The last of three little shepherds of Fatima died today

[Ted Striker]

They probably even predicted the rise of sarcastic cynicism!!!

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
They probably even predicted the rise of sarcastic cynicism!!!

The Great Satan enters the many tongues of Men and twists their pondering.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by JohnT
Wow! They predicted another European war? Whoda thunk it, given their peaceful history!

Not predicted, but informed about, not they, but Mary.

And not a war, but another world war, and there's just been one and it was not even finished.

They predicted the expansion of Communism? An either/or question, and they got it right? Amazing!

At this time, the revolution in Russia was just starting, and it was not obvious that it will win, not to mention that it will spread its ideology through the world.

They predicted another pope named Pius? An astounding guess, given the 10 Pius's that preceeded Pius XI.

As well as many other names, which You seem to forget.
there were over twice as many Johns, for example.

And... get this... they even had the must-be-from-God foresight to state that the war that was currently being waged (WW1) - would end. Gasp!

it's not " the prophesies are true, so it's a miracle".
It was a miracle, and prophesies were by-product of it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Man, when she gets to the banks of the Styx and Charon explains what's actually been going on al thsi time, she's gonna be one seriously confused old nun.

[JohnT]

Of course, I forgot the most important thing about the "prophesies" of Fatima...

Which is ... the kids didn't even reveal what the prophesies were until 1940. Here's a general rule about prophesy: Predicting things things that have already happened dramatically heightens the odds of success!

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa070300a.htm

The "miracle at Fatima" is arguably the most well-known apparition of the Blessed Mother. Her appearance to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917 was, according to many witnesses, accompanied by several unexplained events, including a shared vision of the sun dancing and moving about erratically in the sky.

During her many appearances to the children, "Our Lady" bestowed upon them three prophecies. The first two were disclosed by Lucia dos Santos, the eldest of the three children, after she wrote them down in the early 1940s, but the third and final prophecy was not to be revealed until 1960. Well, 1960 came and went, and the third prophecy was not revealed because the Vatican said the world was not quite ready for it. This reluctance to disclose the secret lead to speculation among the faithful that it contained information about our future that was so horrific that the Pope dared not reveal it. Perhaps it foretold a nuclear war... or the end of the world.

The First Prophecy

In the first prophecy, the children were shown a terrifying vision of Hell and were told that's "where the souls of poor sinners go." Then they were told that the world war then taking place - what we now call World War I - would soon end. "The war is going to end," Lucia quoted the Blessed Mother as saying, "but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given to you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father."

Did this prophecy come true? World War I did indeed end and was followed by a worse war, World War II. But remember that Lucia revealed this prophecy in writing during 1940 - after the Second World War had already begun. Also, it's interesting that Pius XI is actually named in the prophecy. When the apparition of Our Lady allegedly made the prophecy in 1917, Benedict XV was Pope. Pius XI became Pope in 1922. So either Our Lady also predicted the name of the future Pope, who reigned until 1939, or Lucia did some prophecy fulfilling of her own.

What about the sign of "a night illuminated by an unknown light" before the outbreak of war? According to Fatima Prophecies, "on January 25, 1938, a remarkable display of aurora borealis was visible across Europe, the year before World War II began." The Secrets of Fatima elaborates: "This aurora appeared as far south as Galicia, Spain, where Sister Lucy was then cloistered, and she, the only survivor of the three Fatima shepherds, recognized it immediately as the sign. Visible even to Pius XI in Rome, the unprecedented aurora was accompanied by a ‘crackling' sound, possibly attributable to discharges of atmospheric energy. Indeed, in many areas of Europe, panic broke out, as the populace concluded that the world was on fire and that the End had come." This display of northern lights might have illuminated the night in some spectacular fashion, but even in 1917 the aurora borealis was hardly an "unknown light." Also, again, Lucia revealed this prophecy after the fact.

[JohnT]

Btw, God appeared to me in a dream in 1997 and told me the stock market is gonna take a dive in 2000. Sell now!

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by SnowFire
Oh well, might as well mention it, since there hasn't been an anime apolyton thread in awhile. The anime series "Chrono Crusade" concerns an order of nuns who hunt down demons & their worshippers in the 1920's, and one of the characters is a ficitonalized version of the surviving shepard of Fatima. Not bad, although the plot episodes are considerably better than the non-plot ones.

But yeah, that assassination attempt does come up, sorta in the series, so that does work.

An excellent series might I add. The Church uses special guns that fire magical bullets in full glowing anime glory to kill the demons.

http://animenfo.com/animetitle,1261,..._crusade.html- overview
http://chrno.com/ -official Japanese site
http://www.chrno-crusade.com/ -English language fan site

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by JohnT
Btw, God appeared to me in a dream in 1997 and told me the stock market is gonna take a dive in 2000. Sell now!

I'd hope people would be better after the death of someone and not mock them or their life, But I guess on this forum we can't have any respect for the dead if the deceased is a Catholic Nun.

For the record, I am personally scpeitcal about Fatima, but I wouldn't go mocking it on the death of one of Fatima's caretakers. Recquiset in Pacem.

[mindseye]

What about the sign of "a night illuminated by an unknown light" before the outbreak of war? According to Fatima Prophecies, "on January 25, 1938, a remarkable display of aurora borealis was visible across Europe, the year before World War II began."

This "display" (and not all that remarkable a one at that) appeared nearly two years before the war started. That qualifies as a sign that the war was "about to" begin?

Standard practice for psychics and the like.

Any unusual atmospheric phenomena anywhere over Europe in the years leading up to the war could equally be cited as "proof" of the accuracy of the prophesy.

And of course ... monumentally unimpressive after the fact!

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

But I guess on this forum we can't have any respect for the dead if the deceased is a Catholic Nun.

You're right, nuns deserve every bit a much respect as any other deluded cult follower.

I have known some nice nuns and respected them for being good people. But I certainly didn't respect them solely for devoting their life to propogating an absurd cult.

[Shi Huangdi]

Do you have any proof that they did not recieve said apparition of the Virgin Mary, and that they did make it up? If not, it's your right to not believe them, but you have no basis for calling them frauds, and is particularly tactless for you to make a such a comment after a death.

Charity seems completely lost on you.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Do you have any proof that they did not recieve said apparition of the Virgin Mary, and that they did make it up?

"My friend, you have seen this incident, based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that it didn't happen?"
-- Criswell, the narrator, at the end of Plan 9 From Outer Space

[Imran Siddiqui]

Do you have any proof that they did not recieve said apparition of the Virgin Mary, and that they did make it up?

Um... isn't the burden of proof on those who are making the assertion? What proof is there that they did see it?

Are you going to make people prove that Bigfoot does not exist next?

[Shi Huangdi]

"Um... isn't the burden of proof on those who are making the assertion? What proof is there that they did see it?"

I am not suggesting that you believe it because it isn't proved, rather that you not accuse them of being frauds without sufficent proof of their fraudulency.

[Provost Harrison]

It's such utter bullsh*t isn't it? Also make the prophecies suitably vague and you could justify it as anything...