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| The statue of Our Lady of Fatima outside the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Nose and hands broken off. Dec. 7, 2021. |
For example: permitting an impenitent man steeped in a life of mortal sin to become ill or severely hurt in order to occasion the opportunity for the man to amend his ways, or at least perhaps to cripple him to the point that he is no longer able to persist in the mortally sinful acts that are dragging his soul into Hell.
Throughout the history of God's Chosen People, God permitted his "chosen" to be captured, enslaved, and sometimes killed off to within a breath of a remnant, and all by unjust, unbelieving, and brutal, worldly aggressors. (Think of what the Romans did to the Jews in Jerusalem in 70AD. And all prophesied by Jesus, Himself.)
Our Lady at Fatima warned: "War is punishment for sin."
World War I was, up to then, history's most brutal, costly, and non-sensical war. And Our Lady, appearing at Fatima in 1917, warned that if we did not cease sinning and do penance that a worse war would come. The world ignored her and so came World War II.
Our Lady also admonished the pope in communion with the world's bishops to publicly consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart or "Russia would spread its errors." No pope has ever done that and so here we are...again. But we'll get to that later.
Thinking that Putin's attacking the Ukraine is just a legacy bid to restore the old Soviet Union is to misunderstand Putin. Putin is waging war against "the West." His impetus comes from Ukraine's increasing closeness to NATO, which Putin sees as a threat to Russia.
But beyond Putin's paranoia or his expansionist Soviet dreams, there is the reality that "the West" has been murdering its unborn children by the millions each year for decades. True, Russia at one time had the most liberal abortion polices in the world, which has led to Russia still having the highest abortion rate in the world, but Putin, since coming to power, has endeavored to stop abortion. (Certainly China has murdered more, but China does not possess a 2000 year Christian history as does "the West.")
Putin's motives are probably not related to any regard for the sanctity of life and are more likely rooted in his quest to restore Russia to the world power it once was, which he cannot do without a population. But regardless of Putin's motives, his policies are definitely anti-abortion. See: Russia Announces Plan To Halve Abortion Rates To Spur Population Growth
Ukraine, on the other hand, is aggressively pro-abortion, which is not surprising given Ukraine's race to the West. See: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken in favor of expansion of abortion rights. Note: Exact references to Zelensky's support of abortion are difficult to get right now due to his name bringing up almost all stories re the current Russian invasion.
Also, the current president of the Ukraine, apparently after pressure from Joe Biden, is now a champion of LBGTQ rights. See: The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has promised to fight for LGBT+ equality following a meeting with US president Joe Biden.
Meanwhile Putin is sounding like a "trad" Catholic bishop: Putin formally bans same-sex marriages in Russia.
So here we have the Ukrainian president pro-abortion and pro same-sex marriage (and "in bed" with Joe Biden on both counts), and the Russian president anti-abortion and anti same-sex marriage.
Turning to Our Lady's urging at Fatima for the pope and the world's bishops to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart in 1917 lest Russia "spread its errors," it's ironic to find the current pope, another in a long line of popes who refused to do it, now decrying Russia's "errors."
Our Lady's apparition at Fatima is approved by the Church, so what is the reason our popes have refused to do what Our Lady asked them to do?
That's a long debated subject but the one that makes the most sense is that church leaders at the time (1917) and since, were afraid of ticking off the communists and provoking Uncle Joe (Stalin, not Biden), to take out his vengeance on Catholics under communist control.
So our popes kept quiet and resorted to urging diplomacy instead of conversion.
As the Church goes, so goes the world. This is no surprise. And neither should Putin's actions be a surprise. Nor would it be a surprise if the country most blessed by God but which recently elected the most radical pro-abortion administration in history, be the next target. Be it Heaven's or Hell's.
"War is punishment for sin." - Our Lady at Fatima, 1917.
