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(AGI) - Vatican, March 25 - During the whole 26 years that Pope John Paul II served as pontiff, "everyone was quite aware of the presence of the Virgin Mary as Mother and Queen of the Church during his spirituality and his untiring inistry". But, said the new pontiff, "this presence was most obvious during the attack on his life in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981". This was a bold statement from Pope Benedict XVI this morning to the new cardinals and all Catholics on the role the Virgin played in deviating Ali Agca's bullet. He made it...

EVER since Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman, shot the late Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981 in St Peter’s Square in Rome, investigators have tried to solve one of the 20th century’s greatest mysteries: did Agca act alone or was he obeying communist orders? This week an Italian parliamentary commission will officially conclude that Agca was part of a huge conspiracy masterminded by the GRU, the Soviet military secret service, on the orders of the politburo and Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Communist party. The findings are already being considered by a Rome prosecutor who may...

Italian Panel: Soviets Behind Pope Attack By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago ROME - An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II — a theory long alleged but never proved, according to a draft report made available Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe. "This commission...

TRANSFERAL OF THE REMAINS OF SISTER LUCIA TO FATIMA LIVE (7 ½ HOURS) Viewing of the Casket of Sr. Lucia in the Cathedral of CoimbraSunday February 19, 2006 4:30 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 12:30 PM ENCORE Mass in the CathedralSunday February 19, 2006 6 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 2 PM ENCORE Monday February 20, 2006 12 AM ENCORE Departure to the Shrine of FatimaSunday February 19, 2006 7:30 AM LIVE Sunday February 19, 2006 3:30 PM ENCORE Arrival at the Shrine, Procession to the Little Chapel of ApparitionsSunday February 19, 2006 8:30 AM LIVE Sunday...

A Fatima Soliloquy Based on a Famous Scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet Mark J. Wyatt To consecrate or not to: that is the question: Whether ‘tis wiser to pander to Russia, And continue a stalemate, nay, a threat increasing, Or armed with faith and Mary’s assistance, Oppose the error and convert them? Act not: to concede; No out; and by concede to say we end The separation ecumenism desires to repair The solution of man, ‘tis a consummation Naively to be wish’d. Act not: to concede; To concede: perchance to bear fruit: ay, there’s the rub; In that concession of lies...

ROME, JAN. 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The mortal remains of Sister Lucia, who saw apparitions of Our Lady in 1917, will be moved from the Carmelite convent of Coimbra, where she died, to the Shrine of Fatima. The news was confirmed by the Roman Society for Pilgrimages, an institution dependent on the Holy See, which is organizing pilgrimages to the Portuguese shrine for the occasion. The public will be able to take part in the Feb. 19 event, which will included a procession to the Chapel of the Apparitions, Mass, and the transferal of the remains to the basilica. The remains...

Events in the Middle East are starting to sound an awful lot like a lead up to the war of Gog and Magog prophesied in the Bible. If you’ve read the article about this on our site, you know that a possible player in that war is Russia, who will form an alliance with Islamic countries to attack Israel. If Israel does what it recently promised to do and attacks Iran before it can get Nuclear weapons, it’s not hard to imagine Russian weapons being used by the coalition nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 to launch an attack on Israel....

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed international criticism of his call for Israel's annihilation, saying, "They [Israelis] are cheeky humans and they think that the entire world should obey them. They destroy Palestinian families and expect nobody to object to them," Ahmadinejad said, asserting his comments "are the exact words of the Iranian people". It was the first time since early in the days of the Islamic Revolution that such a high-ranking Iranian official has openly called for the destruction of Israel. Ahmadinejad made his comments during Iran's annual hatefest called 'Jerusalem Day.' Iran's 'Jerusalem Day' is a carnival-like event during...

Oct 27, 2005 Russia has quietly worked to forge a quasi-alliance of that to rival the US-led NATO, between current and future nuclear powers of Pakistan, China and Iran. This alignment is specifically geared toward confronting the US in a hotly contested market for geopolitical status in the middle east and to dictate economic trends concerning natural resources in the region. Decision by the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council has also put Russia in a difficult position between choosing its long-term economic ties with the EU and US or short-term ones with Iran. As the world...

  The Miracle of The Sun   October 13, 1917(1) Here are briefly the facts; starting from the day after the events, by a reporter who cannotpossibly be accused of partiality in this matter and for a good reason! We refer to Avelino deAlmeida, the chief editor of "O Seculo," the large "liberal" anticlerical and masonic daily ofLisbon. He writes, "From the road, where the carriages were crowded together and where hundreds of persons hadstayed for want of sufficient courage to advance across the muddy ground, we saw the hugecrowd turn towards the sun which appeared at its zenith,...

IN THE two days since Lisa Petrachkova was born, Russia’s population has dropped by an estimated 2,000 people. By the time she is one, more than 200,000 Russians will have died of unnatural causes; almost seven times the estimated civilian deaths in Iraq since the war began. By her 50th birthday, Russia’s population could have halved, based on current trends. Little does she know it as she lies next to her mother, Masha, in a Moscow maternity ward, but Lisa is on the front line of a national fight for survival. By Russian standards, she is lucky to have made...

Union of Orthodox Citizens appeals to Alexy II to break all relations with the Vatican and start missionary work in Europe and America Moscow, August 23, Interfax - As the Uniates have become more active in Ukraine the Orthodox public have appealed to Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia to end all relations with the Roman Catholic Church and begin missionary work in Europe and America. ‘It is necessary to accept in the fold of the Orthodox Church all the Old Catholic communities who wish to join it, to establish a Russian Orthodox school for training Latin-rite clergy for...

Thursday, August 25, 2005 S.S.P.X Act of Reparation in Fatima Posted by at 8:04 AM I still haven't been able to find any reports on the S.S.P.X pilgrimage to Fatima, however, with what French I command, I was able to find the following site which gives a detailed account of the event: La Porte Latine: Pélerinage de réparation à Fatima I shall attempt to translate a summary accompanied by some of the best pictures. For the rest of the pictures you can visit the link. I apologise in advance if my translations are not 100% accurate, as my French...

Supreme Leader: Women's Day best opportunity to examine their status Tehran, July 27, IRNA Iran-Supreme Leader The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei here Wednesday said that naming the birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatemeh (SA) as Woman's and Mother's Day provides the opportunity to examine their high status in Islam. Speaking at a ceremony marking Woman's Day, the Supreme Leader referred to the misunderstandings in this respect and reiterated the need for recalling the true value of women and the respect they deserve in Islam. The auspicious birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) daughter, Hazrat Fatemeh...

Jun. 10 (Forum 18/CWNews.com) - In what seems the most serious proposal in recent years to tighten up Russia's 1997 religion law, parliament's religion committee has begun to consider four draft amendments, the Forum 18 news service reports. The proposed amendments would make it impossible for unregistered religious organizations to hold large meetings, and would allow only centralized religious organizations to invite foreign visits to participate in their work. "If we invite a priest to Moscow as the center of the diocese and he is to work in a completely different place, such as Kaliningrad, it will take a long...

Fatima, Portugal _ A record number of Christian pilgrims walked to the shrine of Fatima yesterday to mark the anniversary of the alleged apparition of the Virgin Mary before three children in 1917. An estimated 30,000 people walked several days to the Fatima sanctuary, about 150km north of the capital Lisbon, from all over the country. Several thousand others drove there to attend the annual ceremony at the Fatima shrine. ``We think there are more pilgrims who walked to the sanctuary, which we consider to be a record,'' said Father Manuel Antunes. Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, who claimed she...

May 13, 2005Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter Psalm: Friday 22 Reading IActs 25:13b-21 King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesareaon a visit to Festus.Since they spent several days there,Festus referred Paul's case to the king, saying,"There is a man here left in custody by Felix.When I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jewsbrought charges against him and demanded his condemnation.I answered them that it was not Roman practiceto hand over an accused person before he has faced his accusersand had the opportunity to defend himself against their charge.So when they came together here,...

TWO POPES, TWO BOOKS -- AND TWO MAJOR INSIGHTS INTO FAMED THIRD FATIMA SECRET In his book God and the World, Pope Benedict XVI not only affirmed his belief in the famed third secret of Fatima but saw in it the ability of men to "change the vision" -- to alter prophesied events -- in a dramatic way.Referring to the secret -- which was granted to two seers in that Portuguese hamlet in 1917 and which involved an image of an angel set to torch the world (as well as a "bishop in white," who, it was prophesied, would be...

Once again, protests have been proven effective. After receiving an avalanche of protest emails, petitions and calls eBay has changed its policy and will now refuse to sell consecrated Hosts and other sacred objects. In an email sent to protestors, Kaelee of eBay’s Community Watch Team writes: “we have concluded that sales of the Eucharist, and similar highly sacred items, are not appropriate on eBay. We have, therefore, broadened our policies and will remove those types of listings should they appear on the site in the future.” The controversy began in mid April, when someone seeking to capitalize on the...

FRONT PAGE STORY - 23/04/2005Abortion referendum approvedAbortions up to the tenth week of pregnancy were approved late Wednesday afternoon by the Portuguese Parliament. But the country’s lawmakers also decided that for the law decree proposal to come into force, a referendum on the matter would have to be held.While voting went as planned for the majority centre-left Socialists (PS), internal squabbling within the ruling party saw at least forty MP’s call for a revision to the party’s law proposal.These ‘dissident’ MP’s, which make up a third of the party’s parliamentary seats, presented a declaration saying that while they were in...