The Blue Army Leadership Has Followed A Deliberate Policy Of Falsifying The Fatima Message

by Father Paul Leonard

Clearly, that consecration did not fulfill Our Lady of Fatima's request, because Our Lady requested a consecration which specifies Russia as its object.

On May 13, 1982, Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in its July/August 1982 issue, Soul published the fraudulent interview with Sister Lucia which The Fatima Crusader exposed as a crude hoax in its issue No. 20. In that purported interview, Sister Lucia was allegedly asked: "Was this consecration as made by the Holy Father in union with the bishops of the world, what Our Lord and Our Lady require according to the apparition of June 13, 1929?" Alleged answer: "Yes ... It will have its effect, but it will depend on the greater or lesser fidelity of men to this consecration ..."

This text is a fraudulent hoax. We know this because on March 19, 1983, Sister Lucia declared in her official statement to the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Portalupi: "The consecration of Russia has not been made as Our Lady has demanded."

Sister Lucia issued her official declaration concerning the consecration of May 13, 1982, made it unmistakably clear that the Soul interview was an obvious fake, yet Soul did not retract it. On the contrary, in the May/June 1983 issue of Soul we read: "Sister Lucia said that the consecration was made and that it would have its effect ... It will have its effect, but the degree of the effect will depend on the response of the world to the consecration ..."

Again in the May/June, 1984 issue we read: "After the consecration of May 13, 1982, Sister Lucia also said indeed that Russia was included." This is another reference to the same bogus interview that John Haffert published in 1982, in which it is fraudulently alleged that according to Sister Lucia "His Holiness consecrated the whole world, and Russia is included, and His Holiness was referring to Russia when he mentioned the countries most in need of this consecration." In the text that Sister Lucia read to the Nuncio, she stated that the consecration of Russia had not been effected because Russia was not clearly the object of the consecration, and because each bishop had not arranged a public solemn ceremony of Russia's consecration in his own Cathedral.

The fact that Soul magazine continues to quote this bogus May 1982 interview even after it was proven to be a fake demonstrates the fact that we are not dealing with a mere oversight or honest error, but rather that the organization is guilty of a deliberately perpetrated fraud.

Furthermore, The Fatima Crusader published an exposé concerning the bogus interview, yet Soul still has not retracted it. The editor has as yet made no attempt to explain or defend himself in this very serious matter.

Since The Fatima Crusader repeatedly published documents and articles which, to the embarrassment of the Blue Army leaders, proved that the consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady of Fatima had not taken place, Soul magazine, instead of accepting correction, modified their absurd position and began to assume another equally dishonest position: that the consecration of Russia was made, but in an incomplete manner.

Soul magazine (May/June 1983) began to speak of a consecration to be accomplished in two phases: "The first and most important phase of the consecration of Russia has now been made ..." and "How soon the second phase will take place is up to the Holy Father and the bishops ..." I have already pointed out in issue No. 20, The Fatima Crusader, ("The Plot to Silence Our Lady")* that all this rubbish about a "first phase" and a "second phase" is merely an invention of the Soul magazine editors because the idea of a consecration to be accomplished by stages is at variance with the words of Sister Lucia and of Our Lady Herself who specified one act to be performed at one time. This is what we read in Sister Lucia's memoirs, "A public and solemn act of the consecration of Russia by the Holy Father" and "by all the bishops of the Catholic world, each in his own Cathedral and at the same time as ... the Pope."

*See " Disinformation Tactics Against Fatima Exposed" especially "The Bogus Interview Has Never Been Retracted" in this book.

In order to perpetrate the deception which would create the false impression that "the first and most important phase of the consecration" has already been made, Soul (March/April, 1986) published a part of Sister Lucia's statement to Archbishop Portalupi, deftly omitting the most important part. On page 9, we read that, "... on March 19, 1983, she told him that the consecra- tion of Pope John Paul II like that of Pius XII was not according to the request of Our Lady as it was not with all the bishops of the world, each on the same day in a 'collegial' act of consecration". However, Sister Lucia also stated officially at that March 19, 1983 interview that the consecration of Russia had not been effected because Russia had not clearly been the object of the consecration.

In spite of the fact that Our Lady specified Russia as the particular object to be consecrated, and in spite of the fact that Sister Lucia declared that the requested consecration was not done precisely for the reason that Russia was not specified, Soul magazine refuses to acknowledge that one of the reasons why the consecrations thus far performed by John Paul II do not fulfill Our Lady's request is that Russia was clearly not the object of the consecrations performed by the reigning Pontiff. According to Soul, the only thing lacking was the collegiality of the consecrations.

The Fatima Crusader has repeatedly printed the statements of Sister Lucia and of Our Lady Herself which demonstrate incontestibly that Russia must be the specific object of the consecration. But the editors of Soul have chosen to deliberately disregard this truth, and at present they still refuse to admit that Russia explicitly and in particular must be the object of the consecration.

The fact that Russia is included in the consecration of the World is irrelevant, because Our Lady requested the consecration of "Russia" in particular. According to the teaching of Catholic Moral Theology, if someone gives a priest a Mass stipend for a particular intention (the conversion of Russia), the priest does not validly fulfill that intention unless he offers the Mass for that particular intention. If he offers it for the conversion of the World, then he is strictly obligated to offer the Mass again for the specified intention.

Likewise, according to the same theological principle, if God commands the Pope and the bishops to consecrate Russia, they do not fulfill that command until they explicitly consecrate Russia in particular and by name. The consecration of the World therefore does not validly fulfill the command.

The Blue Army leaders have attempted to solve the Russia/World problem by falsifying Our Lady of Fatima's words. On page 9 of the March/April 1986 issue of Soul, we read a direct quotation of Our Lady in which the word Russia has been changed to the world: "I will ask for the consecration of the world to My Immaculate Heart ..." On page 22 we read that Pope John Paul II's consecration of the world fulfilled Our Lady's request!

We read there that "the Pope in union with all the bishops of the world, made the consecration to Mary's Immaculate Heart as requested in the apparition of June 13, 1929".

The changing of Our Lady's words from Russia to world is not the only falsification of Her message that the editors of Soul have perpetrated. In the July/August 1982 issue of Soul, John Haffert states that "the exact effect of the consecration upon Russia was foretold by Our Lady Herself in the apparition of June 13, 1929, when She said that God now desired this consecration of Russia "promising to save it by this means". So far so good, because Our Lady made the unconditional promise that the consecration would be the means by which Russia will be converted. However, in a 1984 issue of the Blue Army Leader, one reads: "We now understand that the act of consecration would not itself 'convert' Russia, but would set the stage or prepare for, the accomplishment of the action of the conversion of Russia." (emphasis in oriinal text)

Thus the Blue Army leadership no longer accepts Our Lady at Her word that the Consecration of Russia will be the means, but only a sign: - "a sign by which we will know that Russia is to be converted and that the tide of evil in the world is to be reversed". This is absolutely nonsensical. Our Lady already told us in 1917 that Russia is to be converted and that the tide of evil in the world is to be reversed. Our Lady did not say that the Consecration of Russia is a sign but the means by which Russia will be converted. How the Blue Army leaders can dishonor themselves by printing such utter drivel that denies Our Lady's own promise is quite simply beyond me.

The Holy Scriptures pronounce a curse against the practitioners of duplicity: "Woe to them who set darkness in the place of light and falsehood in the place of truth" (Isaiah). It is hateful in the sight of God: "I have hated those of double heart" (Psalm). The mendacious hypocrisy of the Blue Army Leaders is indefensible and inexcusable, but that is not to say that there is no reason for it.

The Vatican-Moscow Agreement imposed silence about Russia and Communism on the Council Fathers of Vatican II. This agreement, on the pretext of detente in relations between the Vatican and Communist regimes, forbade the Council even to discuss, let alone reaffirm the Catholic Church's infallible condemnation of Communism by successive Popes.¹

The architect of the present ostpolitik, which serves as the basis for the Vatican's policies in its negotiations and relations with Communist regimes is Cardinal Casaroli, Vatican Secretary of State. The policies which Cardinal Casaroli has followed in establishing and developing Church-State relations in those Communist lands have been founded upon the Vatican-Moscow Agreement. The Church is allowed to exist in Soviet bloc countries on the condition that the Church does not make statements and pronouncements critical of Communism. This policy of Cardinal Casaroli is a well-known and undisputed fact.

Cardinal Casaroli, who as Secretary of State is at the head of the entire Vatican diplomatic corps, still adheres to the Vatican-Moscow Agreement. He recently demonstrated this when he made it clear that he had no responsibility for the anti-Communist content of the Instruction on Liberation Theology issued on September 3, 1984 by Cardinal Ratzinger and he denied that he was even consulted about the Instruction. (See The Fatima Crusader issue 18, pages 5, 19.)*

* See "Pope John Paul II And Cardinal Ratzinger Teach The Truth About Communist Regimes Behind The Iron Curtain" in this book.

Soul magazine and the Blue Army leadership as we have seen have falsified the Message of Our Lady of Fatima in a deliberate manner and over an extended period of time so as not to violate the Vatican-Moscow Agreement. This is the reason why the U.S. Blue Army President, Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich says in the March/April, 1984 issue of Soul magazine that instead of praying for the conversion of Russia, "We are rather to pray that members of the Blue Army would so pray and fast that they themselves might be thoroughly converted ... to pray for the 'conversion' of Russia may seem like waving a red flag in front of a bull ... and so it might be more prudent to pray for peace in the world ..."

Now here is the passage by Bishop Hastrich in the same article that proves that the Blue Army has ordered their policies according to Casaroli's diplomacy rather than Our Lady's Message: "We might pray explicitly for Russia if we wish to do so, but in our public message we should ... avoid upsetting the delicate balance of international affairs which the Holy See is trying so hard to control and direct."

This statement by Bishop Hastrich seems to represent the policy of the National leadership of the Blue Army as well as the editorial policy of John Haffert and Soul magazine. Let us recall that Soul magazine is the official publication of the Blue Army and that when it carried this article by Bishop Hastrich, Soul magazine indicated there that he is the U.S.A. Blue Army president.

In contrast to John Haffert and Bishop Hastrich and the leaders of the Blue Army who go along with them, let us remember that in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, Our Lady commanded ² that the Pope and all the Catholic bishops make together a solemn public act of Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Pope and the bishops were at the same time to make a public act of reparation for the public crime against God of state atheism in Russia. The Pope and the bishops are duty bound by their office and the prophetic Message of Fatima to obey Our Lady of Fatima. Such an act of consecration and reparation by the Pope and the bishops would indeed be a public rebuke of Russian Communism by the Catholic Church. Yet Our Lady of Fatima tells us that it is only through this obedience of the Pope and the bishops to this Command that Russia will be converted.

In contrast to the Eternal Wisdom of God and the solemn Request of Our Lady of Fatima, Bishop Hastrich and John Haffert in an apparent policy statement of the U.S. Blue Army leadership do not want to do anything which could be considered "understandably" by the Russians as "waving a red flag in front of a bull". In other words, according to Bishop Hastrich we must do nothing in our public stance regarding the conversion of Russia which would give the Russians any pretext for taking the least offense.

In other words, Bishop Hastrich and Soul magazine are saying - do not publicly and solemnly consecrate Russia as Our Lady of Fatima commanded because this is like waving a red flag in front of the bull of Communist Russia.

Clearly the National Blue Army leadership has chosen the policy of Cardinal Casaroli and the Vatican-Moscow Agreement policy, the policy of appeasement rather than obedience to Our Lady of Fatima. They have chosen to follow Cardinal Casaroli rather than follow the leadership of Pope John Paul II who has broken the Vatican-Moscow Agreement³ and who seeks to obey Our Lady of Fatima.

It is indeed a great pity that many people still think the national leadership of the Blue Army is trying to serve Our Lady of Fatima. Many good people in the rank and file of the Blue Army have been deceived and continue in good faith to support by their alms and their moral support the leadership which is clearly opposed to the full Message of Our Lady of Fatima. But Our Lady and Pope John Paul II need the moral support and the prayers and the alms of the little people who have been drawn by grace to respond to the Message of Fatima. Their support is most important towards bringing about the consecration of Russia as commanded by Our Lady of Fatima. Let us continue to work and pray and sacrifice for this intention. Let us do all we can to let the full Message of Our Lady of Fatima be known. Let us necessarily defend ourselves and Our Lady's Cause by continuing to expose the plot to silence Our Lady of Fatima and the strategy of the enemies of God and Our Lady which are used today to hold back this Peace Plan from Heaven from being implemented.

Footnotes:

1. For more about the Vatican-Moscow Agreement see "The Vatican-Moscow Agreement" and "The Vatican Silenced By Moscow"in this book.
2. The formal request of the Queen of Heaven is juridically equal to a command.
3. Recently, in May 1986, Pope John Paul II did in a brief passage in his Encyclical again condemn Communism. See "Marxism Is At War Against The Church " in this book.
4. Since this article was written, more recent reports show that the Vatican-Moscow Agreement is still obeyed by the Vatican. See Editor's Note in this book.

• Sister Lucy Has Been Silenced!
• Disinformation Tactics Against Fatima Exposed
  (The Plot To Silence Our Lady -Part I)
• The Plot To Silence Our Lady (Part II)
• The Vatican-Moscow Agreement Has Silenced Our Lady
• One Blue Army President Speaks Out