). "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish: so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." ~ Saint Paul regarding converting the idolatrous Romans, (Romans 1: 14-16)
(2). "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" ~ Our Lord Jesus Christ, (Mathew 28: 19-20)
(3). "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, (Mark 13:10)
(4). "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, Our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to the Apostles; (Luke 24: 46)
(5). "And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.---But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the converts came to about five thousand." Saint Peter, evangelizing the Jews and converting 5,000 souls, (Acts 4: 1-4)
http://www.immaculateheart.com/MaryOnLine/html/cover_story_0.html#
It might just as well be. There is something very fishy about this story and the source of this story. If you click on it, you get this message:
"the-news.net Temporarily Unavailable"
I did a google news search on the keywords "fatima interfaith shrine" and it turned up 0 news stories. I then went to the web site's main page: http://the-news.net/ and found NO link to the story Max posted. I then did a search at their site using the keywords "fatima interfaith" and received the same message from the link posted by Max.
If this story were true, other news sources would have picked up on it (Zenit News Agency, Catholic News Service, etc.) What would prompt Max to pull a story from this arcane web site in the first place. The whole thing smells rotten to me! If any of you find another news link with a similar story, please pass it on.
It loaded the correct story for me. Here's the image from their page heading:
I assume you are referring to me. I didn't post the story or any links. It was posted by Land of the Irish. As to how he found the Portugese news, I couldn't speculate, but I notice that the link is up on Seattle Catholic where Land of the Irish finds a lot of his posts.
Earlier today when I was visiting Seattle Catholic I checked the link myself to see if it was a real web site since others had made the same criticism. The link worked fine, and it appeared to be a bona fide site.
The other Fatima story with additional information was from an SSPX website. That story, also not posted by me, dealt with related information, but was not directly connected to the Fatima story on Portugese New.
If this story were true, other news sources would have picked up on it (Zenit News Agency, Catholic News Service, etc.)
As a general rule, it's not usual for religious conferences in Fatima to generate world-wide headlines. This would have seemed like a relatively non-event, except to those who care about the Catholic faith. Same thing with the conferences held in Los Angeles that invariably feature all sorts of similar heresies being promoted under diocesan auspices by similar heretics. If the Wanderer didn't report on these things, they would never see the light of day. I'd be very surprised if any of those Wanderer articles were ever picked up by Zenit, etc.
We will certainly have these people to deal with until His return, and they are part of our Cross. Tiresome. Frustrating. Sad. Necessary for our Salvation.
Me too brother. Believe me, these people don't even know the meaning of what fanatic means but they will if they go through with this satanic travesty.
Sadly, it's not a joke.
"The News is Portugal's largest circulation English language newspaper. Established for over 20 years, it is the only Portuguese newspaper on the net that covers all the major news about Portugal in the English language."
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