Outrage Expressed
at Catholic
Sanctuary
being Turned into Shrine
for Pagan Worship!
November 12, 2003,
Fort Erie, Ontario - The plan to turn the Fatima Shrine into a place where all
the religions of the world will gather to pay homage to their various gods has
aroused strong opposition. "According to Catholic Moral Theology", says Father
Paul Kramer of the Fatima Center, "this is a grave sin against the First
Commandment and an act of Apostasy."
The shrine in Fatima,
Portugal is revered by countless millions of Catholics as the site of a series
of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917. The shrine has been visited
by millions of Catholic pilgrims since She first appeared.
"This plan is an
absolute outrage," said Father Nicholas Gruner, who heads the world’s
largest Catholic organization devoted to Our Lady of Fatima. "Of all sites
sacred to Catholics around the world, Fatima is surely a most outrageous choice
for a scandalous project of this kind."
The plan to erect a
stadium-like interfaith basilica beside the existing shrine was announced in
conjunction with a congress in Fatima by Monsignor Luciano Guerra, rector of
the Fatima shrine. Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon José de Cruz Policarpo,
the most senior Catholic prelate in Portugal, presided at the congress, and
raised no objections to the project.
"To open this
Catholic Sanctuary to other religions is an insult to millions of Catholics all
over the world, as well as an affront to the Blessed Virgin," said Father
Gruner. "The message conveyed to the children who witnessed the Fatima
apparitions was specifically directed at the Catholic Church. It said nothing
about accommodating other religions in any way, let alone treating them as
equals."
The aims of the
Congress were explained by a Belgian Jesuit priest, Jacques Dupuis. "The
religion of the future," he said, "will be a general converging of religions in
a universal Christ that will satisfy all." Guerra described Catholic opponents
of his plan as "narrow minded, fanatical extremists."
"Fr. Dupuis is
promoting heresy, and apostasy," said Father Gruner. "We’re going to do
everything in our power to defend this holy site from being perverted in this
way. We will deluge Rome with petitions urging the Vatican to call a halt to
this travesty, and we expect many other Catholic organizations to join us in
protest."
Father Gruner’s
Fatima Center, based in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, publishes a quarterly
magazine, The Fatima Crusader, with over a million readers in
Canada and the United States, and also promotes the Fatima Message through
rallies, books, radio and television broadcasts and one of the most popular
religious World Wide Web sites. See www.fatima.org for more information.
FROM: The Fatima Center.
452
Kraft Road, Fort Erie, Ontario, L2A 4M7, Canada
CONTACT: Father Paul Kramer
or Coralie Graham
TELEPHONE: daytime: 905-871-7607; evening; 905-871-7679,
FAX: 905-871-5274
Email: fatimapr@softcom.ca OR WEBSITE:
www.fatima.org
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