Pictures of
a Desecration
Photo Report
of Hindu Ritual at Fatima
(article appears below
photos)
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May 5:
Portugal's SIC television announces its
coverage of an "uncommon
ecumenical experience".
There will be a Hindu ritual at the Fatima
Shrine.
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Morning
prayers in the Radha Krishna temple in
Lisbon
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"All the invocations of the
pagans are hateful
to God because all their gods are devils"
-
Saint Francis Xavier
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A
young Hindu woman explains the importance
of their various
gods
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About 60
Hindus travel by bus to Fatima
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Arrival
at the Fatima Shrine
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The
Hindus bring a gift of flowers. For them, Our Lady
of Fatima is a
manifestation of one of their gods.
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SIC
broacasting says, "This is a unique event in the
history of the
Sanctuary and of devotion itself...
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...the
Hindu priest, the Shastri recites at the (Catholic)
altar the Shanti
Pa, the prayer for peace."
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The
Hindu ritual — a ceremony to false gods — desecrates
the Fatima Shrine,
making it necessary for the chapel
to be
re-consecrated.
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The
"Hindu family of Porgutal" worshipping at the
shrine after the Hindu
ceremony.
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Shrine
Rector Guerra speaks approvingly about
the Hindu worship at
Fatima
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Crossing
the esplanade to meet the Bishop
and the Shrine
Rector
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Received
by the Bishop of Fatima. SIC explains, "the
Hindu pilgrims are received
as if they were an embassy,
an unheard of
gesture...
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...which
can be understood as an invitation for other visits"
This means that
the pagan desecration of Fatima
is likely to happen
again.
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The
Bishop of Fatima says,
"We do not want to be
fundamentalists"
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Shrine
Rector Guerra receives from the Hindus
a shawl covered with verses of
the Baghwad Gita,
a "sacred book" of Hinduism whose basic
message
is, all of life is an
illusion.
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The
Bishop of Fatima also receives a shawl
laden with verses of pagan
mythology.
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Acknoweldgement to SIC
Television for video footage from which these photos were
extracted.
Catholic Family
News has obtained a video copy of
the SIC television broadcast of the Hindu ritual performed at Fatima. As
reported last month, the sacrilege took place on May 5 with the blessing of
Fatima Shrine Rector Guerra, and the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, D. Serafim de
Sousa Ferreira e Silva.
SIC, a national television
station in Portugal, reported on the Hindu ritual at Fatima the same day it took
place. The announcer called it an "uncommon ecumenical experience.”
The broadcast shows
morning prayer at the Radha Krishna temple in Lisbon. “Light
and water, energy and nature, mark the rhythm of the Arati,
the morning prayer,” the announcer says. “Hinduism is the oldest of the great
religions. It is characterized by multiple deities, worshiped through a triple
dimension of life and sacredness: the creator god, the preserver god, and the
god who has the power to destroy.”
Thus the Hindus spent the
morning worshiping their false gods, which are nothing more than demons. Saint
Francis Xavier, the apostle to India, said of Hinduism: “All the invocations of
the pagans are hateful to God because all their gods are devils.”[1]
A young Hindu woman appears
on screen with statues of gods in the background. She explains, “This is god
Shiva and his wife Parvati. In the center we can see god Rama, to our right his
wife Sita and to our left, his brother and companion Lakshmama. Now we can see
Krishna Bhagwan and his consort Radha. The deities are always accompanied by
their respective consorts or wives. As a rule, when we address the deities or
want to ask for their graces, we address the feminine deity, who is very
important to us.”
About 60 Hindus, said the
broadcast, “leave Lisbon with the chandam, the sign on their foreheads which
shows the wish for good fortune in a noble task. And this is the day dedicated
to the greatest of all female deities. She is called the Most Holy Mother, the
goddess Devi, the deity of Nature who many Portuguese Hindus also find in
Fatima.”
Another young Hindu lady
explains, “As a Hindu, who believes the whole world, or rather all human beings,
are members of a global family, it would be natural for me to see any
manifestation of God, including Our Lady of Fatima, as a manifestation of the
same God.”
Here, this young lady speaks
as a true Hindu, since Hinduism regards the various false gods they worship as
manifestations of “God”. Thus, they are not honoring Our Lady as the Mother of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, but worshiping Her as a manifestation of their pagan
god.
The newscast then shows the
Hindus bringing flowers to the statue of Our Lady inside the Capelinha, the
little chapel built over the spot where Our Lady of Fatima appeared. The Hindu
priest stands at the Catholic altar and recites a Hindu prayer. Meanwhile, the
SIC announcer says, “This is a unique moment in the history of the Sanctuary and
of devotion itself. The Hindu priest, the Shastri, recites at the altar the
Shanti Pa, the prayer for peace.”
Pope Pius XI, in a liturgical
prayer consecrating the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, prayed for the
conversion of all who are not members of the Mystical Body. He invoked Our Lord,
“be Thou King of all those who are involved with the darkness of idolatry”. [2]
This idolatry is now practiced at the Fatima Shrine, desecrating the sacred
site, making it necessary for the chapel to be re-consecrated.
In another clip, the Hindu
priest explains that he finds a “divine energy” at Fatima. “It is an energy that
permeates the whole place,” he says. “ It has the power to be present here,
around us. Whenever I come here, I feel this vibration ...”
SIC then explains that the
display of this group of Hindus at Fatima “is not well-accepted by all
Catholics”. The camera then shifts to Fatima Shrine Rector Guerra who defends
Hindu worship at the Catholic Shrine.
“It is obvious” says Rector
Guerra, “that these civilizations and religions are quite different. But I think
that there is a common background to all religions. There is a common background
that, how can I put it, is born from the common humanity we all possess. And it
is very important that we recognize this common background, because, due to the
clashes of the differences, we sometimes forget our equality. These meetings
give us that occasion.”
The Hindus are then welcomed
by the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima in a room containing a large model of the
modernistic Fatima Shrine now under construction. “This time,” says the
broadcast, “the Hindu pilgrims are received as if they were an embassy; an
unheard of gesture which can be understood as an invitation for other visits.”
This means that the pagan desecration of the Fatima Shrine is likely to happen
again and again.
The Bishop of Leiria- Fatima
then says, “We don’t want to be fundamentalist, we don’t want that, but we want
to be honest, sincere and want to communicate by osmosis the fruitfulness of our
rituals, so that we may produce fruits. I am pleased to meet them.”
At this point, the Hindu
priest places on the shoulders of the Bishop of Leiria- Fatima and Shrine Rector
Guerra a shawl covered with vserse of the Bhagwad Gita, one of Hinduism’s sacred
books.
The report ends with a
close-up of a guest book that includes the signatures of Pope John Paul II,
Mother Teresa, and a Hindu high priest. It goes on to say that Hindus intend to
keep Fatima “on the road map of places where they claim they can find vibrations
of holiness...”
Catholic Family News has reported on the interfaith orientation at Fatima
since it was launched at the interreligious Congress held at Fatima in October
2003.[4] We warned repeatedly that this type of desecration was inevitable if
Catholics did not resist the new ecumenical program.
Predictably, the enablers of
the “New Fatima” such as Father Robert J. Fox ridiculed our efforts and tried to
dissuade Catholics from taking us seriously. Father Fox, on an April 25 EWTN
broadcast, claimed that the reports about the interfaith activity at Fatima were
nothing but "fabrications,” that he knows Shrine Rector Guerra personally, and
that Rector Guerra would never allow such interfaith activities to take place.
Less than two weeks after this EWTN broadcast, the Fatima Shrine was desecrated
by pagan worship, with the blessing of Rector Guerra and the Bishop of Leiria-
Fatima.
Pope Leo XIII, along with his predecessors
taught “we are bound absolutely to worship God in the way which He has shown to
be His will".[3] Hinduism worships false gods who are demons. It is sacrilegious
for Rector Guerra and the Bishop of Fatima to permit these rituals in a Catholic
sanctuary.
Pope Pius XI called it “ignominious” to
place the true religion of Jesus Christ “on the same level with false
religions”.[5] Pope Leo XIII likewise taught “it is contrary to reason that
error and truth should have equal rights.”[6] Thus the “equality” that
Msgr. Guerra speaks of, and his notion of various religions coming from a “com
mon background,” defies Catholic truth.
Rector Guerra and the Bishop
of Leiria-Fatima are also guilty of grave scandal. Their actions tell these poor
Hindus, who are in bondage to a heathen religion, that they are pleasing to God
as they are. This is contrary to the manifest will of Christ, Who said, “No one
comes to the Father but through Me.” “He who believes and is baptized will be
saved, He who does not believe will be condemned.” Hindus reject Jesus Christ.
They have no interest in baptism or in the truths revealed by God. Rector Guerra
and the Bishop of Lierra of Fatima counsel and encourage this apostasy. By their
bad example, they scandalize not only the Hindus, but others who observe their
actions.
“Scandal” says Saint Thomas
Aquinas, “is a word or act which gives occasion to the spiritual ruin of one’s
neighbor.” Saint Leo calls the authors of scandal murderers who kill not the
body but the soul. Saint Bernard says that, in speaking of sinners in general,
the Scriptures hold out hope of amendment and pardon, but the Scriptures speak
of those who give scandal, as persons separated from God, of whose salvation
there is very little hope.[7]
Perhaps this is why we see a
spiritual blindness in these men. They persist in their apostasy despite the
outrage from concerned Catholics. Nonetheless, we must pray for them.
And what of the Hindus
themselves? The Shastri comes to Fatima because he feels there a “divine
energy,” “vibrations of holiness”. Members of all religions worship the same god
and are part of the “global family”.
This is the language of
paganism, not of our received Catholic tradition. "Holy vibrations” is what
Hindus call Shakti, and they go to various places to seek it. They will
rush to be in the presence of the Dalai Lama or Pope John Paul II or Ghandi
because this gives them Darshan, the good fortune
that comes from being in the sight of a holy man. Each and every one of their
terms is rooted in heathen superstition, not in the truths revealed by
Christ.
In short, the Hindus did not
go to the Fatima Shrine to be Catholicized. Rather, they Hinduized the Fatima
Shrine, folding their pagan myths and superstitions into one of Catholicism’s
most sacred sites.
This is not honoring the
Mother of God, but a blasphemy against Her, since there is nothing honorable in
placing Our Lady on the same level as one more goddess in their pantheon of
demonic deities. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?”, says Saint Paul, “or
what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15)
At the end of the visit, the
Hindus presented Msgr. Guerra and the Bishop of Fatima with a shawl covered with
verses of the Bhagwad Gita. This book contains a story which illustrates a
central tenet of Hinduism.
Arjuna, a warrior, is on the
eve of a great battle. He dreads the next day, because he knows he will have to
kill his friends, relatives, teachers. Arjuna's charioteer, who turns out to be
the god Krishna in disguise, tells Arjuna not to fear the coming battle because
none of it is real. No one is going to die. All of it, and all of life, is
illusion.
Arjuna then thrusts himself
into the bloody conflict believing it to be his Dharma,
his given path, to hack his friends and relatives to pieces. It is all illusion
anyway. No one really dies. This is Hinduism in a nutshell. You are god,
everything else is illusion.[8]
Catholics who behold the Fatima Shrine
Rector and the Bishop of Fatima draped in shawls laden with verses from a pagan
mythology, certainly would wish that the Hindu desecration of Fatima was an
illusion, that none of it was real.
But no, it really happened.
And Catholics must register their outrage to Rome and to Fatima, as they offer
prayers of reparation for Catholic leaders who hand over the chapel of Our Lady
of Fatima to a religion whose god is the devil.
Notes:
4. See J. Vennari: “Fatima to Become an Interfaith
Shrine? An Account from One Who Was There", (CFN, December, 2003), "More News on the Fatima Interfaith
Program", (CFN, Jan., 2004), "Shrine Rector Confirms New Interfaith
Orientation at Fatima", (CFN, Feb., 2004), Hindu Ritual Performed at Fatima
Shrine, (CFN, May, 2004).
