Breaking news in the last few minutes. Pope Benedict resigns from the 28th February this year! One of the reasons given is that he doesn't have the energy anymore. Didn't know where to post this...
Please God guide and direct all of us through these times. I was so full of scorn and doubt when he was elected, but all praise to God, Benedict XVI is a magnificent pope. God bless him and his decisions.
Just noticed another member asked virtually the same question on the 'Garabandal news' thread. So I suggest we use that thread to discuss any possible implications...
The full text of the Pope's announcement: Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. From the Vatican, 10 February 2013 BENEDICTUS PP XVI Pasted from <http://www.catholicworldreport.com/...ict-xvi-announces-his-retirment/#.URjm8dluaAY>
And so it begins.......... Peter the Roman, who will anchor the ship (the Church) to the two pillars (The Eucharist and Mary). This pope will lay down the law of the Church for the faithful. The Church will be split and the persecution will begin. Pray, Pray, Pray.
I am totally shocked by this! PJPII was the only pope of my lifetime, and it was weird for me when anyone else became pope. As I got to know Benedict, I have grown to love him and I've thought him to be a holy man, very prayerful, and knowing what is going on in terms of the signs of the times, and knowing that he is surrounded by wolves. He must of prayed a ton before making a decision like this. I'm very confused and my heart is going out to Pope Benedict now!
Garabandal popes prophecy had specific words of "three more popes before the end of the present era", which means after the death of John Paul II, we entered a specifically different era. Most likely the end time tribulation period and the fulfillment of the Garabandal prophecies, on the way to the fulfillment of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart prophesied in Fatima, the vanquishing of evil (though a period of great suffering), and the renewal of the creation, as we pray in the last line of the Nicene creed .
When beloved JPII died, I prayed so hard that Benedict would be the one, and was so elated and happyn when he was elected! He has been a wonderful servant of God all his life, and I am so devastated that he is leaving. Is this what all the prophecies meant about we were to pray that the Pope would NOT leave Rome?? I said my Rosary this morn for the Pope and the future Pope. Please, please Lord do not let the Anti-Christ enter Rome....
An extract from Locutions to the World site, locution dated Jan 1 2012 (I don't know how much credence to place in this but it is interesting nevertheless) Now I will come to the central point so there will be no mistake. The Cardinals will meet to elect a pope but an extraordinary intervention of God will occur that will alert the whole world to the special nature of this office. They will seek to discern this intervention, to grasp what is the will of God, but everything will not be clear at first. Some, however, will speak in divine wisdom and the search will begin to find the one whom God wants to raise up. He will not come forward at first, even though he knows that he is chosen by God. He will wait until the discussion is concluded and the Cardinals are settled. Then new manifestations will occur which will signal clearly the one whom the heavenly Father wants as his Pope. This will be a complete surprise to the world and to the Church but not to the one upon whom the mantle falls. This is my chosen son, the one whom I have picked. I want all of this to happen in a startling manner so the world and the Church know that this one was chosen by heaven, by God and not by men. He will be prepared because I will have prepared him. He will be the pope of Fatima and bring to fruition all of the gifts of Fatima, just in time to prepare the Church and the world for the Satanic onslaught.
This message is also from Locutions to the World. Note the date it was given! 258. A Marian Papacy Feb 18th, 2012 Mary Who is able to understand? Who correctly sees all the forces that are about to clash? Who can predict the outcome when so much is unknown? Man faces a very uncertain future and he does not have within his hands those powers needed to control what will happen. No Longer on the Sidelines I stand on the sidelines, willing and able to moderate the conflicts and to bring peace, but no one asks. No one seeks my help. So, I initiate these messages. I refuse to stand on the sidelines. I refuse to watch passively while Satan destroys the earth and kills my children. I will insert myself into the fray. I will choose my doors into the arena. I will not be kept away from the combat. Did I not stand at the foot of the cross? Was I not present when that great battle between light and darkness, between heaven and hell, took place? I was not the main combatant. Jesus, my Son, was the great warrior, but I stood at his side as he led the army of heaven into victory. A Pope Son So, I will stand at the side of another son, a human son, whom I will lift up to the papacy. No one will doubt who it is. I will not let him stay in the shadows (even though at present he is covered with the greatest of shadows and is hidden in my heart). I will bring him forth for all to see. He will acknowledge completely that I alone have lifted him up to the papacy. I will put my seal upon him. He will act only in my name. He will have a Marian papacy, rooted totally in my promises, especially in the words that I spoke at Fatima. With this pope, the Age of Mary will come to its total height and will forever be upon the lampstand until the end of time. Hidden But Promised When this is accomplished, all the light and power which I have placed in the hearts of many come to fulfillment. When I fulfill this promise, those who have pushed aside my devotions will see their foolishness. I say to all, “Pray for this pope son of mine. He is hidden deeply in my heart because I want nothing to harm him. Pray that all the startling events take place so that he is raised aloft. In him the nations will rejoice”. Comment: Mary makes many promises but this one is so clear. All will know when it is fulfilled.
More messages... Sep 15th, 2012 I do not have words to express what lies ahead. If I were to describe the turmoil and the destruction, the human mind could not conceive of it. It is beyond human telling or human understanding. No one is ready to handle the massacres of human life or the extent to which human life will be subjected to infernal sufferings. The fires will lap up wood and water, burning the one and drying up the other. Jerusalem will be in tatters and Israel will be shaken. Everywhere, there will be sirens of emergencies. The world will look on in horror. The steps were not taken when all could have been prevented. Is this scene inevitable? Or, can I send my son, the pope, to save Jerusalem before its total destruction, to save it even before a bomb is dropped, to shed his blood so that many others will not. This is the one whom I hold in my heart, my precious one, who has been with me from the beginning and whom I have never abandoned. He is the one whom I will raise up. He will stay closer to me than ever before, he and the others who are with him.
Jon, actually it was 4 Popes after John XXIII and one Conchita did not count as she related to her mother, because one was not to live long. So the 3 Popes until the end times were Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The one soon to be elected, the 112th Pope, is the last one of St. Malachy's prophecy. Benedict XVI, in 2007, made it so that it will take 2/3rds of the vote to elect a new Pope, not just a simple majority.
Jan. 8, 2013 Mary I speak about you, Jerusalem, because you are in my heart more than any other city. Currently, my son, the pope, resides in Rome, the successor of Peter and Paul who shed their blood in that city. The blood of martyrs always sanctifies the place of their sacrifice. That city becomes like the holy altar of holocausts. For centuries, the blood of Peter, Paul and all the Roman martyrs have called out to me and guaranteed the primacy of Rome in relationship to all the other churches. But the blood of Peter, Paul and the saints is not deep enough to counteract the problem of darkness that is coming upon the whole world. Its light is too dim and its anointing is too superficial. But there is another city, with a greater light and an eternal anointing, a Jerusalem sanctified by the blood of Jesus. I must raise up a pope who sees this clearly. He must view everything in faith. He cannot be satisfied with a renewal of Rome or the other Churches. He must plant the Catholic Church in the soil of Jerusalem. Only the eye of faith would even grasp that this is the plan of God to restore new life to his Church which will last until the end of time.
The (alleged) locutionary who made the prophecy regarding the next Pope (Locutions to the World) makes no mention of Garabandal but has mentioned Medjugorje: Today, I want to speak about a new stage, a quicker and more extensive way of spreading the graces of Medjugorje. Even with the widespread popularity, the little village is still unknown to many. Also, the extraordinary graces are held too tightly. They are not fully released in my Church. I will cut the strings and unloose the bonds. I have never wanted these strings and these bonds that have limited the flow of graces. I must do this, especially because the time of fulfillment is so much closer. In the beginning, the secrets were decades away. Now, that is no longer true. Their fulfillment is at hand and they cannot just happen. There must be a spiritual fervor so all the blessings of Medjugorje can be received. I say this so often. When heaven pours out its blessings, the Church must be ready to receive. Receiving requires preparing. Preparing requires fervor. Fervor requires a firm determination to set aside everything else. Study Medjugorje. Read my messages and prepare your hearts. The time of fulfillment is not far away.
