Former Pope and Fatima
They say that Mother Mary appeared to young children in Portugal in 1917 to given them some messages which are called the Fatima Prophecies.
According to some experts, the third one of the messages is related to the end of the world or the end of the Vatican.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/marianapparitions/a/fatima-prophecies_2.htm
*** *** *** ***
Luk 3:9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Luk 3:10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
Luk 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Luk 3:12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
Luk 3:13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
The Fatima Prophecies
By Stephen Wagner, About.com Guide
......
Since the revelation, the Vatican has been quick to downplay the significance of the prophecy. For one thing, Catholics are under no obligation to believe in the events at Fatima - they can take them or leave them since they are not part of church doctrine. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was a prefect for the Doctrine of Faith and is now Pope Benedict XVI, said about the prophecy: "Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. There is no immutable destiny. In the end, prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies." He seemed to be implying that the prayers of the faithful had deflected the terrible scene warned of in the prophecy.
Many Fatima devotees are not satisfied with what the Vatican has chosen to reveal, suspecting that they have either altered the message or not disclosed it in its entirety. Why, after all, were five successive Popes so reluctant to make the prophecy public? Ratzinger explained that the secret was kept because of the fuzziness of the message, which he said could by deciphered "only in the light of history." And when he was asked if the Fatima secrets pertained only to the past, he replied, "I think so."
Some Fatima devotees are not buying that explanation, however. "We still have a bigger punishment in store for us if we don't turn away from sin," said Christopher Ferrara, a spokesman for the Fatima Network in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Others at the center called the Vatican's interpretation "a whitewash."
By contrast, Ratzinger put a positive spin on the prophecy. "It encourages us by showing that even in a world which was half destroyed," he said, "there is a greater force and death does not have the last word. At the end of a century and a millennium, we were able to propose this text to humanity and to the Church in a positive spirit. It indicates that we should use the power of love against the power of violence."
Kathleen A. Keating wrote of the recent revelation: "The Third Secret of Fatima is still a secret. In the press release issued by the Vatican today, the public was made privy to, at best, a watered down version of one sentence of the true secret. This ridiculous revelation bears no resemblance to the remarks made by Pope John Paul II in Fatima, May 13, 2000, when he said that we are in fact in the midst of Revelation-Chapter 12, verse 3: And another sign in heaven; and behold a great Red Dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns; and on his heads seven diadems… I have a source, deep inside the Vatican, who let me know some time ago that what would be revealed today would only distantly resemble the actual Third Secret, that it would be pared down, containing very little fact."
Were the messages at Fatima prophecies of our future, warnings about possible outcomes or just imaginings inspired by the faith of three small children? Like most such things, it comes down to what you choose to believe.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/marianapparitions/a/fatima-prophecies_2.htm
*** *** *** ***
Luk 3:9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Luk 3:10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
Luk 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Luk 3:12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
Luk 3:13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.