Devotion to the Heart of Mary Will Save the World BY
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Catolicismo, No. 30, in June, 1953. It has been translated from Portuguese and adapted for publication without the author’s revision. ur Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, and gave them messages for the world. The seers affirmed these apparitions were to be made known to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XV, the Sacred Hierarchy, and to all of Christendom. Thus, either the proofs are clear, certain, and conclusive, rendering the apparitions worthy of credit—or the proofs are doubtful, confusing, debatable, and the messages false. If Our Lady wanted to make her message known to the world, she would not fail to arrange the events so as to supply mankind with reasonable motives to believe the message’s authenticity—and she did. Therefore, if the proofs are certain and the messages are authentic, we cannot fail to attach the greatest importance to what they contain. If Our Lady really spoke to us through the seers, we must attach the highest regard to her words, meditate on them, and through diligent analysis, draw the utmost from their meaning. On the other hand, if the proofs are uncertain, we had better not waste a second on the subject. Just as one cannot somewhat believe the messages, so also one cannot merely attribute some importance to their contents.
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Fat i m a
The Gravity of the World Situation According to the Fatima Message Our Lady spoke to the world. She described the situation as extremely grave, pointed out mankind’s frightening moral decadence as the cause of this situation, and threatened us with terrible earthly punishments—a new war, the spread of the errors of communism, persecutions of the Church, and what is a thousand
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