Our Lady of Kazan or Theotokos of Kazan The Protector of the Family The Virgin of Kazan is one of the most revered Russian religious icons, perhaps the most popular. She is the Patroness of Russian Families, the “Protector of the Family”, a very popular wedding gift inside Russia. Two major Kazan cathedrals, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, are consecrated to Our Lady of Kazan, as are numerous churches throughout the land. Her feast days are July 21 and November 4 (which is also the Day of National Unity). Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, former capital city of Russia. It was modelled after the Saint’s Peter Basilica in Rome, replacing an older temple dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos... Well that could be the Immaculate Conception of Mary in Catholic Understanding… The icon located St. Petersburg disappeared after the October Revolution of 1917, around the same time of the appearence of the Theotokos of Fatima. Some say it was smuggled out of the country to protect it from the Bolsheviks, while others suggest the Communists themselves hid it and later sold it abroad. A reputed original (one of several in existence) was acquired by the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima and enshrined in Fátima, Portugal, in the 1970s. The image proved to be a copy, dated by experts to ca. 1730. In 1993, the icon from Fátima was given to Pope St. John Paul II, who took it to the Vatican and had it installed in his study, where he venerated it for eleven years. In his own words, "it has found a home with me and has accompanied my daily service to the Church with its motherly gaze." St. John Paul II wished to visit Moscow or Kazan to personally return the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. When these efforts were blocked by the Moscow Patriarchate, the icon was presented to the Russian Church unconditionally in August 2004. On August 26, 2004, it was exhibited for veneration on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica and then delivered to Moscow. On the next feast day of the holy icon, July 21, 2005, Patriarch Alexius II and Mintimer Shaymiev, the President of Tatarstan, placed it in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kazan Kremlin. Ironically, the Icon of the Protector of the Family was delivered to the Russian Orthodox Church by the hands of the controversial and (later) prominent Cardinal Walter Kasper, the father of the "serene theology".
Fight Over Churches Reflects Ukraine’s Psychological Split From Russia View attachment 3953 Russia and Ukraine have centuries of shared history and Russian President Vladimir Putin describes Ukraine as Russia’s “brother nation.” But the conflict, which has cost more than 9,000 lives, has galvanized many Ukrainians to complete the messy divorce started after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Only one-fifth of Ukrainians now have positive feelings toward Russia, compared with four-fifths before the conflict started, according to polls. Surveys show a large majority would vote to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The war has also tested religious loyalties. The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims Ukraine as part of its canonical territory, is closely aligned with the Kremlin. The Moscow Patriarchate, as the Russian church is known in Ukraine, has angered many by not taking a clear enough stance against Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine. In contrast, the head of the Kiev Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret, has thrown his weight behind the war effort, sending military chaplains to the front, declaring that Mr. Putin was under the influence of Satan, and lobbying U.S. senators for support. Both style themselves as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. But large numbers of Ukrainians have switched allegiance to the Kiev Patriarchate, particularly in the west of the country, where antipathy toward Russia is stronger. More than 44% of Ukrainians belong to the Kiev Patriarchate, while nearly 21% are part of the Moscow Patriarchate, according to a survey published in the spring by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, a Kiev pollster. In late 2011, the same pollster found 31.1% identified with the Kiev Patriarchate and 25.9% with the Moscow Patriarchate. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is pressing for recognition of the Kiev Patriarchate as an independent national church as a matter of national security, advisers say, after Russia used cultural and historical links to whip up the conflict in Ukraine’s east. The Kiev Patriarchate, unlike its rival, isn’t officially recognized by the global Orthodox community, leading the Moscow Patriarchate to dismiss its followers as schismatics who have turned away from God.
Pope Francis: World War III has begun - Third Secret of Fatima gives warning Putin does not believe world is 'on brink of some apocalypse' View attachment 3954
Through the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Rite? View attachment 3970 John Haffert (1915-2001) View attachment 3971 John Haffert, President of the Blue Army, 1956, p. 204. I don’t know how reliable that information above can be, but talking about the consecration of Russia, the word “completed” sounds peculiar for a sentence pronounced at the year 1946. The Eastern Rite Catholics call themselves Orthodox. Indeed they are, but in union with Rome, sharing the same faith and the same obedience to the Pope. They are like a small sample of what a conversion of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary should look like. View attachment 3972 We know that the conversion of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will be completed only by means of a solemn act of consecration of that nation performed by the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world which shall be done a bit late. I believe that the Eastern Rite Catholics will have somehow a central function in that event. Maybe a future Pope could come out from the “Eastern lung” of the Roman Catholic Church, like in the “The Shoes of the Fisherman”? Well, that’s only pure speculation, but quite fair.
Is that the final Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart? Please, let’s not insult the Mother of God and also our intelligence… At the most, we can call it a small step on the way to that victory, but that’s all. "Thank you, heavenly shepherd for having guided with maternal affection the people towards the Freedom!" (John Paul II at Fatima, 12/05/1991 - wall plate on the left) Segment of the Berlin Wall in the Fatima's Shrine The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, just after the reading of the Third Secret by the Holy Father in accordance with the instructions from the Mother of God. The wall was opened in 1989, it was destroyed a few months later, and what did that mean? Basically, the replacement of the old Yalta's Order by a New World Order with its humanism and relativism growing in the world and within the Catholic Church. Our Lady came to Fatima to speak about damnation of souls for the sins of the flesh, the holiness of the marriage, the future dangers of our faith, and the apostasy in the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, regarding to these matters, at 1989 nothing relevant has happened, actually, the worst was yet to come and we are now right in the eye of that storm. The Triumph shall come though.
Your Question about the Immaculate Heart of Mary is very poignant! Below is my belief, I think that when our Lady stated in 1917 that the pope would eventually consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart and an era of peace would be granted to the world, she did not state that we would all be living in peaceful harmony/utopia! But that a peroid of peace would be afforded to us, on a world scale. I also believe that the devil would have become even more ferocious after the consecration of Russia to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart ; so the battle beween the Woman and the serpant would remain and continue simultaneously even during Her period of peace that she promised!. Of course we can all site the many wars that have taken place in the mean time (during this period of peace) such as the genocide of Rwanda and in Croatia; but these same civil wars and also many racial wars and other atrocities have occured and many injustices to many peoples and nations have occured prior to Our Lady's appearance in 1917 at Fatima. Therefore the demise is of the totality of mankind which is at stake in the apparitions of Fatima;! not just this person or that person, or this nation or that nation, but of all of human kind! and this is what Our lady is refering to when she states that a period of peace will be granted to the 'World'. According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, OP, with the agreement of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelopecontaining the third part of the “secret of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some hesitation”, His Holiness said: “We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide”.(1) In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy Office and not to reveal the third part of the “secret”. Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo Dell'Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text. John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part of the “secret” following the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18 July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia's original text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the “secret”. On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez returned the two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.(2) As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The following is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment: “Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, andalso those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope”.(3) In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy Father desired to make more explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been repeated in Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter's Square, while recalling the fiat uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world, who had been “convoked” beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in terms which recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981: “O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who have a mother's awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of individuals and peoples. In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated. ‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!' Despise not our petitions in our necessities”. The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific references, as though commenting on the Message of Fatima in its sorrowful fulfilment: “Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father: ‘For their sake', he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth' (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation. The power of this consecrationlasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the heart of man and in his history. How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the world—our modern world—in union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the Church. The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the whole Church. Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call! Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son! Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world. In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart. Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future! From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us. Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world', sin in all its manifestations. Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!”.(4) Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November 1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without basis. In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father's letter of 19 April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000 with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father's letter of 19 April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000 with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[/quote] I respect that position Josephite, everybody wanted to believe in that possibility some years ago, even Lucia, even the Pope. Questioning the validity of that consecration in our days it’s a nonsense, from my point of view, the right questions have be these.
An encoded message to Rome in the gift from the Russian Orthodox Church? A gift represents always some kind of message. Sometimes clear, sometimes subtle or whatever, it requires some sensitivity in the choice. When it comes to a public or official event, the selection criteria have to be very thoughtful. On the 20th of March 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chief of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, has given to Pope Francis, as a gift from Patriarch Kirill, a quite unkown icon with an image of the Mother of God, called "Look Down With Favor on My Lowliness” also referred by the press as Our Lady "Support of the Humble". "The first steps of Your Holiness after being elected were marked with humility," Metropolitan Hilarion said. "I have no humility and I'm asking you to pray that God gives it to me," Pope Francis said in response. However, five days later, the newly elected Pope Francis has decided to give it to the former Pope Benedict XVI. "The icon is called Our Lady of Humility and I will take the liberty to say just one thing: I thought of you, being so humble as a pope," the press office of the Moscow Patriarchate's External Church Relations Department quoted Pope Francis as saying when giving Benedict XVI the icon. "Thank you, what a gift!" Benedict XVI said. The newly elected Pope Francis and his predecessor have just met in the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. In March 2013, at the time of the events reported above, Pope Francis had already shown many signs promising a very different pontificate from the one of Benedict XVI and the keyword was “humility”.These signs pleased everybody in the world in general, not just Catholics, but really everybody, and the Russian Orthodox Church wasn’t an exception, even if he chose a name after one of the most important western Catholic Saints. Nonetheless, it was strange that the Orthodox Church, with all its magnificence and splendor of rites and vestments could be so touched by gestures like the color of the shoes of a Pope or the ornaments of the chair and details like that. From a traditional point of view of an Orthodox Church not in communion with Rome, the real humility should be the non-presumption of the Papal supremacy over the Christianity, lack of attempt to convert orthodox nations to a supposed most perfect faith. Were they possibly telling him what they were expecting or wanting from him? We will never know.
Will a Pope ever visit Russia? That trip, prophetic for many, if it ever happens, it will be considered something big and extraordinary, one of the most relevant historical events of the modern era. The last recent popes wanted to visit Russia but they were not allowed. The obstacle never was the Russian Government but actually the Russian Orthodox Church. There was a good diplomatic relationship between the Vatican State and the Russia State but nothing similar between the two Churches, despite the efforts. View attachment 4043 The Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church had had no relations whatsoever before the Vatican II of 1962-1965. The late Pope John Paul II was the first to express his desire to visit Russia. He was invited first by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, then by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but never by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. 1989 Gorbachev: "I hope that after this meeting our relations will gain new momentum and I assume that at some point in the future you could visit the USSR." […] John Paul II: "If this were allowed, I would be very glad to. […] I am deeply grateful to you for the invitation. I would be glad to have the opportunity to visit the Soviet Union, Russia, to meet with Catholics and not only them, to visit holy places that are for us, Christians, a source of inspiration. Thank you for the invitation. I can well appreciate its weight and importance." View attachment 4037 The Pope [John Paul II] had also been saying during the entire pontificate that one of his greatest dreams was to visit Russia, which never actually happened. He had made several attempts to solve the problems which arose during centuries between the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church, like giving back the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in August 2004. However, officials of the Church of Russia were not that enthusiastic […]. Popes Benedict and John Paul had standing invitations from the Russian government but could not go because they received no matching invitation from the Orthodox Church. Francis would need the same to go to Russia. I believe that there are finally created the conditions for a Pope to be welcomed in Russia, but that's just my opinion. And if that ever happens, by chance, I fear that will not be a good sign.
View attachment 4060 The 3 main reasons that impeded the Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to visit Russia were: 1) They wouldn’t refuse their “presumption” of being the only and supreme Vicar of Christ on Earth, by means of historic roots and faith. 2) They wouldn’t refuse the unwanted Catholic proselytism, which would be the same as an attempt to convert people to the Catholic faith in a canonical territory that is known as Orthodox. 3) The embarrassing problem of the Uniate Church in the Eastern Europe, especially in the Ukraine. The undesirable Eastern Rite Catholics in the Orthodox land.
The 3 main reasons why a trip of a Pope to Russia is now a possibility which could happen sooner than we expect: 1 Pope Francis openly assumes to be simply a bishop amongst the others, and he wants a new kind of papacy for a new churche. 2 He preaches the "culture of encounter", and he rejects way of conversion. 3 Nobody really knows deeply what he thinks about the Uniate Church but I believe he will find a solution for the problem if he wants so. "The Eastern Catholic Churches have a right to exist, but uniatism is a dated word, another solution needs to be found.” “I would like to meet the Patriarch of Moscow” Now, “we land” in Moscow. I told Patriarch Kirill, and he agreed, there is a willingness to meet. I told him: “I'll go wherever you want, you call me and I’ll come”; and he too wants this. But there is the problem of war in these times. The poor man has so many issues there that the meeting with the Pope has been put on the back burner. Both of us want to meet and move forward. Hilarion suggested that the commission, for which he presides over the Russian Orthodox part, hold a study meeting on the question of Primacy. We have to continue in the footsteps of John Paul II: “Help me to find a form of Primacy that we can agree on”. This is what I can tell you.
A papal visit to Russia If this ever happens, there could be at least two different lectures: a) The conversion of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary foretold at Fatima. A final evidence of that conversion, for those who believed that they went far enough, or the final stage of that conversion, for those who believe that they were almost fully converted and that trip could mean that they want be in full communion with Rome. They want to accept our the late Catholic Dogmas, the supremacy of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, our approved apparitions, the understanding of the Purgatory, they will change their opinion on some moral issues like marriage and will accept some Catholic faith updates like on filioque or the belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This is a good scenario because, after that, a “period of peace will be granted to the world”. b) The conversion of the Catholic Church into something else very different from what it was at the time when the secret of Fatima was opened by the Pope John XXIII. The conversion of the Catholic belief into something purely humanistic, relativistic, philanthropic adapted to the wishes of the masonic New World Order. Some kind of belief that refuses our dogmatic concept of the Pope being the Vicar of Christ, supreme and infallible, over the humanity. Some kind of belief that refuses that old fashioned extra Ecclesiam nulla salus idea and assumes that every belief can lead to salvation. Some kind of belief that refuses that we Catholics hold the new Ark of the Covenant, safely, uncorrupted, brought until our generation by tradition and revelation. Some kind of belief that decreases the importance of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. This is the worst possible scenario. A scenario which makes us fear the annihilation of nations possibility because it is understandable that a Pope couldn’t have had the time, the grace, the freedom, the opportunity or even the courage to attempt to convert Russia. However it’s dreadful to accept the possibility that a Pope could ever say that Russia doesn’t need be converted, when that was God’s request. Our Lady didn’t come down to teach us a new “culture of the encounter” between different faiths but asking for conversion.
There is a possible third lecture though, but that one won’t exclude those above, it just completes the second possibility: View attachment 4069 "After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Josephand the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Dolours. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel." (Last vision at Fátima, 13th of October 1917, after the Miracle of the Sun, p.183) I’ve been keeping an eye on the Cantabrian Mountains for about 20 years because those words below were true just after the opening of Secret of Fatima and they have got even more sense now that we are witnessing the fulfillment of that secret in front of our eyes. View attachment 4073 View attachment 4072 "Before, the cup was filling up. Now it is flowing over. Many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them. Less and less importance is being given to the Eucharist. You should turn the wrath of God away from yourselves by your efforts. If you ask His forgiveness with sincere hearts, He will pardon you. I, your mother, through the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel, ask you to amend your lives. You are now receiving the last warnings. I love you very much and do not want your condemnation." (From Conchita's letter to the Parish Priest of Garabandal, on 17th of May, 2011)
Tota pulchra es, Maria. What does Our Lady look like? Statue of the Immaculate Conception of the Sameiro Shrine, Braga The common statues of Our Lady of Fatima around the world are copies made from three original works of the Portuguese sculptor José Ferreira Thedim, following the instructions and descriptions from Lucia. The first was placed in the Fatima Shrine in 1920. A second one was made in 1929 and sent to the Pontifical Portuguese College in Rome. In 1947, after getting some more details from Lucia in Coimbra, he finished the famous pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Though I always heard people saying that, many years ago, Lucia has visited the Sameiro Shrine, in the North of Portugal. That’s the second most important Marian shrine in Portugal. And, apparently she said, while she was there, that none of the images of Our Lady that she has ever seen in her lifetime looked like the apparition, but the one where she can find more similarities is that Our Lady of the Sameiro. I couldn’t ever find any document attesting the accuracy of that information, it’s just something that belongs to our collective memory, often quoted by priests or even bishops. Sameiro, Braga The construction of the Sameiro Shrine started in 1863, nine years after the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. I suppose that in this devotion we can find out the right answer to the question above. Tota pulchra es, Maria. Et macula originalis non est in Te. Tu gloria Ierusalem. Tu laetitia Israel. Tu honorificentia populi nostri. Tu advocata peccatorum. O Maria, O Maria. Virgo prudentissima. Mater clementissima. Ora pro nobis. Intercede pro nobis. Ad Dominum Iesum Christum. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. Your clothing is white as snow, and your face is like the sun. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you give honour to our people. You are all beautiful, Mary.
If it gets any darker just pick up a candle and follow Her Path. I will let you know if there is any news related to the preservation of the "dogma of faith" inside this peripheral nation. Hopefully won't be necessary.
Ukrainian Catholic archbishop expresses ‘disappointment’ at Pope-Patriarch declaration http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/201..._of_pope_francis_and_patriarch_kirill/1208117 25. It is our hope that our meeting may also contribute to reconciliation wherever tensions exist between Greek Catholics and Orthodox. It is today clear that the past method of “uniatism” [1], understood as the union of one community to the other, separating it from its Church [2], is not the way to re–establish unity [3]. Nonetheless, the ecclesial communities which emerged in these historical circumstances have the right to exist and to undertake all that is necessary to meet the spiritual needs of their faithful, while seeking to live in peace with their neighbours. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are in need of reconciliation and of mutually acceptable forms of co–existence. 1. That’s called conversion to the Catholic Faith and to the divine authority of Rome. 2. That’s leaving the schismatic branch to join the only True Church of Christ. 3. Like forgeting conversion and go to the cultura del encuentro. “The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church exists not because someone allows us to, but because of a God’s will”
