May 2023
Secure Your Rampart!
The curse of manifestly false or controverted 'apparitions' is a perennial problem. Stoked by unprecedented tumult in Church and State, today's febrile climate only exacerbates the phenomenon and its wicked fruits: disobedience, deception, distraction, and discord. A case in point is the sudden resurgence of interest in the Spanish 'visions' and 'prophecies' associated with Garabandal.
From 1961 until 1965 four teenage girls claimed to see visions of the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and angels. They received messages of a coming Chastisement, a Warning, and a future miracle.
Forever waving away the failure of these and other predictions to materialise, Garabandal adherents put it about that Pope Paul VI had blessed the happenings; a spurious claim the Vatican dismissed as unequivocally as Cardinal Ratzinger denied his or John Paul II's alleged approval of Medjugorje.
Also raised is Padre Pio's alleged ‘approval'. Saint Pio, however, was not the local Ordinary and he was not infallible. Moreover, other canonised saints have held differing views on private revelations.
For example, for many years the Curé d'Ars refused to bless La Salette objects, stating that the testimony of the little seer Maximin was not to be trusted and the apparition could not be genuine. He only changed his position when the Bishop of Grenoble approved La Salette.
In the same vein, both Mother Teresa and the late renowned exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth touted Medjugorje; one of the greatest frauds in the history of the Church (CO passim).
These kinds of examples urge great caution and prudence. Clearly, in establishing the veracity or falsity of particular apparitions and visions even the discernment of great saints and holy men and women is not beyond the devil's ability to undermine and warp; by distorted or incomplete information provided to them, for example.
This is why, despite his personal flaws and limitations, the local Ordinary has the final word on alleged supernatural events occurring on his patch (—just as he has sole God-given power to authorise exorcisms). Obviously, without this hierarchical command structure all anarchic hell would break loose.
Conscious of this episcopal necessity, more objective advocates eschew the Padre Pio line to offer a familiar argument: that Garabandal has not been officially censured but, rather, belongs to a category of apparitions that are neither condemned nor approved.
It is telling, however, that very little attention if any at all is paid to the ecclesiastical declarations — not least because they quickly 'disappear' when posted on blogs or podcasts favourable to Garabandal. Our Lady's month seems like a good and holy time to pull them out of that cyber-black hole and into the light.
At the same time, let us once again underline the following document issued in November 1996 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
Regarding the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, the Congregation states:
1. The interpretation given by some individuals to a decision approved by Paul VI on 14 October 1966 and promulgated on 15 November of that year, in virtue of which writings and messages resulting from alleged revelations could be freely circulated in the Church is absolutely groundless. This decision actually referred to the “Abolition of the Index of Forbidden Books” and determined that after the relevant censures were lifted, the moral obligation still remained of not circulating or reading those writings which endanger faith and morals.
2. It should be recalled however, that with regard to the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, Canon 823#1 of the current code remains in force: “the Pastors of the Church have the … right to demand that writings to be published by the Christian faithful which touch upon faith or morals be submitted to their judgement”.
3. Alleged supernatural revelations and writings concerning them are submitted in first instance to the judgement of the diocesan Bishop, and in particular cases, to the judgement of the Episcopal Conference and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Shortly beforehand, in a speech carried in the 18 September 1996 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, John Paul II had lamented that:
Some members of the People of God are not rooted firmly enough in the Faith, so that the sects, with their deceptive proselytism, mislead them to separate themselves from true communion in Christ. Within the Church community, the multiplication of supposed “apparitions” or “visions” is sowing confusion and reveals a certain lack of solid basis to the faith and Christian life among her members.
Indeed, since Satan can appear as an "angel of light" (2Cor. 11:14) only by fortifying our souls with a "solid faith" well lived — our rampart of the Holy Spirit — can we see through and withstand his deceptions; the full array of which illusions and trickery he employed at Garabandal. As the late well-known researcher Rick Salbato concluded from his typically thorough investigation of the events: "what is unique about this phenomenon is that almost all the games Satan plays were used with these girls. This was not a fraud. There is too much evidence of the other world here."
Some of his findings are provided herein; not only to enlighten readers about this particular phenomenon, but also with a view to secular scenarios already roaring into view.
Despite losing the first round of their Reset of humanity as public awareness and opposition burgeon, the globalists are pressing ahead with their totalising project. In consequence, their mounting megalomania and oppressive control mechanisms (vaccine mandates, digital currencies, 15-minute neighbourhoods, etc.) may well lead those of weak faith to desperation and despair: giving rise to ever more 'visions' and 'prophesies', and greater susceptibility to such devilish security blankets among populations abandoned by their political and ecclesiastical leaders.
In that eventuality, the additional information provided by Mr Salbato will assist more generally in discerning the fraudulent nature or heavenly vs. hellish origins of alleged signs and wonders.
Besieged on one flank by a secular culture of deceit, and on the other by a devious pontiff mouthing "evil" ambiguities (Matt. 5:37), we do well to heed the wise counsel on our inside cover; where Bishop Diadochus exhorts us to secure our rampart against the Evil One! To make ourselves "a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit," Whose "glorious light" of "spiritual knowledge" burning within our souls is our best defence against crafty demons far smarter than us — whose preternatural wiles would "deceive (if possible) even the elect." [Matt. 24:24].
Mary Immaculate, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.