{"id":51143,"date":"2024-08-30T21:13:19","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T01:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=51143"},"modified":"2024-08-30T22:03:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T02:03:42","slug":"apostasy-from-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/apostasy-from-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostasy… From the Top?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, <\/strong><\/span>
\nthat the great apostasy in the Church begins at the top.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Cardinal Luigi Ciappi, <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/em>cited in The<\/a> Still<\/em> Hidden Secret<\/a>,<\/em>
\nChristopher A. Ferrara, p. 43<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

IN<\/strong> a statement on the Vatican\u2019s website<\/a>, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone provided an interpretation of the so-called “Third Secret of Fatima” suggesting that the vision had already been fulfilled by the attempted assassination of John Paul II. To say the least, many Catholics were left perplexed and unconvinced. Many felt there was nothing in this vision that was too astonishing to be revealed, as Catholics had been told in decades prior. What exactly disturbed popes so much that they allegedly kept the secret hidden all those years? It\u2019s a fair question.<\/p>\n

American lawyer and journalist, Christopher A. Ferrara, investigated the many controversies surrounding the Third Secret. Among them, \"\"he recounts a conversation between Pope John Paul II and Sr. Lucia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

As Sister Lucia informed Cardinal Oddi, while the Cardinal was in Fatima for the annual May 13th celebration of the apparitions in 1985, the Pope told her that the Secret had not been divulged \u201cbecause it could be badly interpreted.\u201d Here the Pope provided a further hint that the Secret would be embarrassing to Church authorities because it concerns a crisis of faith and discipline for which they themselves are responsible.<\/strong> \u2014The Still Hidden Secret<\/a>,<\/em> Christopher A. Ferrara, p. 39<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In his book, Ferrara then cites the above quote from Cardinal Luigi Ciappi who was papal theologian to Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II. Allegedly echoing Ciappi was Pope Paul VI in a famous quote that has been widely cited:
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church.<\/b> \u2014Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13, 1977; said to be reported in the Italian paper Corriere della Sera<\/em> on Page 7, October 14, 1977 issue<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, I have been unable to recover the original source of this statement on the Vatican’s website, which would have been in either Italian or Latin. Moreover, archives of Corriere della Sera<\/em> do not record this passage. Was this controversial statement scrubbed from the archives? Was it misquoted? Fabricated?<\/p>\n

And then there is the alleged message given in 1846 to Melanie Calvat in La Salette, France:<\/p>\n

\n

Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, this does not necessarily mean a valid pope is occupying the seat or still present in Rome (see A Black Pope?<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Returning to the Third Secret of Fatima, which I discussed in Francis and the Great Shipwreck<\/a>, <\/em>several scholars maintain today that there is a portion of the Third Secret that has simply not been revealed. Is it because a message that apostasy could begin at the top<\/em> \u2014 ie. with a pope himself \u2014 could indeed cause embarrassment, confusion, scandal, and conflict within the Church?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Present State of Things<\/h5>\n

Regardless of the Third Secret or not, we are living through a papacy that has caused embarrassment, confusion, scandal, and conflict itself within and without the Church.<\/p>\n

I am not “anti-Francis.” I have compiled the orthodox statements of Pope Francis here<\/a> on most things Catholic. I maintain, based on solid arguments, that his election was valid<\/a> (though there may come new evidence that would suggest otherwise), as does every cardinal who voted in the conclave:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve had people present to me all kinds of arguments calling into question the election of Pope Francis. But I name him every time I offer the Holy Mass, I call him Pope Francis, it\u2019s not an empty speech on my part. I believe that he is the pope. And I try to say that consistently to people, because you\u2019re correct \u2014 according to my perception also, people are getting more and more extreme in their response to what\u2019s going on in the Church.<\/strong> \u2014Cardinal Raymond Burke, interview with The New York Times<\/a>, <\/em>November 9th, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, I do not share the rose-colored glasses of self-professed “popesplainers” who nearly divinize the Pope, attributing \"\"infallibility to everything he utters. From the “Pachamama” scandal<\/a> to the contorted language of Amoris Laetitia<\/em><\/a> and Fiducia supplicans <\/em><\/a>(both apparently ghost-written by the highly controversial Cardinal Victor Fernandez) to the endorsement of global agendas<\/a>,[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf.\u00a0What Have You Done?<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span>