Picture: Moon Rise From Outer Space by Astronaut Astro Soichi

Click To Enlarge

Medjugorje: Eminent Italian Doctor and Atheist Converted to Catholicism

Dr. Marco Margnelli Converted to Catholicism at Medjugorje

Randall Sullivan relates the story of Dr. Marco Margnelli, an eminent Italian neurophysiologist and an ardent atheist who came to Medjugorje in the summer of 1988 determined to expose the apparitions as a fraud. Margnelli had a well-known history of doubting the validity of Christian mysticism and supernatural phenomena, perhaps most notoriously conveyed in his skepticism toward the stigmata of the Franciscan friar Padre Pio, arguably the twentieth century’s most prominent mystic. An expert in altered states of consciousness, Margnelli conducted an array of medical tests on the Medjugorje visionaries in which he had to conclude that during their daily apparitions the seers did, in fact, enter into “a genuine state of ecstasy” and adding, “we were certainly in the presence of an extraordinary phenomenon.”

Dr. Margnelli’s observations have ranged from conducting medical investigations on the seers to personally witnessing miraculous healings and strange occurrences which, admittedly, left him bewildered and deeply shaken. Sullivan relates a sequence of events to which Dr. Margnelli had been a witness at Medjugorje:
“from the ‘synchronous movements’ of the visionaries [during apparitions] to the apparently miraculous healing of a woman with leukemia.

What had affected him most deeply were the birds: During the late afternoon, they would gather in the trees outside the rectory where the seers shared their apparitions, chirping and cooing and calling by the hundreds, at times deafeningly loud, until ‘they suddenly and simultaneously all go silent as soon as the apparition begins.’ This ‘absolute silence of the birds’ haunted him, the doctor admitted.”
Thus, a “few weeks after returning to Milan, Dr. Margnelli became a practicing Catholic.”
(Extract from an excellent article titled Medjugorje Scientific Investigations taken from Ministryvalues.com )

At The Cross, Her Station Keeping-Beautiful Hymn to Virgin Mary

Stabat Mater Dolorosa

At the cross her station keeping stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing now at length the sword had passed.

Oh, how sad and sore distressed was that Mother highly blessed, of the sole-begotten One!.

Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying, glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,'whelmed in miseries so deep, Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain from partaking in her pain, in that Mother's pain untold?.

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender Child All with scourges rent.

For the sins of His own nation, saw Him hang in desolation, Till His spirit forth He sent.

O sweet Mother! fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, make my heart with thine accord.

Make me feel as thou hast felt; make my soul to glow and melt with the love of Christ, my Lord.

Holy Mother! pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.

Let me share with thee His pain, who for all our sins was slain, who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live.

By the Cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgin of all virgins blest!, Listen to my fond request: let me share thy grief divine; Let me, to my latest breath, in my body bear the death of that dying Son of thine.

Wounded with His every wound, steep my soul till it hath swooned, in His very Blood away; Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, lest in flames I burn and die, in His awful Judgment Day.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, by Thy Mother my defense, by Thy Cross my victory; While my body here decays, may my soul Thy goodness praise, safe in paradise with Thee. Amen.

Ireland: Nama Announcement-30/3/10 (Summary and Possible Implications)

NAMA will acquire some 14,000-15,000 loans worth €81 billion. The largest 100 borrowers account for approximately 50% of the portfolio. Some 1,400 other borrowers make up the rest.
About 67% of NAMA’s prospective assets are based in the Republic of Ireland and approximately 6% in Northern Ireland. The rest are overseas, with the bulk of these (approximately 21%) in the UK.
About 43% of NAMA’s prospective assets are land, about 26% are development and about 31% are commercial.

· There will be an average discount of 47% on INITIAL loans transferred to NAMA. The following are the INITIAL transfers:

· AIB to get €1.88bn for loans worth €3.3bn - 43% discount
· Anglo Irish to get €5bn for €10bn of loans - 50% discount
· BoI to get €1.2bn for €1.9bn of loans - 35% discount
· Irish Nationwide to get €280m for €670m of loans - 58% discount
· EBS to get €90m for €140m of loans - 37% discount
· The transfer of ALL loans is to be completed by February 2011
FULL TEXT Of Minister Lenihan's Speech here

Botched Bank Bailout Ensures Ongoing Uncertainty and Shortage of Credit- Richard Bruton (FG):
National Debt Doubled at the Stroke of a Pen in Dáil Today.
The taxpayer is now facing a bill of €40bn, and counting, for bailing out Anglo Irish Bank and the reckless debts it ran up under the stewardship of Sean FitzPatrick, according to Fine Gael’s Deputy Leader and Finance Spokesman Richard Bruton T.D. He said over 70% of the money that the Government is allocating to recapitalise our banks is now going to Anglo, which will not get one cent of new credit flowing or finance a single new job.

Deputy Bruton was speaking today (Tuesday) in light of the details of the Government’s recapitalisation plans for Anglo Irish Bank and the decision to give AIB and Bank of Ireland 30 more days to come up with a plan for recapitalisation.“The Government are throwing good money after bad with Anglo Irish Bank – to the tune of €40bn and counting. Fine Gael’s policy to wind up Anglo in an orderly fashion and allow the creditors recover whatever value they can is now becoming more and more relevant. The Government’s argument against such a course of action is based on trying to scare people in to believing that any option but their own is too costly. This simply isn’t true.

Brian Lenihan should publish the evidence he is basing his decision on regarding Anglo so that the public and relevant experts can make an informed judgement on the Government’s strategy.“It is this strategy that has resulted in our national debt effectively being doubled this evening. That is a doubling to €150 billion to bail out delinquent banks and to pick up the tab for the debts run up by people like Sean FitzPatrick. This is like adding €50k to every family’s mortgage. It is the bill for 10 years of reckless Fianna Fáil economic management.“Having built up today’s announcement as the day to sort out our banking system once and for all the Government bottled it when it came to AIB and Bank of Ireland. Those banks have faced the Government down, and been given another month to prepare plans to recapitalise before the end of the year.The uncertainty regarding the final taxpayer commitment to these banks will continue. In the meantime, these banks will not be willing to finance bankable business projects. They will be hoarding their capital to try and protect their independence.“Through all of this we haven’t heard one word about job protection or creation.

The Government seem perfectly adept at finding scarce resources to pour in to Anglo but are paralysed when it comes to adopting Fine Gael’s stimulus plan, NewERA, to create over 100,000 jobs. Bailing out our reckless banks is a priority for Fianna Fail; bailing out the 440,000 people unemployed in our country is much less urgent it seems. That is where Fianna Fail has got their policies and priorities completely wrong.”

Govt Bail Out Of Banks Makes Taxpayer Pay Cost Of Crony Capitalism-Joan Burton (Labour):

Irish taxpayer is today seeing the costs and consequences of crony Irish capitalism.Today's recapitalisation and transfer of assets to NAMA is socialism for bankers and developers while each taxpayer was being saddled with €22,000 of debt for the Anglo Irish arrangement alone.This is the sixth time the 'donkeys' of Fianna Fáil will be asking the taxpaying 'lions' to take on the chin the mess that was made of their economy.This is not a formal Budget Statement but let us be in no doubt that Brian Lenihan has today set the parameters for every Budget for years to come, perhaps as much as a whole decade.

Every Autumn from now on whoever is Minister for Finance will have to frame a Budget that will incorporate the true year by year cost of today’s announcements. In all probability there will be an Inspector from the European Central Bank sitting there in the Minister’s office with a grim smile saying what can and cannot be done. That will be an historical loss of national financial sovereignty that will infuriate all who value with pride the independence of our nation. Sadly that loss of sovereignty will be the price of financial survival because of the bill for the banking collapse that today is being transferred to the taxpayer. So the first item of many future budgets in this House is the cost of the bank bailout and that cost will be massive and it will dominate the economic landscape of this country for many years. Remember the pain that a mere € 4 billion caused last December. Today is just the preliminary announcement of adjustments to come and any Minister for Finance of whatever party will have to grit his or her teeth and grasp some very stinging nettles. The State is now the hapless and reluctant owner of dominant shareholding of all the main financial institutions in the economy. ‘I own the banks’ is really a hollow boast. Every single extra percent ownership is an admission of policy failure and in his heart he knows that is the truth and will be acknowledged internationally as the bitter truth. You don’t own the banks.

In truth is that the banks own you. They dictate every element of policy, their interests take precedence over everything else and financial resources that ought to be channelled into economic recovery are directed instead to protecting 2 rogue institutions the INBS and Anglo. Since late 2008 you have thrown literally billions of precious public savings to bail out these institutions from the consequences of their reckless casino operations. You never spent such money to rescue indebted homeowners or indebted manufacturers or to offer a lifeline of credit to small businesses. You devoted the entire stock of family silver, even the curtains and carpets, to these banks because they told you they were too big to fail and you were panicked into believing them by their sinister threat to unleash Armageddon should you refuse to give in to them. Today’s massive bailout announcement is the natural consequence of decisions made that fateful night of September 29th 2008. That night, you were surrounded by bankers, you took advice only from bankers.

You meekly promised to jump through whatever hoops they put in front of you and your Taoiseach even went on radio to say no cheque could be big enough for him to sign if it was necessary to meet their insatiable demands. The ‘Too big to fail’ doctrine, applied with no economic justification even to Nationwide and Anglo, has taken a savage toll on the economy and the raw evidence of that was highlighted in the CSO document last week. This was supposed to be the cheapest bank rescue in the world. The Taoiseach said that no cheque was too big to write to save our banks Today, we get the first glimpse of the likely size of this cheque. A €36bn bank bailout package on top of NAMA - €20,000 for every taxpayer in the country. Today is really Endgame Day. The endgame in chess is when there are only a few pieces left on the board and the remaining pawns take on a special importance. Well we are certainly close to Endgame in this protracted chess game that has gone on for 2 full years now, since that fateful St Patricks Day massacre of the Anglo Irish share value in March 2008, the event that triggered the unwinding of that banks business model with all the consequences we now experience to our cost.

Since then there have been 6 Government interventions:
The guarantee on September 29th 2008
The nationalisation of Anglo Irish
The € 7 billion recapitalisation for AIB and BoI
€ 4billion injection of capital last summer into Anglo
NAMA

The transfer of the preference shares in BoI into ordinary shares.
None of these interventions lived up to the expectations claimed for them by Ministers. Today, we have Fianna Fáil’s final solution. In the light of those experiences one question stands out: Is there even the slightest shred of credibility left in this Government’s banking policy after the Minister’s speech today? The failures in our financial system demonstrate the more general failures in our entire economic system. It is inevitable that changes will come from the events of recent years and the decisions of the new Regulator are the first examples of a tighter regime. Nevertheless there remains one fundamental issue that is only partially treated today. The Government has worked on the assumption that the banks are favoured institutions that must be secured at any cost even when they become insolvent by their own decisions.

This House is going to have to set out new rules in law for future bank collapses. These laws will need to be the toughest ever to be brought in this country. God knows we have endured enough from bad banking behaviour in the 1980s and 90s. I could not now take anything they promise on trust. Jim Kemmy once joked that while politics might seem easy to some, others had come by the scenic route. Fianna Fáil are certainly taking the scenic route to nationalisation, via a mega-NAMA bailout, as taxpayers now look set to be full or majority shareholders in four banks and minority shareholders in another. All nationalisations were not created equal, of course. We had the panic nationalisation of Anglo, and now we have the belated nationalisation or part nationalisation of the rest.

Labour proposed a different approach. Following the model of the successful Swedish bank rescue, and as articulated by Bo Lundrgen when he spoke in Dublin, the Labour Party proposed taking our key banks into temporary public ownership before cleansing their balance sheets for return to the private sector. The key attraction of this approach was that it would have eliminated the valuation risk and the bailout element of NAMA. There would not have been any need for the fantasy of ‘long-term economic value’.Having taken the scenic route, we will now be left with the worst of both worlds – a nationalised banking sector alongside the risky NAMA bailout. Not only was the scenic route the longest route, wasting 18 valuable months, it was also the most costly.

Video: No Excommunication for Catholic Democrats who voted for tax payer funded abortion-Why?

This hard-hitting video from Real Catholic TV.com challenges the Catholic bishops on their failure to excommunicate Catholic politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden who have voted for taxpayer funded abortion. 127 Catholic Democrat politicians out of a total of 136 (94%) voted for Obama's taxpayer funded abortion. This video challenges the bishops to act. Under Canon Law any Catholic politician who votes for abortion is supposed to be excommunicated.

Video:Searchlight NV, Sarah Palin Attacks Lamestream Media bunk about incitement to violence-27/3/10

Sarah Palin held a Tea Party Rally at Searchlight, Nevada today. In her speech she lashed out at the "bunk" being promoted by the "lamestream media".

“Now when we talk about “fighting” for our country. Let’s clear the air right now on what it is we’re talking about. We’re not inciting violence. Don’t get sucked into the lamestream media’s lies about conservative America’s standing up for freedom as inciting violence. It’s a bunch of bunk what the media is trying to feed you.”

Palin has hit the nail on the head. There is a massive campaign afoot by the liberal media to smear opponents of the shambolic Obama Presidency. Tea Party protesters are painted as violent rednecks in an effort to divert public opinion from the failings of the Obama presidency. These failings will decide the next presidential election. Obama the darling of the liberal media has feet of clay. Certainly he has introduced change. Unfortunately it is change for the worse. He has quadrupled the deficit. Meanwhile unemployment powers ahead.
There is a wimpish incoherent directionless foreign policy. His healthcare plan is a financial, and moral time bomb. Rationing of healthcare for the elderly is inevitable. Up to 11 billion dollars of taxpayers money will be provided to fund abortion. Obama and the Democrats have sentenced millions of the unborn to death.
The liberal media approach is to give Obama's opponents something to deny.Palin and the GOP must not rise to the liberal bait. Instead they must focus on the economy and IGNORE the taunts.

March 18, 2010-Video of Apparition to Mirjana at the Blue Cross Medjugorje

Medjugorje Videos: Father Jozo explains that Our Lady asks for daily prayer especially the Rosary

Father Jozo explains the key relationship between prayer (especially daily Rosary) and the purpose of the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, coming to Medugorje in 1981.This program was produced in the 1980s by Catholic Focus Productions. Father Jozo explains the history of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother that began on June 24, 1981, the purpose of the Blessed Mother in Medugorje at this time of history along with his personal experience of seeing Her inside Saint James Church as She asks for daily prayer especially the Rosary. His translator, Anka, grew up as a communist and converted to the Catholic faith in her late 30s.

Medjugorje Visionary Mirjana hints that first secret will be a severe regional event

In unreleased interview:Medjugorje seer hints that first secret will be 'severe'regional event- by Michael H. Brown.

Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo from the famous Medjugorje site of apparitions in Bosnia-Hercegovina indicated in a previously undisclosed interview that the first of ten secret prophecies she was given by the Virgin Mary involves not a global miracle but a "severe"regional event.In an interview conducted by a priest a day after a vision in which she was shown the first secret, Mirjana, the first seer to obtain all ten secrets, said the first occurrence "will be something that [people] hear[about] very far" and added that people would not race to the place where the first one occurs because "surely no one wishes to watch disasters, distress, and misfortune. I don't think that this sort of thing attracts people at all. Why would people go to see something of that sort? It is one thing to go and see a sign, quite another to go and see suffering or a disaster. Who would, for example, go to Italy to see a dam collapse?" She said the first secret needs nothing to precede it and will"abundantly speak for itself." She said that people in Medjugorje "will know immediately that it is in connection with the secrets." It will besomething, she said, "that everyone, everywhere, will immediately hear about."Although the Virgin has instructed the seers not to become obsessed with the secrets (and in recent years they have assiduously declined further comment, turning away discussions of the secrets and instead emphasizing the joy with which the Blessed Mother often appears), at the same time she has expressed the need to warn the world and during certain apparitions the seers have shown great anguish."[Our Blessed Mother] told me that it is necessary to pray a great deal until the first secret is revealed," Mirjana said. "But in addition to that it is necessary to make sacrifices as much as possible, to help others as much as it is within our abilities, to fast -- especially now before the first secret. She stated that we are obliged to prepare ourselves.

She not only asks but pleads with everyone to convert, to pray, to fast. They have no idea what awaits them, and that is why, as their Mother, she is in deep anguish for them. It is not enough to just simply pray. It is not enough to just quickly say some prayers so that one can say that they prayed and did their duty. What she wants from us is to pray from the depths of our souls, to converse with God. That is her message."Although her first secret does not appear to involve a global event(nor a single massive "warning"), there is little doubt that what she has been told is serious. During a vision on October 25, 1985, Mirjana,whose daily apparitions ceased in 1982 (but proceed now on certain occasions), said she was shown the first secret like pictures projected on slides and that it "shook me the most. That was, of course, due to seeing the first secret. If the people saw the first secret, as it was shown to me yesterday, all of them would most certainly be shaken enough to take a new and different look at themselves and everything around them. I now know things that are not particularly pleasant. I believe that if everyone knew about these same things, each one of these people would be shocked to their senses and would view our world in a completely different light."

"The manifestation of that secret, will it only be a momentary thing or will it be something that will last for an extended period?" she was asked by the priest."It will last for a little while," replied Mirjana in the interview."Will its effects be lasting and permanent or will its effect be momentary and passing?""How can I explain that without encroaching on the secret?"said Mirjana. "Let me just say that it won't be good at all. It won't be pleasant.""Will the interval between the first and second secret be lengthy?"she was asked."That varies according to the secrets," answered Mirjana. "What I mean is that, for example, the time between the first and second secret is of a certain period, between the second and third is of different length. For example, and I stress, the first secret may take place today and the second one already tomorrow.""Are they perhaps of a notable character or more of a spiritualnature?

"Distinct, distinct. It will be visible; it is necessary in order to shake up the world a little. It will make the world pause and think.""Something like a catastrophe?""No, it will not be anything as huge as that. That will come later. It will be something that will give the world something to think about seriously, allow it to see that she was, indeed, here, to see and realize that there is a God, that He exists."And after that, will there be anyone who will say, `This is some sort of a natural phenomenon' or something along those lines?" asked the priest."Perhaps some staunch unbelievers might say something like that after the first and second," replied Mirjana in the biggest hints to date about her secrets.She said her prophecies involve what the Blessed Mother herself described as "many horrors" and that some of the later secrets are"really unpleasant" [Mirjana's emphasis]. The seer said the apparitions have been a preparation. "Just as any mother, she cares for her children," said Mirjana of the Blessed Virgin. "She wants us to comeand meet God the Father well prepared. She doesn't want us to weep and wail when it's too late. God said that He forgives at any time --providing the soul repents sincerely. All she asks for, the one thing she waits for, is for all of us to repent so that we may be forgiven. What follows are the secrets which are really unpleasant. I would be happy if everyone would finally understand that. I cannot tell them (much more), but once they begin to be fulfilled, then it will be too late."No times or dates have been indicated from the seers. Mirjana said she will reveal the first secret to a priest she chose, Father Petar Ljubicic, who appeared to be the one conducting the 1985 interview, ten days before it occurs, and he may then reveal it to the public, which would prove it is part of the secrets. Although at points it's not always clear from a translation of the interview, conducted in Croatian, which of the first three secrets the visionary is referring to, Mirjana has indicated that there will be three warnings given to mankind along with a great sign. Mirjana declined to say if the event or events in the first secret will occur at Medjugorje itself but said it would be convincing or witnessed by "all those who will be here [Medjugorje] or in the place(s) where the secret will unfold."

It is thus unclear whether the first event will involve just one locality or a number, although, again, it does not appear to be global.The only certainty, said Mirjana, is that the world has taken a turn to evil and the first secret is needed wake it up. "It will make the world pause and think," said Mirjana in this interview, which I obtained during the writing of The Final Hour but which has not been previously released in this detail. "There never was an age such as this one, never before was God honored and respected less than now, never before have so few prayed to Him. Everything seems to be more important than God. This is the reason she cries so much. The number of unbelievers is becoming greater and greater. As they endeavor for a better life, to such people, God Himself is superfluous and dispensable.This is why I feel deeply sorry for them and for the world. They have no idea what awaits them. If they could only take a tiny peek at these secrets, if they could see -- they would convert in time. Still, Gospa [OurLady] gave us God's ten secrets. They may still convert. Certainly God always forgives all those who genuinely convert.""Something like a catastrophe?" asked Ljubicic another time."No," replied Mirjana, "it will not be anything as huge as that.That will come later. These first two secrets are not all that severe and harsh. What I mean is, yes, they are severe, but not as much as the remaining ones."Mirjana, who has been discreet about the secrets and has even downplayed them in public appearances (criticizing those who have put forth spectacular prophecies), nonetheless said the secrets are such that she was sometimes "distressed" to the point of "weeping.""First and foremost, it is necessary to pray much," she emphasized. "Many people ask me to pray for them. That's fine, but some think that my prayers are better than their own. But to God all sincere prayers are good. Still, when I promise that I will pray, then I must. Most of all I now pray that people will convert, particularly in view of the secrets."Mirjana said she must be in Medjugorje when the first secrets begin to unfold. She said she does not know if large numbers will come to the village as the secrets begin to unfold, but that there will be conversions."I was never really acquainted with such serious matters," said Mirjana, referring again to the secrets.


"I couldn't even believe that Mary could come to this world in such a way, never mind being able to grasp the first thing about such great secrets and especially not that these would be entrusted to me. She explained everything to us and gave us perfect instructions. She gave us some sort of power, I mean special strength which actually restrains us from telling [anyone what the secrets are]. I was in a situation many times where I came close to disclosing a secret, but then, suddenly, something flashes through my head. It is then that I sober up and ask myself, `What am I doing, what is the matter with me?' The fact is, we are incapable of divulging the secrets."Leading up to the first secret, mankind must work at eliminating greed and disrespect for God, warned Mirjana. The seer singled out Sarajevo, where a vicious war was focused shortly after her comments. She mentioned the sin of cursing by using God's name. She said she does not know if her secrets are the same as those to the other five visionaries, except for the third secret of a great sign that will appear. A miracle is necessary, said Mirjana, for the godlessness to stop. It is now especially urgent, she said, to convert the young."She especially mentioned the need to pray for one's own soul,"said the seer. "There are many people who think: `I am good. I don'tneed to pray for myself.' No one knows how good or bad he or she is.God will judge that."Mirjana and other seers from Medjugorje (which has not been officially sanctioned by the Church) have said they would at least live to see the first several secrets. (They are currently in their thirties and the priest to whom Mirjana will confide her secret is believed to be in his fifties.) She said her secrets are on a substance like paper that was given to her by the Virgin. "Actually this is not paper but some sort of unusual material," said Mirjana. "She gave me instructions how to handle it and what to do with it. She also told me to choose a priest [who will receive the paper], because the day is approaching when I will have to give this paper to the priest, on time. I will have to give it to him ten days in advance, so that he too will have enough time to prepare himself for this. She will give him the grace to be able to see the first secret. You see, if anyone else were to look at this paper they would see something entirely different on it. But he will receive her grace which will enable him to read the first secret. Once he reads the first secret, he will have to make its contents public [if he so discerns after prayer and fasting]and afterwards he may do with it whatever he thinks is necessary."

Philip Nitschke, Australia’s “Dr. Death" encourages elderly Irish to put in place plans for suicide

via Patrick Madrid

Video:94% of Catholic House Democrats voted for taxpayer funded abortion in Obama healthcare

94 percent of Catholic House Democrats voted to kill children with your tax dollars. In simple figures 127 Catholic Democrat Reps out of a total of 136 voted for taxpayer funded abortion. These are Catholic in name only.
This has been the biggest expansion in abortion since Roe V Wade.Catholic Planet outlines the implications for Catholic politicians.

Catholics who promote abortion are automatically excommunicated for two reasons. First, they have fallen into the sin of heresy by believing that abortion is not always gravely immoral (canons 751 and 1364). Second, these Catholics are providing substantial assistance for women to obtain abortions by influencing public policy to make abortions legal, and to keep abortions legal, and to broaden access to abortion. Those who provide such substantial assistance commit a mortal sin and incur a sentence of automatic excommunication (canon 1398).

Pro-life Democrats are now as scarce as icebergs in the Sahara Desert. The Democratic Party represents the Culture of Death. The article Pro Life Democrats RIP written by William McGurn analyses the demise of the pro-life wing in the Democrat party. Its subheading "Bart Stupak's vote for the health bill shows that in the end you can't count on prolife Democrats" is highly apposite.

Photograph of Ireland from the Space Station by Astro Soichi March 2010

Click To Enlarge

Medjugorje Visionary Vicka's Message from Our Lady to Fr. Eugenio: Set up new Religious Order (An amazing story)

Testimony of Fr. Eugenio Founder Priest of the Monastic Fraternity of the Disciples of Jesus.

I am Fr. Eugenio Maria Pirovano Barbera, founder of the MonasticFraternity of the Disciples of Jesus for the Glory of God Father. This Fraternity was born in Medjugorje, a small village of Bósnia-Herzegovina, old Yugoslavia, from a direct call of Our Lady Queen of Peace through the clairvoyant Vicka. In order to understand better the history of the foundation of our Fraternity,I'm going to talk a little about my life, so that you will be able to contemplate the plans of God who, since all the eternity as He planned and wanted this project, generated by Mary. I am an Italian priest, naturalized Brazilian now. I belonged to a Missionary Institute, the PIME (Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions). I initiated my mission in Brazil, in 1979, in São Paulo city, in the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, while I waited for the paperwork to get my permanent visa. Through this parish I got to know the "Catholic Charismatic Renewal" in aretire in Itaici preached by Fr. Emiliano Tardiff, occasion in which I received a new "effusion of the Holy Spirit. Returning from this retire, a weird prayer came out of my heart: "Lord, don't let me die like a spoiled priest in the parish in Brooklin, without any missionary experience". Some days later, while I was praying, I listened to a voice inside myself: "Come and follow me". I was afraid that I was not following Jesus. Then,I went to Mato Grosso, where only volunteers used to go there at that time. Iworked with other priests of the PIME, helping them to establish a new Diocese.

An this time, I lived in the city of Nioaque, teaching native indians who lived there. However, in obedience to my superior's order, I went to work as a spiritual director in the PIME Seminary of Londrina, and later in Palhoça, Santa Catarina.I finally came back to the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in São Paulo,where I had the chance to work in the well known slum called "Hot Hole". In 1987 I was in Rome, in a great inner crisis. My superiors had sent me to study in the Gregorian University because I had been calumniated by a co-brother. At that time, I established a group of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal,that still exists and which I visit every time I go to Italy. In October I got a phone call saying that my father had cancer in his bones. I left my studies and I went to Milan to take care of my father and, just before he past away, my brother went to jail. I was desperate and had decided to leave the priesthood. Not to get married, but to live my life and relax. Then I went home. After that, in May of 1988, a dear friend of mine who is a priest as well, Don Boggiano Pico, invited me to go to Medjugorje.

At that time, I did not believe anything about Medjugorje and I did not want to go. Due to his and other two friends' insistence, I ended up going.There was nothing in Medjugorje years ago. There was not even a hotel. People stayed at peasants' houses. I remember when we arrived I heard that Our Lady was going to appear. Then, after that, Ivan - one of the clairvoyants,told us that these appearances were exclusively for the prayer group. I remember that I got sad, but I started cheering myself, kidding, saying to my friends: "You see? Our Lady does not want you". Then we went to the peasants' house. One of my friends wanted to pray the via-crucis on the Cross Mountain. I didn't hesitate to say: "Listen, you do not want to pray the via-crucis, you want to go there because you are curious and you want to see Our Lady. So, if you believe it, be quiet and stay here". I remember that my friend was sad, upset and started arguing with me. How "unlucky" I was when I said: "Come on, we come to Medjugorje and we have already started arguing. Our Lady, who gives sign to everybody, will give a sign to Fr. Eugênio who does not believe anything". After that, we were having supper, it was raining, the door was opened and we could see through the Cross Mountain. Another friend of mine said: "Look at that, Fr. Eugênio, there's a star above the cross. It is the sign that Our Lady wants us to pray the via-crucis". I was always a little skeptical about these things and started arguing with him as well. I said: "Come on! You studied so much in the University. The Italian universities must have lowered their level. Now, a star is a sign of Our Lady! For God's sake!" He argued. I said: "Listen, people, we are here where they say Mary, the Queen of Peace appears and we have already fought.

Fine, we are going to do this via-crucis" I remember that it was raining, so I took my rain coat and we started heading to the Mountain. Then I said: "You stay on your knees and I am going to preach". I started my long sermon while they were on their knees. At a certain time, in the third cross station, the first fall of Jesus, I realized (it is something that I still do not know how), my rain coat was dry. How could it be dry, if it was raining! It should be wet! Then I touched the mountain and my2 hand was wet, because, of course, if was raining... I touched my coat and it was dry. This did not match with my "philosophical teses"... I touched myfriends, saying: "We are going to the next station". When I touched them I realized that they were wet because it was raining. Then I touched myself again and I was dry!I got scared because I think that when people do not know something they fear. Then, I finished the via crucis very quickly. We got up to the mountain and something weird happened: from only one star, it had formed several stars around the cross, and then it stopped raining.I told my friends: "Listen, let's stay here praying individualy". I rememberthat I did not pray that night. I relieved al the bitterness that had in my heart. I said to Our Lady: "Listen, I do not know if you appear here or not. But there's something you should know: I am not a good priest, I am an excellent priest.Then, why did all these disasters happen to me? I was calumniated, my father died of cancer, my brother is in jail. What have I done so bad to experience all these disasters?" I did not have reply. I prayed and then we went home to a retire room. Nothing happened. I went to bed.

I remember that one day later the priest who is my friend said: "Listen, Fr.Eugênio, I am writing a book about Medjugorje and I am going to speak with Fr.Jozo (Fr. Jozo was the parish priest of Medjugorje). He asked me if I could pray the rosary with the pilgrims in the Appearances Hill. I said: "Certainly, I will go. I fit's only to initiate the rosary I will go". And I went to the Hil with those people.We prayed the rosary. In the Hill of the Appearances, in Medjugorje, there are some crosses. I found a cross far away and seated by myself. At a certain time, I felt somebody touching my back and said: "Are you Fr. Eugênio La Barbera? I remember that my first thought (at that time, Yugoslavia was a communist country) was:"Maybe I am going to be under a communist arrest. My brother, at least, is in an Italian jail". And I answered: "Yes, I Am. And who are you?". He said: "I doesn'tmatter who I am. But I have a prophecy of Our Lord Jesus Christ for intercession of Mary about everything you asked on the Cross mountain yesterday. Do you want to listen to it?". I said: "Yes, I do". And he said: "Our Lady thinks that you are an excellent priest (I was happy!). But you cannot take away the simple faith of people, as you did in the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when that young man wanted to speak with you about Medjugorje. (Only I could know about this: a young man in São Paulo, to who I forbid to talk about Medjugorje). And the person continued: "Our Lady says that your father is inparadise with your mother and your brother will leave the jail. Our Lord Jesus is preparing a parish in São Paulo for you - where a community from there wrote to Medjugorje asking for a priest who was indeed a priest -. Our Lady chose you. But, since you do not believe this, before you leave Medjugorje, Our Lady will give you a sign, especially for you.

After speaking with that person, I wanted to run to find my friend priest to go for a complete confession. It seemed to me like the woman in the Gospel that ran informing that Jesus was coming. I ran towards my friend saying:"Listen, I want to confess myself, because I found a person who told me everything about my life. I think I am going to die". This was my reaction. And I had a confession of all my life. On the other hand, I said to my priest friend: "Listen, I believe that OurLady appears. There are many coincidences. I believe. That's it! Then, I do not
want more signs. You, who believe it more than I and you are older..., you please inform to Our Lady that I do not want signs". Of course, my poor friend priest wanted to help to me. He said: "Our Lady wants to give a sign to you, this is a good thing". I said: "But I do not want it. In the next sign, I am going to have a heart attack".Then, a bus from Italy arrived and I was asked to pray the via-crucis with those Italian pilgrims. I remember that I prepared myself very well. During the prayer, a young guy who was on his twenties started crying, he was crying alot..., very loud! This was bothering me and making me a bit angry because everybody was looking at him, nobody was giving me attention while I was preaching? (And we, priests, also like to be listened to). But in that occasion I did not make any comment, because I was scared. I thought: "If I say: Be quiet!Our Lady will appear to me". Then I decided to keep quiet.The young man stopped crying and I got angry (I am Italian, I am a little angry...lol). I thought: now I will go there to find out what he had wrong. (I am very good at preaching but not that good to make people cry...). The guy turned to me and said: "Fr. Eugênio, I apologize for what happened. I saw all my sins like in a movie. I cried, I regretted, I cried and I saw another sins and I regretted againf".To tell you the truth, I must confess that I thought: "This guy must be a great sinner". Because he was only twenty-something years old and cried all via-crucis...And he said: "When you stopped preaching, I listened to a clear voice, that was not yours, saying: Your sins are forgiven, but the pardon from Church is necessary. Go and confess with Fr. Eugênio ".I confessed this young guy who had many sins, between parentheses, I am not disclosing a secret confession, but I forgave him and in a certain moment,he said: "Father, I have something to show you". Then, he rolled up his sleeves,showing his arms. It was all bruised. He injected pure heroine. (Later, I saw when he took heroine blisters from his pockets and broke them in a rock in the Mountain). I said: "Listen my son, I am not a doctor, but everybody knows that who injects pure heroine is not able to quit it overnight". I remember that he raised his arms and said: "Fr. Eugênio, I am cured. And this is the sign Our Lady offers you to believe".This was a great sign. From that year on, I started going to Medjugorje yearly, up to two times a year, in January and again in July. I also went there during war time and nothing happened to me. It was difficult for me to go there during this period, with the war, soldiers, but I was always faithful.

My second great experience in Medjugorje happened in January of 1993,during a great pilgrimage that I participated. Our Lady appeared to Vicka, and, as normally happens with al the clairvoyant in the end of the appearance theygive Our Lady's message. Usually it is: "Ours Lady blessed us", "Our Lady placed her hands on you", and I was already used to listened to this type of message the clairvoyants continuously said Mary told them.I had never met Vicka at that time and I never look for any clairvoyants. I went the Medjugorje because of that experience I had with Our Lady. However,in 1993 after the appearance, Vicka, instead of saying Our Lady's message, she turned to thousands of pilgrims, asking: "Who is Eugênio, a priest in Brazil".I got anxious, because we were in the communist regimen and I didn't know what was going on. I kept quiet and left. But, at night, my curiosity was stronger than I and I decided to visit Vicka. It was the first time I went to a clairvoyant's house.I got there and said: "Vicka, today, after the appearance, you asked about Fr. Eugênio. I am Fr. Eugênio and I am a missionary in Brazil". She said: "It's you who I was calling.

Ours Lady said that you have to leave your parish, to leave your occupations and found a Community where people pray essentially,a contemplative community where monks, men and women, can pray and also take care of the street children".I looked at Vicka and thought that perhaps she could not see Our Lady,because that was an unusual proposal for a person like me who doesn't have any particular charisma... I doubted. Then, I said: "Asks Our Lady which Swissbank I should withdraw money from". Well , it would be necessary a lot of money to build a religious congregation! And Vicka was not impressed. She said: "Ok,Father. I am going to ask."I thought that this subject would be over and finished at that point. Next day I was passing by the old house of Vicka's grandmother, where she usually talks to the pilgrims, and Vicka greeted me and said: "I have something to tell you". I said: "Did Our Lady say which bank I can get the money from" "No", answered Vicka, "Our Lady said that you must spend the money you received from your inheritance, because what you received is for God. So, spend the money you got and go take care of your Fraternity. And remember that this is Mary's Fraternity".I was perplexed because nobody there knew my father had died, Vicka didn't know that I had got money, how could she know it....

I left Medjugorje with this feeling: what does God want from me? To tell you the truth, I did not want to tell anybody about that. But, to avoid a guilty conscience, I thought that I should tell at least my bishop. So I asked for a hearing with my bishop Fernando Antonio Figueiredo, and told him a little about what had happened to me. Since there is not many priests in Brazil, I was sure that my bishop would say: "No,you continue with your job". At that time, I was the director of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the Diocese of Saint Amaro. I was a priest of two different churches and I was doing a good job, as there were so many people attending the youth Mass and the police had to close the street in the evenings on Américo Brasiliense Avenue. On the other hand, I thought it was very important that I would have to continue with my apostolate as a priest and as a director of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

But, my bishop said: "Fr. Eugenio, we will pray during one year to discern what God's will is". I was surprised when he said: "We are going to pray",because I thought he was going to say: "No, continue doing your job". Months had been passed and I remember that in January of 1994 I went back to Medjugorje. My godmother had to go for a heart surgery that year. She did not have any relatives, so I went there to take care of her. And my surprise was when, after one year of my conversation with the bishop, on August 22,1994, in the Solemnity of Our Lady, my bishop called me up and asked me to write down everything that happened in Medjugorje, in order to give course to the new foundation.

The first approval was on February 11, 1995, occasion of the celebration of Our Lady of Lourdes, date that was received the recognition from the"Association of Parishers" on behalf of the Bishop of St. Amaro. After that, lotsapprovals happened and finally on March 19, 2005, in the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the Monastic Fraternity was recognized for the Holy Church as "SuiIuris" Regina Pacis. Our community's name is Monastic Fraternity of the Disciples of Jesus. Weare a Marian community, because it was born to follow the messages of Our Lady Queen of Peace and also to adopt the Benedictine spirituality, I mean, we have the prayers, the spiritual readings, called " Lectio Divine" as our priority,we work, therefore, we live the Saint Benedict's "rules", "ora et labora", "prayand work", that it's understood as following: "May our prayer, not our work bepriority in our day". Based on this, we get up at 5AM to initiate our day with theworship to the Holy Sacrament. Our daily activities are: the Gospel meditation, by the Lectio Divine, the complete rosary prayed in group, the celebration of the Saint Mass and worship to the Saint Cross every Friday, etc. After these years, we realize how much this project is blessed by God because we totally depend on the donation and our work.

Since 1999, we do not buy anything in the supermarket and, if we need anything, we ask God to send to us. God, through Mary, touches people's hearts. Our Lady said in a particular message directed to us through Vicka: "I am the superior of this Fraternity, I am the one who call people I need for this project, the consecrated ones, as well as the lay people who help you with the work and the material properties".Our Monastery has as Mother Church the diocese of St. Amaro, in the periphery, in Village Mirna, next to Varginha terminal situated on Av. Antonio Carlos Benjamin dos Santos, 3973. We have three Monasteries on the same land: the "Monastery Regina Pacis", which is the formation house and also the masculine monastery; the "Monastery of the Visitation", which is the feminine monastery and the "BabyJesus Monastery", where we receive youth, laypeople and religious people who desire to make a deep experience of prayer. We offer one-day retires everythird Sundays a month, and we also offer three and seven days retires (desertretires), according to Benedictine and Marian spirituality.

For more information on the retires, you can send an email to retirocmj@terra.com.br or cal (11) 5226-2047. If you would like to check the retires schedule you can check the blog Queen of Peace In this blog you will find spirituality texts referring to Medjugorje. We also have in our structural complex the public church of "God Father", with daily masses from Monday to Saturday at 6PM, on Sundays at 11AM and 5PM, except the first Sunday of every month, when we have the "Cure Mass",presided by me at 3PM. We develop several types of job here. Every Tuesday we open ourMonastery to give soup to approximately 400 families in our hal "MammaMargherita".We also take care of the street children from our region, we help some day-care centers and we give a special attention to young people who go to ourMonastery to find the reason of their lives.We work in the formation and orientation of the Prayer Groups that want to follow the spirituality of Medjugorje. We also do manual works: icons, rosary,creams, etc., as a way to keep this project. Moreover, we take care of confessions in our Monastery daily and we give spiritual direction. We intend to expand our work with the construction of the"Sanctuary Queen of the Peace", that it is in process of approval in the public agencies. We are already praying in gratefulness to Our Lady Queen of Peace for people She will call and send for the conclusion of this mission. Our Monastic community is composed by laypeople, clergymen, men and women, celibatarians and couples, having as our charisma the prayer and the contemplation in the molds of the monastic life, developing work on children recovery, teenagers and youth and giving them a social and spiritual formation, providing them the integration in the society. Mary wanted this charisma extended to couples and laypeople as well so that they could consecrate themselves to Her and to Church through our Monastery, in order to follow the proposal of a prayer life for our Fraternity. Here, in our Monastery we have a particular privilege of Our Lady:. She guaranteed that every day, at 5:40 PM She is in our Monastery the same way She is in Medjugorje, blessing everyone who's with us. Therefore, every day, at this time, we ring the church bells; we kneel and pray a Hail Mary in gratefulness for many graces received. If you would like to receive our informative and formative folder called "THE DISCIPLE" you can write to us requesting your registration. Together with the folder you will receive a bank statement and will be able to help with any amount in favor of this project of Mary. And those who want to get to know a little more can contact us from Monday to Friday on the phone (11) 5526-2047, or email us:informativo@mosteiroreginapacis.org.br or check our website.We will be happy to be visited by those who are interested in getting to know us personally..

Video:Bart Stupak said that he’d vote for Obamacare even if it funded abortion

Last year Rep. Bart Stupak speaking in Cheboygan, MI at a townhall meeting stated that he would vote for Obamacare even if it included taxpayer funded abortion. Of course he did not realise that his comments were being recorded. So no surprise that he has folded and decided to betray the unborn. Those who vote for Obamacare have blood on their hands. Millions of innocent unborn children will be butchered with taxpayer dollars. Rationing will ensure that millions of elderly Americans will die. The Democratic Party is committing political suicide.
Stupak can waffle all he likes about an Executive Order. The following is the reality:

1. An executive order can be rescinded any time. President Obama could reverse it next week, next month, or next year. Should another pro-abortion president be elected in the future, it could be rescinded on inauguration day.

2. An executive order will not prevent insurance companies that provide abortion from participating in the exchanges.

3. Abortion funding in the health care legislation can be only be removed using the legislative process. An executive order not only doesn't fix the problem, it isn't needed to fix the problem, and could not stand a legal challenge. If Democrats are serious about protecting taxpayers from funding abortion in the health care bill, they must use the legislative process to fix the problem.
Pro aborts in the Democratic Party would not agree to this without guarantees on abortion. Stupak has sold out.
Remember Congressman Henry Hyde's words:
"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'"

Catholic Bishops/SBA List Pro Life Group Condemn Stupak-Executive Rule on abortion funding-Urge NO vote

The Susan B. Anthony List Pro Life Group and the Catholic Bishops have just issued statements condemning the Stupak-Executive Rule on abortion. The statements are carried below.
Susan B. Anthony List:

Nancy Pelosi and her allies are currently negotiating with key pro-life Democrats to try and secure their vote for their pro-abortion health care plan.

What's on the negotiating table?

A proposed executive order from President Obama that would allegedly bar abortion funding in the health care bill.

An executive order is an ineffective maneuver and completely unacceptable.

Here's why:

1. An executive order can be rescinded any time. President Obama could reverse it next week, next month, or next year. Should another pro-abortion president be elected in the future, it could be rescinded on inauguration day.

2. An executive order will not prevent insurance companies that provide abortion from participating in the exchanges.

3. Abortion funding in the health care legislation can be only be removed using the legislative process. An executive order not only doesn't fix the problem, it isn't needed to fix the problem, and could not stand a legal challenge. If Democrats are serious about protecting taxpayers from funding abortion in the health care bill, they must use the legislative process to fix the problem.

ACTION:

Call the following members of Congress immediately and tell them that an executive order by the president on abortion is unacceptable and urge them to vote NO on the pro-abortion health care bill.


Marion Berry (AR) 202-225-4076
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA) 202 225-3103
Daniel Lipinski (IL) 202-225-5701
Earl Pomeroy (ND) 202-225-2611
Nick Rahall (WV) 202-225-3452
Bart Stupak (MI) 202-225-4744
Steve Driehaus (OH) 202-225-2216
Joe Donnelly (IN) 202-225-3915
Jerry Costello (IL) 202-225-5661
Marcy Kaptur (OH) 202-225-4146
Paul Kanjorski (PA) 202-225-6511
Alan Mollohan (WV) 202-225-4172

The Catholic Bishops released this memo. They condemn the Stupak-Executive Rule on abortion funding. Life News reported:

The pro-life office of the nation’s Catholic bishops has join other pro-life groups in condemning an 11th-hour strategy that would have pro-life Democrats support the pro-abortion Senate health care bill in exchange for President Barack Obama issuing an executive order banning abortion funding in it.
Leading pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak is pursuing the executive order because he wants to ban abortion funding under the bill but also because he wants to be able to eventually vote for it.
The main objections from pro-life advocacy groups center on two points.
First, they have sincere doubts about whether Obama, who has an extensive pro-abortion track record and used an executive order during his first week in office to expand taxpayer funding of abortions, would ever sign one.
Secondly, they point out technical problems with the idea, saying an executive order is not able to remedy the numerous ways in which the Senate bill funds and promotes abortion funding.

Fr. Frank Pavone Open Letter to Congress: The Health Care Vote and Abortion

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
Saturday, March 20, 2010

Dear Members of Congress,

As you prepare to cast your vote on health care reform, abortion again has emerged as a momentous and defining issue in this debate. Some consider it a distraction or an unwanted obstacle to authentic health care reform. But the fact is that the abortion debate is bigger and more important than the health care reform debate, and the apparent inability of our nation to avoid wrestling with the abortion issue is another sign that until we resolve the abortion debate the right way, we will not be able to make the progress we need to make on health care or any other matter of social justice or human rights.

Today, therefore, along with countless other Americans, I urge you not to try to look beyond the abortion debate, but to look at it directly, to wrestle with it honestly, and to realize that it is the question that surpasses all others, because it involves the principle that underlies all others.

As a public servant, you are responsible to know the difference between serving the public and killing the public. The first responsibility of government is the protection of human life. To fail to do this is to fail to serve. To violate the right to life is to fail to protect every human right, including health care.

The service that we are all called to carry out to humanity embraces life at every stage and in every circumstance. To fail to respect a human life at any stage of its development is to break the principle that holds it sacred at every stage of its development.

That is why one may never use our duty to life at one stage to justify destroying it at another. Some have tried to do this in the health care debate, by their willingness to expand child killing in the process of helping adults get medical treatment. This approach is self defeating, because as soon as we tolerate the killing of children, we undercut every rationale to provide health care to both children and adults.

Despite the views of some in political office, abortion is not an aspect of health care. In fact, this destructive and violent act does not even deserve the name “medical procedure.” After all, a medical procedure is supposed to help the body to do what it is trying to do, but is having trouble doing. Abortion is just the opposite: it stops the body from doing what it is supposed to do and is doing very well. And in stopping the life of the child within by an unnatural and cruel method, it introduces numerous complications for the health of the mother. Abortion is not health care, it is not respectable, and it deserves the same kind of rejection by society as slavery, segregation, and terrorism.

We who are part of the vast pro-life movement in America call upon you, our legislators, and all our fellow citizens to listen carefully to what the practitioners of abortion say about the procedure itself.

Abortionist Martin Haskell, in describing, under oath, the suction curettage abortion procedure, said , “The fetus passes through the catheter and either dies in transit as it’s passing through the catheter or dies in the suction bottle after it’s actually all the way out” (1).

The same abortionist describes the D and E procedure by saying, “We would attack the lower part of the lower extremity first, remove, you know, possibly a foot, then the lower leg at the knee and then finally we get to the hip … Typically the skull is brought out in fragments rather than as a unified piece…" (2)

Abortionist Warren Hern writes in his medical textbook Abortion Practice, “A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus…" (p.154).

We ask you, our legislators: When you say the word abortion, is this what you mean? Is this the kind of activity you want to fund?

We in the pro-life movement also listen to and give voice to the women and men who have lost children to abortion. Their experiences, shared through the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, draw attention to the physical and psychological damage abortion does. These are voices we cannot ignore.

Some prefer to ignore, trivialize, or relativize abortion. Others, represented by the pro-life movement, declare not only that it is wrong, but that it is a show-stopper, a deal-breaker.

It is a show-stopper precisely because the principle it breaks is the show-starter for every effort and struggle on behalf of human rights, including the great experiment in freedom and self-governance that is the United States of America.

As Pope John Paul II explained, "The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (3).

The United States Catholic bishops expressed it this way: “Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care. … But being 'right' in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the 'rightness' of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as the "temple of the Holy Spirit" -- the living house of God -- then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house's foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person's most fundamental right the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand” (4).

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, when he was Archbishop of Chicago, explained “the consistent ethic of life,” showing that issues like health care are connected to issues like abortion and every other issue. He also explained, "A consistent ethic of life does not equate the problem of taking life (e.g., through abortion and in war) with the problem of promoting human dignity (through humane programs of nutrition, health care, and housing). But a consistent ethic identifies both the protection of life and its promotion as moral questions” (5) He also said, "The fundamental human right is to life—from the moment of conception until death. It is the source of all other rights, including the right to health care" (6).

Today, you stand again in the crosshairs of this debate whether you choose to or not. Some will continue to dismiss our concerns. Others will echo them, declaring that we can no more pay for the destruction of innocent children weeks after their life begins than we can do so years after their life begins.

Today, you have the opportunity to decide whether you will contribute to our nation’s blindness about abortion, or whether you will be part of a new awakening, by which our nation will see the abortion debate as the civil rights issue of our time and again apply its founding principles to its youngest citizens.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
President, National Pro-life Religious Council

(1) Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
(Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an
abortionist. He describes legal activity.


(2) Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
(Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.

(3) Christifideles Laici, 1988

(4) Living the Gospel of Life n. 23, 1998

(5) A Consistent Ethic of Life: Continuing the Dialogue, The William Wade Lecture Series, St. Louis University, March 11, 1984.

(6) The Consistent Ethic of Life and Health Care Systems, Foster McGaw Triennial Conference, Loyola University of Chicago, May 8, 1985.

Pelosi Lies About Catholic Support for Taxpayer Funded Abortion

March 19, 2010
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on remarks made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today:
Last year, when Nancy Pelosi went to see the pope, she was denied the opportunity to exploit him: photographers were not invited into the room for the typical photo session. Instead, Pope Benedict XVI reminded her of the duties expected of public Catholics. But her determination to play the Catholic card—oh, so selectively—rebounded again when she informed the media that today is the feast of St. Joseph, a special day of prayer for workers, and especially Italians. She apparently stopped short of blessing herself, though she didn't stop short of invoking St. Joseph's name in support of the health care bill. Separation of church and state fanatics who suffered apoplexy whenever George W. Bush dropped the Lord's name are not expected to take to the streets.
Then Pelosi lied. She said she is grateful for the support of 60 orders of nuns, not mentioning that the letter she received had a whopping total of 55 signatories. Worse, she had the gall to say that this represents "every order you can think of." Wrong. In fact, there are 793 religious communities, which means she heard from seven-and-a-half percent of them. Moreover, since there are approximately 65,000 nuns in the U.S., that means she was contacted by .0008 percent of them.
In other words, not only are the bishops formally opposed to the bill she champions, it's a lie to maintain that the nuns are on her side. Shameless is too kind a word to use to describe what Pelosi did today.(Catholic League)

First Three Medjugorje Secrets Are Warnings:The Illumination Of The Soul - A Medjugorje Secret?

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE SOUL - A MEDJUGORJE SECRET?BY WAYNE WEIBLE, March 2010.

During the season of Lent, a time to renew our spiritual life and to offer up gifts of love to our God, there is no better gift than to reflect on our souls as to where we presently stand in the light of God's judgment. For surely, with so many prophesized warnings given by saints, seers and prophets throughout the ages of an exact time when every living being will see their souls exactly as God sees it-that is, all the good and all the bad accumulated in a lifetime up to that point-it will occur.

According to many related and recorded near-death experiences, this same grace happens at the moment of death or near-death; and, for those of us alive at the time when it occurs throughout the world to every living being, it will come without warning and we will experience the exact same grace. The difference is, we will have full, undeniable knowledge of the reality of God, and the free will choice to do something about it.

This holy grace of revelation as to where we stand in the judgment of God has generally been called "The Warning" or "The Illumination of the soul." Whatever one wishes to call it, it only makes sense that it is also one of the ten secrets the Blessed Virgin Mary has given to the visionaries of Medjugorje. It can be further stated that it is conceivably one of the three warnings that will be given at Medjugorje after the apparitions cease to occur, to let the world know that this event is from God and that He is real. The first three secrets are in fact the warnings. Since it has been revealed by way of personal messages received by the visionaries in the early days of the apparitions what two of the warnings are-even if purposely ambiguous-this could conceivably be the other.

The Illumination of the Soul will be like a spiritual x-ray that will reveal to each individual which path they are on: the path to damnation or the path to salvation. Man-kind will then have the free will to decide to follow the path to God or the path to Satan. Sadly, as the Blessed Virgin Mary has stated in her messages to various seers, some will still follow the path to damnation, even though they will know without doubt that God exists and that He loves every creature.

The credibility of the Illumination of the Soul (or The Warning) comes from a number of supernatural events. It was foretold to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830 (at Rue du BAC in Paris, France place of the Miraculous medal), to St. Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s (Divine Mercy Kracow, Poland), and to the four young seers of Garabandal, Spain, to whom Our Lady appeared many times from 1961-1965. Other visionaries have since spoken of it and there is general agreement that, as a result of this happening, millions of sinners will repent and be restored to grace. With the nearly 29 years of daily apparitions at Medjugorje and the thousands of messages of calling for repentance now, the battle lines between good and evil are more clearly drawn than ever before.

According to the visionaries of Garabandal, within one year of the Warning, or Illumination, a great miracle will occur in the skies over Garabandal involving a sign that they say can be seen and photographed but cannot be touched. The same has been related by the visionaries of Medjugorje. A permanent sign is to be left on Podbrdo Hill (Apparition Hill as we call it) where the apparitions of Medjugorje began. As at Garabandal, it can not be touched; does that mean it physically can not be touched or that it is forbidden to be touched? We do not know.
This permanent sign, they say, is the third warning, or the third secret of Medjugorje. They go a step further to report that the Virgin stated that the first warning, or secret, will be a great upheaval somewhere in the world. Again, there is no revelation as to whether it will be geographic, political or something else. Regardless, if a soul is not converted to God by this time, it will be too late.

With such knowledge given and verified so many times, our reaction based on faith and the confirmation of Medjugorje's messages, should be one of repentance. Repentance loosely defined is acknowledgment of not following the way of God as best we can. It can be interchanged with the words contriteness, regret and remorse.

Thus, Lent is our time to closely reflect as to where we stand with God now, not waiting for that fearsome event of Illumination of the soul; and then, of course, to do something about it.
According to a wide number of souls who have experienced near-death and have come so close to actual death, what they saw in their own judgments was so many little slights to others by word, thought and deed. These acts toward others appear to have great weight. Some of what we might consider to be the most trivial of things. As one woman who experienced near-death put it, she saw how every nice word or action created light that circled the world while each negative one did the opposite.

A great Catholic theologian named Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange once wrote that "at the moment of separation the soul knows itself without medium, on all its merits and demerits. It sees its state without possibility of error, sees all that it has thought, desired, said, and done, both in good and evil." The entire past, he said, is seen "in a glance." That is precisely what those who have been declared dead but then miraculously revived have reported.
As Our Lady has said so many times in her messages to us through Medjugorje, don't wait for the secrets before deciding to change and follow God. Do it now.
Lent is the time to begin the change.
May the peace, grace and love of Jesus be with each of us.

"The Baby" Susan B. Anthony List Healthcare TV ad

Obama, Reid, Pelosi Healthcare Shame: 11 Billion dollars for Taxpayer Funded Abortion

A vote for Obamacare is a vote for murder. Obama/Reid/Pelosi wish to provide 11 billion dollars for taxpayer funded abortion. Shame on them. Those who vote for this will have blood on their hands.
In the name of “health,” pro-abortion Democrats intend to turn community health centers – many of which are simply Planned Parenthood clinics - into taxpayer-sponsored abortion mills, funded with $11 billion appropriated outside of the usual protections banning federal funding of abortion.

One cannot be a Catholic and vote for abortion. Catholic politicians planning to vote to allocate taxpayers money to kill unborn children should remember Judas betrayed Our Lord for 30 pieces of silver. They now plan to betray the unborn for Obama's thirty pieces of silver.
Remember Congressman Henry Hyde's words
"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him, because he loved us!'"

Senator John Barrasso: Dems’ Health Care Bill Will Hurt Patients, Bankrupt Country

Senate Doctors John Barrasso and Tom Coburn join the House GOP physicians for a press conference on why the American people and the nations doctors are opposing the Democrats radical health care reform bill. Polls by Sermo.com and the New England Journal of Medicine show that the nations doctors, not lobbyists masquerading as doctors, are deeply opposed to the Senate bill the House may vote on in a few days. The doctors will also call attention to the tricks, special deals, and arm-twisting that Democrats are relying on to ram the Senate bill through the House.WHO: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Co-Chair GOP Doctors Caucus Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), Co-Chair, GOP Doctors Caucus Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), Chairman, Health Care Caucus Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN)Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)Rep. John Fleming (R-LA)Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)Rep. John Linder (R-GA)

Videos:Medjugorje Visionary Vicka Outlines Our Ladys Messages on Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Confession and the Rosary

Video-Rep. Paul Ryan Outlines How Obama’s New Budget Will ‘Literally Crash the U.S. Economy’

Montserrat Grases: Spanish Teenager of Great Sanctity

Montserrat Grases died in intense pain at the age of 17 from bone cancer, but her short life gave exemplary witness to the peace that comes from a closeness with God; we can learn much from "Montse" (her nickname) and benefit by her intercession in our lives. Told of her terminal cancer, she went to pray. She sang a Spanish folk song that translates: "When I was living so happily, without thinking of love, you wanted me to love you and I loved you passionately. And I will continue to love you even after death. For I love you with the soul and the soul never dies.

"Montse grew up in Barcelona, Spain in a Catholic family of 11; Her parents sought to create a family climate in which sincere faith was fostered with great respect for the children’s freedom. Montse loved to hike, ski, and play tennis and basketball. She was very devout in her faith, and she makes the faithful her children in spirit.Facing the tabernacle each day, she told our Lord all about her joys, her studies, and her effort to be more gentle and caring. She offered her sufferings to others: her friends, the Pope, and to St. Josemaria. Looking at a picture of the Virgin Mary, her last words were, "How much I love you! When are you coming for me?" She died on Holy Thursday, 26 March, 1959.
For a more detailed account of her life see:here

The process for her cause of canonization was opened in Barcelona on December 19, 1962 — four years after her death — and was closed on March 26, 1968, the 9th anniversary of her death.On February 22, 1974, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the decree on writings, and on May 15, 1992, the decree of validity of the process. Between June 10 and October 28 of 1993, a diocesan investigation took place to add new documents to the process.The Positio was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in December of 1999, to be studied for a proposal to the Pope to authorize a declaration on her life and virtues. On April 27, 2016 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared the heroicity of her virtues, in a decree confirmed Pope Francis. A miracle is now needed for her to be Beatified. Montse has now been declared Venerable.

Also pray for Montse's intercession in your own life
(a prayer for private devotion) :O God, you granted your servant Montse the grace of serene and cheerful dedication to your will with admirable simplicity in everyday life. Grant that I may lovingly offer to you all my daily activity and convert it into Christian service for others. Deign to glorify your servant Montse and through her intercession grant me the favor I ask of you… (here make your request). Amen.[Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father]

St. Patrick's Day Song:Hail Glorious St. Patrick sung by Frank Patterson

St. Patrick is Ireland's patron saint. His feast day is March 17. Tomorrow is a day of celebration for Gaels far and wide. The Irish diaspora is estimated to contain over 80 million people.

Video:This Is Your Time - Michael W. Smith

This song is about a girl named Cassie Bernall who was shot in the Columbine shooting in 1999. Initial reports indicated that she was shot to death after one of the gunmen asked her if she believed in God. She allegedly said "Yes, I believe in God". They were reported as her last words. This version is disputed.

One of Her Favorite Bible Verses: Phil 3:10-11, TLB

Now I have given up on everything else
I have found it to be the only way
To really know Christ and to experience
The mighty power that brought
Him back to life again, and to find
Out what it means to suffer and to
Die with him. So, whatever it takes
I will be the one who lives in the fresh
Newness of life of those who are
Alive from the dead
- Cassie Bernall

Article: Pope John Paul II "Medjugorje - The Spiritual Heart of the World" by Daniel Klimek

Pope John Paul II once powerfully observed, "Today's world has lost its sense of the supernatural, but many are searching for it - and find it in Medjugorje, through prayer, penance, and fasting." The late pontiff and future saint, his holiness, spoke these words on August 1, 1989, while addressing a group of Italian physicians studying the apparitions in Medjugorje with medical and scientific investigations.

It is no secret within Rome that John Paul II absolutely loved Medjugorje, once even acquiring the nickname "Protector of Medjugorje" within the Vatican. Even eminent American intellectuals were no strangers to this reality. The great Franciscan intellectual, Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, himself an investigator of supernatural phenomena, once admitted about John Paul II in a revealing interview: "I can tell you for a fact that the pope loves Medjugorje from afar and would go there in a minute if the theologians would let him."

While it is known that the late Polish pope never personally visited Medjugorje, what is less known is that throughout the last two decades of his life Pope John Paul II held personal meetings and correspondences with Medjugorje visionaries, Medjugorje priests, even Medjugorje inner locutionaries, and numerous pro-Medjugorje bishops. His enthusiasm and love for Medjugorje's mystics was overwhelming and filled with abundant respect and a joyful beauty overcome with hope. One such example is when Medjugorje visionary, Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo, met with John Paul II. She once shared the details behind this poignant, and somewhat humorous, encounter while addressing a group of pilgrims:

"I personally had a such a great honor to be able to speak with late Pope John Paul II. That was so beautiful. I was in St Peter's Basilica in Rome with all other pilgrims. Pope as he was walking by, he was blessing everybody. He blessed me and just walked away. And then this Italian priest I was with said ‘Holy Father, this is Mirjana from Medjugorje.' He came back, blessed me again and he left. And I said to this priest, ‘Father, you see he just thinks that I need a double blessing' [laughter]. However, in the afternoon we received an invitation tomorrow morning to come to Castelgondolfo, close to Rome in order to talk to Holy Father. I don't have to tell you that I couldn't sleep all night. Tomorrow when I reached the place, he saw that I was so excited. We were alone and then he started talking to me in Polish. He thought I would understand because both are Slavic languages. He wanted to make me feel comfortable but I didn't understand a word because it's not even close to our language. However, I was crying and I couldn't catch a breath to say a word. So when I finally succeeded to say a word, I said ‘Holy Father, can we try in Italian ?' [laughter]. Then we talked and among other things he said to me, ‘If I were not Pope, I would be in Medjugorje a long time ago. I know everything, I have been following everything. Ask pilgrims to pray for my intentions. And take good care of Medjugorje because Medjugorje is the hope for the entire world...' "

Beyond such personal words of encouragement and trust for the visionaries and the fruits of faith at Medjugorje, Pope John Paul II frequently displayed his appreciation in officially signed papal blessings as well. Two such official blessings were given by John Paul II to Fr. Jozo Zovko, O.F.M., the pastor in St. James Church at Medjugorje when the apparitions began, and to Vicka Ivankovic, one of the Medjugorje visionaries who still receives daily apparitions. Vicka, like Mirjana, has also personally met with the Holy Father in Rome, exchanging gifts and warm sentiments of faith. The official blessing she received from the late pope hangs on her wall, beautifully framed, in her home.

Fr. Jozo met with Pope John Paul II in 1992, in the midst of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. John Paul II's words to Fr. Jozo were striking: "I am with you, protect Medjugorje! Protect Our Lady's messages!" The passion and urgency of the Holy Father's words for the protection of Medjugorje make clear how much the holy site, as to millions of Catholics, meant to him.

That Our Lady is appearing in Medjugorje, the Holy Father had little doubt about. The papal blessing he signed and gave to Fr. Jozo read:
"I grant from the heart a particular blessing to Father Jozo Zovko, o.f.m. and I invoke a new outpouring of graces and heavenly favors, and the continuous protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joannes Paulus II."

The Holy Father's own knowledge of Medjugorje and the major figures surrounding the events there was very impressive. Often his knowledge extended beyond the facts that many Medjugorje devotees may even know. For instance, most Medjugorje followers know that there are six visionaries. However, fewer may know that, in addition to the original six children who reported experiencing apparitions of Our Lady in 1981, two also reported experiencing interior locutions (locution cordis), the mystical grace of seeing and hearing Our Lady in an interior way - through the heart, especially when in prayer. Jelena and Marijana Vasilj, distant cousins, were the two youngsters who reported experiencing this grace. At Medjugorje, they acquired the nickname of "the seers of the second generation," being ten year-old girls (compared to the older visionaries) during the beginning periods of the apparitions.

Of course, such idiosyncratic distinctions, between young mystics who received apparitions and those who received inner locutions-while perhaps a bit perplexing to many observers-were no problem for John Paul II to discern. He didn't miss a beat. In 1988, John Paul II received a group of Croatian Catholics into his private chapel in Rome. He instantly recognized two members of the group from photographs he had witnessed. Approaching the two young girls, he said, "Ah yes, Jelena and Marijana, who have the interior locutions." John Paul II greeted the girls warmly and stared into their eyes for some time with much amusement.
Today, both Jelena and Marijana are, of course, mature women. Jelena's path has especially been interesting. Traveling to the United States for her undergraduate studies, she completed her B.A. at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, Jelena returned to Rome where she pursued a doctorate in theology at the Gregorian University, always displaying a sophisticated mind with a deep appreciation for the Catholic faith.

Only two years after the pope met with "the seers of the second generation," John Paul II sent his friend and confidant, Bishop Paul Hnilica, S.J., then Auxiliary Bishop of Rome, to accompany Marija Pavlovic, another Medjugorje visionary, on a visit to Russia. Bishop Hnilica continually told Marija how much the pope wished to visit Medjugorje. Similarly to the words John Paul II gave to visionary Mirjana Soldo during their meeting, the Bishop emphasized how the Holy Father explained to him: "If I wasn't the Pope, I'd be in Medjugorje already!"

Many bishops from around the world have had similar encounters with John Paul II on the topic of Medjugorje. In June 1986, in response to a group of twelve Italian bishops seeking advice on pilgrims traveling to Medjugorje, the pope recognized the indisputable fruits of faith present in the village: "Let the people go to Medjugorje," he said, "if they convert, pray, confess, do penance and fast."
Similarly, in April 15, 1990, the National Catholic Reporter quoted Bishop Michael D. Pfeifer of San Angelo, Texas. Bishop Pfeifer explained:
"During my Ad Lumina visit to Rome with the Bishops of Texas in April 1988, I asked our Holy Father his opinion about Medjugorje during the private conversation I had with him. He spoke very favorably about the happenings there, pointing out the good which had been done for people. During the lunch which the Texas Bishops later had with the Holy Father, Medjugorje came up for further discussion. Again His Holiness spoke of how it has changed the lives of people who visit it, and said that so far the messages are not contrary to the Gospel."

Likewise, during his Mass Homily at the Notre Dame Conference on Medjugorje delivered on May 14, 1989, Bishop S. Treinen, Bishop of Boise, Idaho, related a conversation he once had with John Paul II:
"In the course of it [our conversation] I said: ‘Holy Father, I have just come from Medjugorje. There are wonderful things going on there.' The Pope replied: ‘Yes, it's good for pilgrims to go to Medjugorje and pray and do penance. It's good.' That's first hand, I heard him say it myself."

In February 1990, Bishop Murilo Krieger, then Auxiliary Bishop of Florianopolis, Brazil, reported a conversation with John Paul II about the apparitions, wherein the pope enthusiastically told him: "Medjugorje is a great center of spirituality!" Not only that but the Holy Father also happily assented to Bishop Krieger's request, giving his papal blessings to the visionaries. Bishop Krieger explained:
"In 1988, I was with eight other bishops and thirty three priests on spiritual retreat in the Vatican. The Holy Father knew that many of us were going to Medjugorje afterwards. After a private mass with the Pope, before leaving Rome, he said, without having been asked anything, ‘Pray for me in Medjugorje.' On another occasion, I told the Pope ‘I am going to Medjugorje for the fourth time.' He concentrated his thoughts and said, ‘Medjugorje, Medjugorje, it`s the spiritual heart of the world.' On the same day I spoke with other Brazilian bishops and the Pope at lunch time and I asked him: ‘Your holiness, can I tell the visionaries that you send your blessing?' He answered: ‘Yes yes,' and embraced me."

In addition to Pope John Paul II's overwhelming support, in recent years Medjugorje has acquired some very influential supporters in Roman Catholic circles. Critics of Medjugorje, from the bishop of Mostar to German theologian Manfred Hauke, are given a lot of media attention. But what is noteworthy is how many cardinals have voiced their affection for the shrine, including Cardinals Tonini Ersilio, Emmanuel Wamala, Jean Margeot, Frantisek Tomasek and, most recently, his eminence Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna who visited Medjugorje as a pilgrim for Christmas 2009. Even theologians have shown their appreciation. The French theologian Fr. Rene Laurentin and the Swiss theologian and cardinal Hans urs von Balthasar have been open Medjugorje supporters. Balthasar, in addition to being arguably the most eminent theologian of the twentieth century, is also known for co-founding-with his friend Joseph Ratzinger (the current Pope), and with others-the Catholic journal Communio. He frequently referred to the events happening at Medjugorje as "a theater of holiness."

Most recently, the popular American priest, Fr. Donald Calloway of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, published his autobiography, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy. Fr. Calloway is the vocation director for the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, the author of numerous books, and a leading proponent of the Divine Mercy devotions of St. Faustina Kowalska. It was a book about Medjugorje, The Queen of Peace Visits Medjugorje, which led to Calloway's famous conversion, going from an agnostic and destructive youth wrestling with addiction, promiscuous sex, and illegal crime to someone who found hope, peace, and meaning in Medjugorje, leading to the priesthood and to his current life of spiritual maturity and personal unity with Christ and Our Lady.

The messages and fruits of Medjugorje have reached an innumerable amount of people. From the faithful millions who have visited the village to the millions who have read about it, to some of the most influential members of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II, who many Catholics believe was a mystic himself, had a special relationship (in his immense spirituality and in his devotion to Our Lady) with Medjugorje. He asked others to protect Medjugorje and he believed that Medjugorje was the fulfillment of Fatima.

Monsignor Angelo Kim, President of the Korean Bishops' Conference, once wrote about his encounter with John Paul II in the Korean national weekly newspaper, Catholic News, in 1990. Prior to the conclusion of the last Bishops' Synode in Rome, the Korean bishops were invited to a lunch with John Paul II. Msgr. Kim addressed the Holy Father directly and said, "Father, thanks to you, Poland was able to liberate itself from Communism." To this, the Holy Father responded, "No, this is not my merit. This is the work of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as She had predicted in Fatima and in Medjugorje."

As mentioned, in the Vatican he was known as the "Protector of Medjugorje." In reality, this relationship was mutual. According to the testimony of the Medjugorje visionaries, on May 13, 1982, on the anniversary of the Fatima apparitions and on the occasion of an assassination attempt on John Paul II's life, Our Lady said, "His enemies tried to kill him, but I have protected him." (Article via ministryValues.com)