Christ Declared the King of Poland

Christ the Pantocrator, a mosaic found in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

In order to mark the end of the Year of Mercy on 20th Nov, 2016, during the Solemnity of Christ the King, a rather remarkable event took place in Poland on 19th Nov, when the Polish government, together with the Church hierarchy officially recognized Christ as the King of Poland (see here for more details). The Jubilee act of the reception of Christ as King and Lord was then repeated the following day throughout every parish in Poland on Nov 20th. This initiative, which was undertaken by the Polish bishops conference, seems to have been intended as a largely prophetic gesture linked to the Divine Mercy devotion, and the initial impetus for this symbolic action can be firmly attributed to certain private revelations given to Servant of God Rosalia Zelkova in the early 20th century.

Rosalia Zelkova was apparently shown a vision wherein Christ had demanded that He should be enthroned as King by the Polish nation in order to spare the country from an impending war. A detailed account of Rosalia's life and visions can be found here, but for the sake of brevity, it should suffice to quote just a select few of the private revelations quoted on this website dedicated to the Servant of God below:

'If Poland wants to save herself, she must proclaim Jesus as her King through the Act of Enthronement. It must be carried out by the whole nation, and in particular by the state and church authorities, who should conduct the ceremony on behalf of the nation.'

In March 1938 Rozalia was instructed by the internal voice: 'A sacrifice must be made for Poland, for the sinful world (...), for the horrendous sins committed by the Polish Nation. God intends to punish them and it is only my Heart where Poland can find salvation.'

Despite numerous efforts, the enthronement was not celebrated in Poland. A few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Rozalia had another vision revealing the tragedy which Poland would experience and at the same time a promise that if Poland's government celebrated the enthronement, the war would be prevented. 'By the end of February 1939, Rozalia wrote, Our Lord revealed to my soul the following image in time, when I was offering to Him our Country and all the nations of the world. I saw in my soul the Polish-German border all in flames from Silesia to Pomerania. The vision was really terrifying and it seemed to me the fire would burn down the world. After a time, the fire spread over Germany and nothing was left of the present Third Reich. Then I heard a voice in my soul and felt certain that what I heard would truly happen:

"My child, the war shall be horrible and it shall bring about destruction (…). Poland's sins and crime are numerous and grave. God's Justice wishes to punish this nation for the sins of unchastity, homicide and hatred. However, Poland can be saved if I am proclaimed as her King and Lord by means of the enthronement, not only in some of the regions but in the whole country and, most importantly, by the government. The proclamation must be affirmed with rejection of sin and return to God (…). Poland can be saved only by Me."

In July 1938, Rozalia had a prophetic vision and received instruction concerning a distant for her yet for us now quite immediate future. She wrote: 'I was brought to a high mountain on which I saw a sphere similar to the globe yet of a much bigger size. I examined it with great interest. Geographically, it was the globe. I recognized parts of the world and particular countries. All of the sudden, a dignified figure of a man appeared in front of me. I do not know who he was. The person approached me and started a conversation. He said: "This is the globe", and told me to name and define borders of different parts of the world and particular countries. When I answered his questions, the person spoke to me in a grave and solemn voice:

"My child! God shall send a terrible punishment for sins and crime committed by people in the whole world. God's Justice cannot endure those misdeeds. Only those countries shall persevere where Christ will reign. If you want to save the world, the enthronement must be celebrated (…) in all the countries and nations around the globe. It is the only way in which one may be rescued. Countries and nations who do not recognize that need and submit to the reign of the sweet love of Jesus shall disappear from the face of the earth forever. Remember that, my child, they shall perish and shall never exist!!! (…) Remember, child, the matter of such importance must not be overlooked or forgotten. (…) The enthronement must be carried out in Poland."

Rozalia recollected that she offered herself to Jesus out of love to Him, to suffer deeply in the first place for the sake of Poland, and then for Germany, Russia, Spain and the whole world. At that moment the person took her hand and led her to the other side of the globe. He pointed to the United States of America and Australia and said with pain: 'Didn't Christ suffer also for those souls? Aren't they saved with His Most Sacred Blood? You should include them, my child, in particular America.'

He went on convincingly: 'Every effort must be made in order to carry out the enthronement. That is the final that Jesus' love makes for people at the end of days!' 'I asked him with fear whether Poland would endure. The person answered: "Poland shall not perish unless she recognizes Christ as King in every sense of the word, that is unless she accepts God's Law, the law of His love. Otherwise, my child, she shall not persevere." Finally, he said to me: "I say this to you once again, my child, that only those nations shall not perish who will be submitted to Jesus' Heart through the enthronement, who will recognize Him as their King and Lord. A horrible disaster shall come on this world, he said, as you will soon see." 

 'Suddenly, a terrible bang could be heard. The globe cracked. Enormous fire broke out and disgusting lava flew out as if from a volcano, completely destroying all countries which had not recognized Christ. I saw destroyed Germany and other Western European countries. I turned with terror to the person for help and he said: "Do not fear, child," and he put his hands on my shoulders. I asked him: "Is this the end of the world, and the fire and lava, are these hell?" He replied: "This is not the end of the world or hell, but a horrible war which shall complete the destruction." The Polish borders were left inviolate, Poland persevered. The unknown person also said to me: "Countries under Christ's reign and subjected to the power of His Sacred Heart shall become extremely powerful and there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd."

 'Upon these words everything disappeared. On the following day, after the Holy Communion, I asked Lord Jesus about the meaning of that vision. I was instructed: "Child, this is what shall happen if people do not return to God. The moment of enthronement must not be delayed in Poland."

The fact that the Church hierarchy in Poland has responded in such a remarkable fashion to these private revelations indicates a high level of approval. They echo the visions of St. Faustina herself, who just before the outbreak of the Second World War foreseen that there would be "a war, a terrible, terrible war", and of course the Second Secret of Fatima:

You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.

This act of enthronement finds its historical antecedent in the enthronement of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Poland on April 1st, 1656. After it had been invaded by Sweden and Russia, Poland had enthroned the Blessed Virgin during an elaborate ceremony conducted by the Polish king  John II (Jan) Casimir. This action was made in response to the Polish victory made the previous year during the siege of Jasna Góra Monastery, which housed the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. The victory of Jasna Góra, which repelled a Swedish assault upon the monastery in 1655, was directly attributed to the intercession of Our Lady won through the miraculous icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, and marked a key turning point in the war against Sweden.

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa at Jasna Góra Monastery

The victory at Jasna Góra prompted John II Casimir to crown the Black Madonna of Częstochowa Queen of Poland, which was made in response to private revelations given to Servant of God Giulio Mancinelli, a Jesuit missionary who was born on the ominous date of Oct 13th 1537.

On Aug 14th, 1608 Fr. Mancinelli reportedly experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary whilst living in Naples, who asked him: "Why do you not call me Queen of the Polish? I greatly love this kingdom and I am going to do great things for it, because a peculiar love for me burn within its sons."
This was followed by two other apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Fr. Mancinelli in 1610 and 1617, where she also referred to herself as "Queen of the Polish".

Each of the above private revelations concerning the coronation of Jesus and Mary as sovereigns of Poland recall the famous words recorded in St. Faustina's diary:

As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.”
(The Diary of St. Faustina, 1732)

After the enthronement of the Blessed Virgin as the Queen of Poland in 1656, this nation would go on to play a pivotal role in the defence of Christian Europe against the threat of Islam during the Battle of Vienna, which took place on 12th Sept, 1683. The Ottoman Turks had been laying siege to the imperial city of the Holy Roman empire for two months, and it was verging on the brink of collapse when the Polish King John III Sobieski came to its rescue on the ominous date of Sept 11th, and at 4.00 am on the morning of 12th Sept, the Battle of Vienna began. Before John Sobieski set out to rescue Vienna spearheading the Holy League, he had stopped to pray at the shrine of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa at Jasna Góra, and during a Mass held on the eve of the battle, which was presided over by Blessed Marco d'Aviano, he once again entrusted himself to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, whose image he carried in a gorget.

King John III Sobieski of Poland, bearing a gorget of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa

The resounding victory of John Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna was one of the greatest turning points in European history, and not only saw a permanent end to the Islamic expansion into Europe, but also enabled the Holy Roman Emperor to reclaim Hungary, and over the course of the next centuries, the threat of Ottoman Turkey gradually began to wane until its eventual collapse in 1918. Writing to Pope Innocent XI in the aftermath of the battle, Sobieski acknowledged that the victory belonged to God alone, stating "Veni, vidi, Deus vicit" ("I came, I saw, God conquered"). The importance of the victory at the Battle of Vienna is held in direct comparison with that of Lepanto, which saw an end to the naval threat of Ottoman Turkey on 7th October, 1571. And like its naval counterpart, which is commemorated by the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on 7th October, the Battle of Vienna was also marked by the institution of a feast day - The Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is celebrated on 12th Sept.

This feast was extended to the universal Church calendar by Pope Innocent XI in 1684 in order to commemorate the Battle of Vienna, and continued to be practiced until the liturgical reforms made in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. The Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary was struck from the General Roman Calendar by controversial reformer Annibale Bugnini in 1969, but was reinstituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002, in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center, when the date of this feast day gained renewed significance. We can be almost certain that the Holy Father made this symbolic action in direct response to the events of 9/11, when the West once again faced a great confrontation with the Islamic world. He beatified Marco d'Aviano shortly after in 2003 - the Capuchin friar who was instrumental in organising and energizing the Holy League against the Ottoman Turks during the Battle of Vienna. There is also some evidence which suggests that Sr. Lucia had made a connection between these events in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attack, which she appears to have communicated directly to St. John Paul and Cardinal Tarcisco Bertone.

In my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, I go into some detail to show how Cardinal Bertone's musing that the events of 9/11 may be connected to the appearance of the Signs of Heaven described in the Bible (made upon his return from presiding over the seer's funeral Mass), was in fact rooted in some information conveyed to him by the seer of Fatima herself. Information which was most likely originally communicated to the pope immediately after the destruction of the Twin Towers. At the time, there were rumours circulated by Inside the Vatican that Sr. Lucia had sent a letter to Pope St. John Paul II immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Citing anonymous sources from within the Carmelite order, traditionalist newspaper The Remnant published yet another rumour that Sr. Lucia had received a new apparition of the Virgin Mary on October 7th, 2001 - the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary - which rather aptly, also reflects the struggle between the Arab and Christian worlds, since this feast commemorates the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, when vastly outnumbered Catholic forces triumphed over the Ottoman fleet.  

The alleged new revelation was supposedly to ask for prayers to prevent an impending "blood bath", and seems to be partially based on the fact that the Carmel of Coimbra did indeed hold to a 24 hour period of prayer on 7th October, 2001. At least one Carmelite convent had confirmed that it had received a letter from the Association of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, dated to 13th September, 2001 (just two days after 9/11), calling on the Carmelite order to unite with Sr. Lucia in praying for peace in the world on 7th October - the Feast of the Holy Rosary. 

Given the close association between the Feast of the Holy Rosary with the Feast Day of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin, which both commemorate great Marian victories, it is interesting to note that the recognition of Christ as the King of Poland by the Church and government authorities on Nov 20th, 2016 was preceded the previous month by yet another lightning strike on the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica on Oct 7th, 2016 - the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

It is also worth taking into consideration that one of his last actions before dying on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday on 2nd April, 2005, Pope St. John Paul II offered up a new crown to be presented to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, accompanied by a crown for the Infant Jesus, in a possible allusion to the future enthronement of Christ as King of Poland urged by Rosalia Zelkova. As the Vatican website states: "The crowns of gold of the Virgin and Child were offered and blessed by St. John Paul II on 1 April 2005, shortly before his death." (see here). The reason these crowns were offered to the Madonna and Child on 1st April was in order to mark the anniversary of the enthronement of the Blessed Virgin as Queen of Poland by King John II Casimir on 1st April 1656.

The fact that the enthronement of Christ as King of Poland took place at the close of the Year of Mercy on Nov 20th is also significant in the fact that it coincided with the "conception phase" of the so-called "Rev 12" sign that began on this exact date, and culminates 9 and a half months later on Sept 23rd, 2017 (see here for more details). Are these two events related? If so, it would tie in with the conclusions drawn on my previous post The Sign of Jonah and the Binding of Satan, which mulled over the possible significance of a solar eclipse that will take place over America on Aug 21st, 2017, the Feast of Our Lady of Knock (which announced the opening of the seals of Revelation), and the exact date that a solar eclipse crossed the site of ancient Nineveh at the beginning of World War One on Aug 21st, 2017. Given these parallels with the "sign of Jonah" mentioned by Christ in the Gospels, I had mused over the possibility of some sort of chastisement that may take place unless an act of repentance is made, and that it may indicate that America is the "new Nineveh" involved in this sign. Could this be a call to repentance?

Given that St. John Paul II had seemingly drawn a connection between the events behind the institution of the Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin and the terrorist attacks on 9/11, it is interesting that the private revelations given to Rosalia Zelkova concerning the enthronement of Christ as King of Poland similarly have a particular focus drawn on America:

Rozalia recollected that she offered herself to Jesus out of love to Him, to suffer deeply in the first place for the sake of Poland, and then for Germany, Russia, Spain and the whole world. At that moment the person took her hand and led her to the other side of the globe. He pointed to the United States of America and Australia and said with pain: 'Didn't Christ suffer also for those souls? Aren't they saved with His Most Sacred Blood? You should include them, my child, in particular America.'

If the events of 9/11 were indeed a "harbinger" of a worse fate still to befall America, as was suggested in the highly popular book by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, then it would follow that Rosalia Zelkova's focus on a need for prayer for America means that it is this nation in particular that would suffer the most from the chastisement she saw, which appears to involve a volcanic eruption:

I say this to you once again, my child, that only those nations shall not perish who will be submitted to Jesus' Heart through the enthronement, who will recognize Him as their King and Lord. A horrible disaster shall come on this world, he said, as you will soon see." 
 'Suddenly, a terrible bang could be heard. The globe cracked. Enormous fire broke out and disgusting lava flew out as if from a volcano, completely destroying all countries which had not recognized Christ.

If this volcanic eruption is one and the same as the Cumbre Vieja event - the "great mountain, burning with fire" being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8, then we can see why America would be singled out for particular need of prayer.

However this particular event is not something that we need to worry about happening in the immediate future, since the destruction of "Babylon" takes place just before the rise to power of the Antichrist.  And the ministry of the Two Witnesses to restore the Church, proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth and bring about the conversion of the Jews must take before the Antichrist ascends to power. So it is certainly much too soon to expect the destruction of the dominant eschatological world power referred to as "Babylon" - which is part of the Great Chastisement itself, and should be equated with the cataclysm seen in Sr. Lucia's 1944 Tuy apparition. Given that the process of the restoration of the Church by the Two Witnesses is yet to unfold, this particular chastisement must still lie many years in the future. Due to the fact that the prophecies of Rosalia Zelkova are so closely associated with the events of the Battle of Vienna, it would appear that this chastisement is also in some way connected to a confrontation with the Islamic world.

A few Catholic prophecies suggest that there will also be a "minor chastisement" that will take place before the restoration of the Church, which unlike the Great Chastisement, is conditional in nature. Could it be the events of this "minor chastisement" that will potentially take place next year? This is difficult to tell, since the secrets of Fatima appear to suggest that the "minor chastisement" should be equated with the events of the Second World War. The conditional nature of the Second World War mentioned in the Second Secret was further clarified by a statement made by Blessed Jacinta on her deathbed. We can compare each below:

The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. (Second Secret of Fatima)

If men will repent, God will pardon them, but if they do not amend their lives, there will come upon the earth the most terrible chastisement ever known. (Blessed Jacinta Marto)

It seems that the events of this conditional chastisement, described by Bl. Jacinta as the "most terrible chastisement ever known", were already fulfilled in the Second World War. Is this conditional chastisement one and the same as the minor chastisement? It is difficult to know for sure, and there are some particular components of the prophecies of the minor chastisement which do not fully align with the events of World War II. As Cardinal Ratzinger pointed out in his theological commentary in The Message of Fatima, the future is not unchangeably set, and it would appear that there are still a number of ways in which these prophecies can unfold, depending on how humanity reacts as a whole to God's call for repentance.

There is a particular component of the Third Secret of Fatima which suggests that the world will be able to avoid the occurrence of a major chastisement through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, when the shepherd children were shown a vision in which the flames emanating from the sword of the angel are quenched by the rays of light which emanate from the hands of Our Lady:

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'.

This image reflects that of the Miraculous Medal, which shows Satan being crushed under the feet of the Woman Adorned with the Sun, and appears to allude to the period of peace promised in the Second Secret. During the canonization Mass of St. Faustina, St. John Paul II appears to have associated the arrival of the period of peace with the Divine Mercy devotion itself:

Jesus told Sr Faustina: "Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy" (Diary, p. 132). Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked for ever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third.
(Pope John Paul II, Mass in St Peter's Square for the Canonization of Sr Mary Faustina Kowalska, April 30th, 2000)

So is it possible that when faced with the threat of chastisement, humanity will eventually repent due to the occurrence of some remarkable form of Divine intervention? In her famous interview with Fr. Fuentes, Sr. Lucia stated that just before God is about to chastise the world for its sins, he will provide one last extraordinary means of salvation, by reluctantly sending His Blessed Mother to convince the world of its impending doom:

"Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world, but She made me understand this for three reasons."

"The first reason is because She told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Also, from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility."

"The second reason is because She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others."

"The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, God always, before He is about to chastise the world, exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then as we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with ‘certain fear’ the last means of salvation, His Most Holy Mother. It is with ‘certain fear’ because if you despise and repulse this ultimate means, we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven, because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Ghost."

These words of Sr. Lucia strongly suggests that just before the arrival of a future chastisement, there will be another major Marian apparition to announce the coming destruction, and allow the world to embrace a period of penance. This appears to be directly associated with the proclamation of the Gospel to all nations before the end of the world, when the flood poured forth from the mouth of the Dragon is swallowed up by the earth just before the final persecution of the Antichrist:

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
(Rev 12:15-17)

If the appearance of the remarkable astronomical configuration that began on Nov 20th, 2016 is in some way connected to the prophecies of Servant of God Rosalia Zelkova (on which date one of the most important of these requests was fulfilled), then it would seem that these private revelations are also linked to the culmination of this sign, which concludes on 23rd Sept, 2017 - just days before the centenary of the Miracle of the Sun on Oct 13th, 2017.

It seems that the only way that we can know for sure in advance if the world is faced by the threat of a major chastisement next year (as many Catholics currently believe), is if it announced beforehand by the appearance of a Marian apparition on a scale comparable to those of Our Lady of Fatima.