Despite Fr. Guerra’s So-Called "Denials,"
the Scandal at the Fatima Shrine Continues, and Must be Addressed
In October 2003,
faithful Catholics around the world were horrified to read the news that during
an unprecedented "inter-religious congress" at the Fatima Shrine, hosted by Fr.
Luciano Guerra, the Shrine’s rector, Fr. Guerra declared to his audience
of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Orthodox, Anglicans and Catholics that
"The future of Fatima, or the adoration of God and His mother
at this holy Shrine, must pass through the creation of a shrine where
different religions can mingle. The interreligious dialogue in Portugal,
and in the Catholic Church, is still in an embryonic phase, but the Shrine of
Fatima is not indifferent to this fact and is already open to being a
universalistic place of vocation."
This remark, reported
in Notícias de Fátima and the English-language journal
The Portugal News, provoked a storm of international protest. In
response, Fr. Guerra issued a series of equivocal statements, which have been
characterized as "denials."
Some have claimed
that Fr. Guerra’s "denials" should end the matter. But not
one of these "denials" actually denies that Msgr. Guerra made the
above-quoted remark attributed to him. Nor is there a denial that he made any
of the remarks attributed to him and discussed below.
Quite the contrary,
on January 9, 2004, nearly three months after his remark, Fr. Guerra finally
admitted to a reporter from the English journal Catholic Herald
that he had indeed stated that "the new shrine at Fatima, Portugal would
be a place ‘where different religions can mingle’." While admitting
his statement, Fr. Guerra claimed it had been "taken out of context."
The "context,"
however, was a gathering of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Orthodox and Anglicans,
who were addressed by an Indian priest who has permitted Hindu worship in a
Catholic Marian shrine in India!
The "context" was Fr.
Guerra’s observation that while "the interreligious dialogue in Portugal,
and in the Catholic Church, is still in an embryonic phase," the Fatima Shrine,
according to him, is "already open to being a universalistic place of
vocation."
The "context" was Fr.
Guerra’s assurance that the Fatima Shrine would soon undergo a serious
change; that the worship of God at Fatima "must" — as he now
admits he said — "pass through the creation of a shrine where different
religions can mingle."
The "context" was Fr.
Guerra’s "official" response to Catholic protests. This "official"
response he posted on the Shrine’s website, and in it he declares: "And,
when it seems to us to be opportune, after what is already happening in
many other sacred places, this new basilica would be able to receive
brothers from other faiths, who may want, in a brotherly manner, to know
how we pray."
The "context,"
therefore, was that the Fatima of today will not be the Fatima of tomorrow, but
a new, "interreligious" Fatima that had not been seen before — until the
congress in October, which was clearly a preview of what Fr. Guerra has in
mind.
No, Father
Guerra’s remark was not "taken out of context." That is the excuse of
every politician who tries to obscure the plain meaning of his own words when
they are not well received by the public. It is evident — based on what
Fr. Guerra said, and on what he did not say — that he has every
intention of allowing at Fatima what he himself notes is "already happening" in
other sacred places of the Catholic religion. Fr. Guerra, the very rector of
the Fatima Shrine, intends to allow it to be desecrated by the rituals and
observances of false religions.
When Fr. Guerra spoke
of the new basilica being "able to receive brothers from other faiths,
who may want, in a brotherly manner, to know how we pray," he surely had in
view something more than members of other religions paying a visit to the new
basilica to observe how Catholics worship God at Fatima. If that were all Fr.
Guerra meant by the phrase "the creation of a shrine where different
religions can mingle," there would be no need to wait for a moment "when it
seems to us to be opportune" to allow such visits, for they already happen
every day at the existing basilica.
Nor, if that were all
Fr. Guerra had meant, would he have linked his plans to "what is already
happening in many other sacred places." For "what is already happening in many
other sacred places" is precisely what many Catholics fear will soon happen at
Fatima: the use of Catholic sacred ground for "inter-religious prayer meetings"
and other events at which the members of various sects and non-Christian
religions, even including witchdoctors and animists, "pray according to their
own traditions."
Here one need only
consider a single key fact: Fr. Guerra’s honored guest at the conference
in October was Fr. Arul Irudayam, Rector of the Catholic Marian Shrine Basilica
of Vailankanni (Our Lady of Good Health). The Shrine receives millions of
pilgrims a year, including many Hindus, and Fr. Irudayam rejoiced to inform the
audience that, as a further development of "interreligious dialogue,"
the Hindus now perform their religious rituals in the shrine of
Vailankanni. The audience, including Fr. Guerra, applauded this sacrilege.
Is it not reasonable to conclude that Fr. Guerra, rector of the Fatima Shrine
in Portugal, intends to follow the example of the rector of the Vailankanni
Shrine in India — whom he honored as a speaker at his "interreligous"
congress?
For all of these
reasons, The Fatima Crusader is compelled to continue to sound the alarm
about Fr. Guerra’s declared plan to "open" the Shrine at Fatima and its
sacred ground to the worship of false religions. On close examination, Fr.
Guerra’s denials are nothing but confirmations of that very plan.
The Communists have a
saying about the way to advance their revolutionary aims: Two steps forward,
one step back. Perhaps Fr. Guerra has taken one step back in response to the
massive protest against his remarks. But notice that he had already taken
two steps forward. The net result is that Fr. Guerra has advanced at
least one step toward what he envisions as the "interreligious" Fatima of the
future. Faithful Catholics cannot allow that to happen.
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