Monday 20 September 2021

The Recent Eruption at Cumbre Vieja and Sr. Lucia's 1944 Tuy Apparition




A lot of people have been contacting me recently, to ask my thoughts on the recent eruption of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands, on 19th Sept, 2021 - the feast of Our Lady of La Salette. Some are worried that this could potentially result in the cataclysm that Sr. Lucia seen in a vision, during an apparition of Our Lady in 1944. It was during this apparition that the Blessed Virgin instructed Sr. Lucia to write down the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima. During a recent podcast with Fr. Richard Heilman and Doug Barry, I tried to explain how I'm not expecting the catastrophe seen in Sr. Lucia's 1944 apparition anytime soon, because of the significance of the katēchon of 2Thes 2:6-7 - the "restraining force" which holds back the appearance of the Antichrist. See around the 41 minute at this link: The Katechon and the Binding of Satan .

In my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, I argue that Sr. Lucia's vision of the angel touching the earth with a flaming lance is connected with the eschatological earthquake described in Rev 16:

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. (Rev 16:17-19)
I felt my spirit flooded by a light-filled mystery which is God and in Him I saw and heard: the point of the flame-like lance which detaches, touches the axis of the earth and it [the earth] shakes: mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, rivers and clouds leave their bounds, they overflow, flood and drag with them into a whirlpool, houses and people in a number unable to be counted; it is the purification of the world from the sin it is immersed in. Hatred, ambition, cause destructive wars 
(Sr. Lucia, Tuy, 1944. See Sr. Lucia's official biography by the Carmelites of Coimbra - A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary)

The event seen by Sr. Lucia in her 1944 Tuy apparition is specifically connected with the fall of "Babylon", which is symbolized by an angel throwing a millstone into the sea in Rev 18:21:

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again."

This scriptural passage is in turn associated with the "great mountain, burning with fire" which St. John seen being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8. In my book, I attempt to demonstrate that this burning mountain is closely associated with the seven burning mountains described in the Book of Enoch, which are identified with the Canary Islands. (See the blog post The Seven Burning Mountains of Enoch and the Canary Islands for further details).

As I state in the above podcast, I don't think that the events described in Sr. Lucia's 1944 vision will happen anytime soon, since they are concerned with the very end time itself. In the Book of Revelation, the fall of "Babylon" is directly connected with the rise to power of the Antichrist, who ascends to world dominance as a result of the power vacuum created by the downfall of the world's leading superpower. The appearance of the Antichrist is in turn held back by the katēchon - the "restraining force" mentioned by St. Paul:

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. (2Thes 2:5-8)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church associates the katēchon with the conversion of the Jews, thus identifying this "restraining force" with the ministry of the Prophet Elijah.

Since the Ascension Christ's coming in glory has been imminent, even though “it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority”. This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are “delayed”. The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel”, for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." St. Paul echoes him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles", will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all". (CCC 673-674)

Since the Catechism identifies the katēchon with the prophetic ministry of the Two Witnesses of Rev 11, then the appearance of the Antichrist can only take place once this "restraining force" has been removed. St. Paul states that the conversion of the Jews will only take place after the "bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles", once the Gospel is proclaimed to the ends of the world:

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Rom 11:25-27)

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matt 24:12-14)

As I argue in my book, the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles during the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the earth can only happen at the end of the short time of Satan. In the above podcast, I attempt to explain that the duration of the short time of Satan appears to be associated with the 120 years described in Gen 6:3:

When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. (Gen 6:1-4)

According to the Book of Enoch, the Nephilim were the offspring of the Watchers - the fallen angels who were bound in Tartarus at the ends of the earth, at the location of the seven burning mountains. The Book of Enoch tells us that it was from this location that the waters of the abyss issued forth to bring about the events of Noah's flood:

And from thence I went to another place of the earth, and he showed me a mountain range of fire which burnt day and night. And I went beyond it and saw seven magnificent mountains all differing each from the other, and the stones thereof were magnificent and beautiful, magnificent as a whole, of glorious appearance and fair exterior: three towards the east, one founded on the other, and three towards the south, one upon the other, and deep rough ravines, no one of which joined with any other. And the seventh mountain was in the midst of these, and it excelled them in height, resembling the seat of a throne: and fragrant trees encircled the throne. And amongst them was a tree such as I had never yet smelt, neither was any amongst them nor were others like it: it had a fragrance beyond all fragrance, and its leaves and blooms and wood wither not for ever: and its fruit is beautiful, and its fruit resembles the dates of a palm. Then I said: ‘How beautiful is this tree, and fragrant, and its leaves are fair, and its blooms very delightful in appearance.’ Then answered Michael, one of the holy and honoured angels who was with me, and was their leader. And he said unto me: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and why dost thou wish to learn the truth?’ Then I answered him saying: ‘I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.’ And he answered saying: ‘This high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness. And as for this fragrant tree no mortal is permitted to touch it till the great judgement, when He shall take vengeance on all and bring everything to its consummation for ever. (1Enoc 24; 25:1-4)
And after that he showed me the angels of punishment who are prepared to come and let loose all the powers of the waters which are beneath in the earth in order to bring judgement and destruction on all who abide and dwell on the earth. And the Lord of Spirits gave commandment to the angels who were going forth, that they should not cause the waters to rise but should hold them in check; for those angels were over the powers of the waters. (1Enoc 66)

And He will imprison those angels, who have shown unrighteousness, in that burning valley which my grandfather Enoch had formerly shown to me in the west among the mountains of gold and silver and iron and soft metal and tin. And I saw that valley in which there was a great convulsion and a convulsion of the waters. And when all this took place, from that fiery molten metal and from the convulsion thereof in that place, there was produced a smell of sulphur, and it was connected with those waters, and that valley of the angels who had led astray mankind burned beneath that land. And through its valleys proceed streams of fire, where these angels are punished who had led astray those who dwell upon the earth. (1Enoc 67:4-7)

So the binding of the fallen angels is closely associated with the 120 years described in Gen 6, which in turn parallels the period of the unbinding of Satan at the end of the "thousand years". Since St. Augustine of Hippo associated the period of Satan's unbinding with the "Sabbath Millennium" discussed by the Early Church Fathers, this concept is in turn related to the jubilee rest at the end of every 50 year cycle instructed in Lev 25: 

Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what growsof itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. (Lev 25:8-15)

Once we apply St. Augustine's insight into the significance of the Sabbath Millennium to the chronology of St. Bede the Venerable, using the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, as opposed to the Greek Septuagint, the end of the "thousand years" of Rev 20 can be calculated to the Great Jubilee Year of the Incarnation in the year 2000:

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man — meaning by the strong man the devil, because he had power to take captive the human race; and meaning by his goods which he was to take, those who had been held by the devil in various sins and iniquities, but were to become believers in Himself. It was then for the binding of this strong one that the apostle saw in the Apocalypse an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a chain in his hand. And he laid hold, he says, on the dragon, that old serpent, which is called the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,— that is, bridled and restrained his power so that he could not seduce and gain possession of those who were to be freed. Now the thousand years may be understood in two ways, so far as occurs to me: either because these things happen in the sixth thousand of years or sixth millennium (the latter part of which is now passing), as if during the sixth day, which is to be followed by a Sabbath which has no evening, the endless rest of the saints, so that, speaking of a part under the name of the whole, he calls the last part of the millennium — the part, that is, which had yet to expire before the end of the world — a thousand years; or he used the thousand years as an equivalent for the whole duration of this world, employing the number of perfection to mark the fullness of time. (St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Book XX Chap 7).
He says also: And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six, Revelation 13:14, etc. that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years. For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works. Genesis 2:2 This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; 2 Peter 3:8 and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year. (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book V Chap 28)

This thus ties in perfectly with the vision of Pope Leo XIII, in which he was told that Satan would be granted a period of greater power. If the Sabbath Millennium is connected with the significance of the biblical jubilee years, it is worth noting that a jubilee of 120 years (50 x 120) makes up to a total of 6000 years - the exact length suggested by the biblical chronology, according to the calculations of James Ussher, the 17th century Anglican Archbishop of Armagh. Since the jubilee was also a time of Sabbath rest, then it makes sense that the period during which God's Spirit would not abide with humanity in Gen 6:3 is connected to the period of the short time of Satan. It is also worth noting that in the original Hebrew text of this portion of Genesis, it states that the Spirit of God would not abide with humanity until the end of the "olam" (age). In Jewish tradition the olam ha-zeh (this age) is contrasted with the olam ha-ba (the age to come), which is the time of the messianic kingdom. So there is certainly a sense of millennial thinking in this section of Genesis.

It doesn't seem to be a "coincidence" that this eruption has taken place right at this juncture in time, beginning on the feast of Our Lady of La Salette. The army of King Victor Emmanuel II reached the walls of Rome on 19th Sept, 1870, (the feast of Our Lady of La Salette), beginning a siege which led to the loss of the Papal States. Pope Leo XIII undoubtedly connected this event with the contents of his vision, where he seen an army of demons surrounding the Eternal City. This in turn echoes the camp of the saints being surrounded by the armies of Satan at the end of the "thousand years" in Rev 20. In the longer exorcism prayer issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1890, he refers to the Freemasons erecting a monument dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel II in Rome:

In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most blessed Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered. Adesto itaque, Dux invictissime, populo Dei contra irrumpentes spirituales nequitias, et fac victoriam. Arise then, O invincible prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and bring them the victory.

The Italian architect Giuseppe Sacconi won the prize to design the monument to King Victor Emmanuel II in 1884, which he modeled in the image of the recently discovered Pergamon Altar. This is none other than the "Throne of Satan" described in Rev 2:13. Again, it is no coincidence that Pope Leo XIII experienced his vision at the exact moment in history that a shrine made in the image of the Pergamon Altar was being erected in the city of Rome, in the wake of the capture of the Papal States. After its discovery in 1879, the actual Pergamon Altar was transported to Germany and reconstructed in Berlin in 1900, right at the very beginning of the period of Satan's greater power. 


The Vittariano, or Monument to King Victor Emmanuel II


The Pergamon Altar

Even though there is no immediate threat of the chastisement foreseen by Sr. Lucia in her 1944 Tuy apparition, it still appears to be of considerable significance that Cumbre Vieja would erupt at the end of this 120 year period associated with the short time of Satan, on the feast of Our Lady of La Salette. This is especially significant, since the location of the Canary Islands is so closely linked with the location where the Watchers are kept in chains until judgement day, according to the words of St. Peter:

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—  if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 
(2Pet 2:4-9)


Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day... 

They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 5-6; 13-15)
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt 24:37-39)

Could this volcanic eruption at a site closely linked with the location of the chaining of the fallen angels described in the Book of Enoch be yet another sign that the time of Satan's unbinding has now drawn to a close? If so, it is deeply significant that this eruption occurred on the feast day of Our Lady of La Salette, since Melanie's Calvat's longer 1879 version of her secret closely echoes the contents of Sr. Lucia's 1944 Tuy apparition:

“At the first blow of His thundering sword, the mountains and all Nature will tremble in terror, for the disorders and crimes of men have pierced the vault of the heavens. Paris will burn and Marseilles will be engulfed. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes. People will believe that all is lost."

We can take comfort in the fact that these chastisements still lie some time off in the future, after the period of the restoration of the Church, which Sr Lucia was also shown during the apparition of Our Lady in 1944:

Afterward I felt in the increased beating of my heart and in my spirit a quiet voice which said: ‘in time, one faith, one baptism, one Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. Heaven in eternity!’ This word, ‘Heaven,’ filled my heart with peace and happiness, so much so that, almost without realizing it, I continued to repeat for some time: Heaven, Heaven!’            

 

Friday 12 March 2021

Knock Shrine Granted Special Status by the Vatican




In the year dedicated to St. Joseph, Pope Francis has recently announced that the shrine of Our Lady of Knock, in Mayo, Ireland, will be granted special status as an international Marian and Eucharistic Shrine, on March 19th, 2021 - the feast of St. Joseph.  The fact that the Holy Father has announced that Knock Shrine will be bestowed with this special honour just a few days after his pilgrimage to Iraq, where he visited the site of ancient Nineveh at Mosul, bears a striking parallel to the material in my book on the Knock apparition.  As most readers of this blog will be aware, in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, I argue that the symbolism of the Knock apparition is directly based on the opening of scroll sealed with seven seals described in chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." (Rev 5:1-5)

In my book, I argue that the opening of the scroll with the seven seals and the subsequent release of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is recapitulated later in Rev 20, during the period of the unbinding of Satan at the end of the "thousand years":

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while...

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Rev 20:1-3; 7-10)
In my blog post The Sign of Jonah and the Unbinding of Satan, I argue at some length that the period of the unbinding of Satan described in the Apocalypse is directly associated with the original "sign of Jonah", which was a striking solar eclipse which had taken place near the site of ancient Nineveh during the ministry of the Prophet Jonah, which had caused the repentance of the Ninevites, sparing them from God's judgement. In my book, I also attempt to demonstrate the various parallels between the unbinding of Satan at the end of the Millennium and the vision of Pope Leo XIII, concerning the century in which the Devil would be granted a period of greater power. I go on to note that in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ had associated the binding of the "strong man" in Matt 12 with the appearance of the sign of Jonah: 

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house...

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matt 12:22-29; 39-41)

In his City of God, St. Augustine of Hippo had connected the above Gospel passage concerning the "binding of the strong man" with the binding of Satan described in Rev 20.  St. Augustine went on to propose that the period of the unbinding of Satan at the end of the thousand years would take place at the end of the Sabbath Millennium discussed by the Early Church Fathers, who proposed that the biblical chronology pointed to a prophetic "great week" of millennia:

Now the thousand years may be understood in two ways, so far as occurs to me: either because these things happen in the sixth thousand of years or sixth millennium (the latter part of which is now passing), as if during the sixth day, which is to be followed by a Sabbath which has no evening, the endless rest of the saints, so that, speaking of a part under the name of the whole, he calls the last part of the millennium — the part, that is, which had yet to expire before the end of the world — a thousand years; or he used the thousand years as an equivalent for the whole duration of this world, employing the number of perfection to mark the fullness of time. 
(St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, XX:7)


St. Bede the Venerable had used  the "Hebrew Truth" of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament to recalibrate the biblical chronology, when when refined by the Anglican Archbishop, James Ussher of Armagh, relocated the prophetic significance of the end of the "great week" as the year 2000. Just over 100 years before the end of this "great week" of millennia, Pope Leo XIII had announced the consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his 1899 encyclical Annum Sacrum, which was published on the feast of St. Bede. Later the same year had announced that this Anglo-Saxon monk would be made a doctor of the Church. This act of consecration was made in direct response to a request made by Christ to Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart, which in turn directly parallels the request made to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Pope Leo XIII was almost certainly familiar with the fact that the French Revolution had occurred exactly 100 years after St. Margaret Mary had relayed this request to the Kings of France, which had went unfulfilled. This is why he described his consecration of the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the "greatest act of my pontificate".

In Unveiling the Apocalypse, I note how the beginning of the First World War had coincided with a remarkable solar eclipse which had traversed the battlefields of Eastern Europe, before the path of totality made its way down to cross the site of ancient Nineveh. 



This striking event, known as the "First World War Eclipse", had occurred on 21st August, 1914 - the feast day of Our Lady of Knock, which had announced the opening of the scroll sealed with seven seals, which in turn heralds the inauguration of the period of the unbinding of Satan.  In order to mark the 100 year anniversary of Pope Leo's consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope St. John Paul II published an Apostolic Letter reflecting upon the spiritual significance of this event in the life of the Church on 11th June 1999, and once again renewed this act of consecration. Just a few months later, the "sign of Jonah" had repeated itself when the great solar eclipse of 1999 had once again traversed the site of ancient Nineveh on Aug 11th, announcing the end of the period of the unbinding of Satan at the dawn of the new millennium.


Friday 15 January 2021

Debunking the Destroyer Pope Prophecy




Below is a link to my latest article on Where Peter Is, critiquing the provenance of a prophecy falsely attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, which has been used to attack the legitimacy of the papacy of Pope Francis:

LifeSiteNews uses false St. Francis quote to attack the pope | Where Peter Is

Tuesday 10 November 2020

The Third Secret of Fatima and the Visions of Bl. Elizabeth Canori-Mora



The prophetic visions of Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora contain some striking similarities with the Third Secret of Fatima, and appear more relevant to the Church of today than ever before. The below passage, taken from the 1878 book The Life of the Venerable Elizabeth Canori Mora, by Mary Elizabeth Herbert.  Worth noting in particular is Bl. Elizabeth's vision of a much weakened Church being restored after two angels gather up an offering of supplication in two chalices which are then given to St. Felix of Valois and St. John of Matha - the founders of the Trinitarian Order, which was dedicated to ransoming captive Christians. It appears to suggest that this vision of the restoration of the Church, which reflects the two angels gathering up the blood of the martyrs seen in the Third Secret, is in fact related to the end of the period of the unbinding of Satan described in Rev 20:


One day, during an ecstasy, S. John the Baptist conducted her into an august and mysterious temple. The Blessed Virgin laid the Infant Jesus upon an Altar, and began to pray for the Church, supplicating her Divine Son to suspend the rigours of His Justice, and not to disperse the Ministers of the Sanctuary. She reminded Him that she was His Mother, and that, as His Mother, she hoped to be heard.

The Infant Jesus replied: "My justice will no longer support so many abominations. You are My Mother, but you are also My creature!"

With the august Queen of Heaven a multitude of Religious, united with their holy Founders, had also implored mercy. But scarcely had they heard the words of the Divine Infant, than they fell on their knees and adored the impenetrable decrees of the Most High. Then all the holy Religious offered to Him the incense of the good works of their respective Orders. The Infant God then raised His Hand, blessed them, and with them His faithful servant. The exile of the Sovereign Pontiff and the dispersion of the College of Cardinals took place very soon after this vision.

Another time three Angels conducted Elizabeth into a subterranean place where, in secret and in darkness, the impious were plotting the ruin of the Church. She there saw also persons covered with a mask of hypocrisy, who, under the specious pretext of doing good, secretly favoured the designs of the agents of Hell. The Venerable Mother was penetrated by a feeling of horror in presence of a sight of which the idea would never have presented itself to her mind. To console her. Our Lord showed her the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus, through the intercession of S. Ignatius Loyola. She also saw a Father of the same Society, illustrious by his knowledge and virtue, who, in union with other Fathers, defended the rights of Holy Church, and many others who shed their blood for Jesus Christ.

Actuated only by her zeal for the Church, Elizabeth, in her humility, addressed ardent prayers to Our Lord to obtain a cessation of this persecution. At that moment the All-Powerful caused His Justice to shine forth, and exterminated these wretches in a manner so prompt and terrible, that during several days her mind was troubled. She felt throughout her whole body a most intense terror, and experienced for a long time an icy coldness which ran through all her limbs. The following vision made an impression upon her no less vivid.

The Church appeared to her standing before the throne of God, supplicating Him to spare her children, and especially the Priests, Secular and Regular. But the Most High refused to listen, and said to her: "Take the part of My Justice, and judge your own cause." At these words the Church took off all her ornaments, aided by three Angels, executioners of Divine Justice; reduced to this sad state, she became so weak that she could not support herself. Then Our Lord gave her a staff to support herself upon, and a veil to cover her head.

In her desolation she bitterly sobbed, and deplored the solitude in which her children had left her. Suddenly the Spirit of the Lord invested her with a bright and intense light, which, spreading itself in four different directions, accomplished great and wonderful things. In the mild rays of this glory, those who slumbered in error arose, and re-entered her bosom, surrounding her with homage and respect. The Church appeared more beautiful and resplendent than ever. Six of the principal Religious Orders appeared as so many firm and strong columns destined to sustain her.

But, before enjoying this triumph, she had to pass through evils so frightful, that Elizabeth's Confessor was terrified by them. Desirous to avert them, he ordered his heroic penitent to go to S. Mary Major and make an entire offering of herself, of all the benefits she had received, and of those which she was to receive, in union with the offering of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. Elizabeth piously hastened to obey; and at the moment when she offered herself to Our Lord, two Angels descended from Heaven, received her offering in two chalices which they gave to S. Felix of Valois and S. John of Matha, who presented them to the Blessed Virgin, and she presented them to the Holy Trinity. The two chalices were placed before the throne of the Most High, and there remained to appease His just anger.

Our Lord confided to her His secrets ; she wept unceasingly at seeing Him prepared to discharge upon the world the weight of His anger. She would have wished to deliver men, at the price of all her blood, from the evils which threatened them. But her prudent Confessor told her not to oppose the designs of God, and to content herself with praying in conformity with His Holy Will. She did so, and Our Lord, showing that He was moved, said to her : "This is a prayer worthy of Me." One day, however, the ardour of her zeal caused her to forget this rule. Having seen that God was about to show forth His Justice, she flew in spirit to the foot of His Throne, and incessantly prayed that He would stop His avenging arm. At that moment the chastisement would have drawn down upon many the loss of both body and soul.

One day she could not see, without extreme pain, so many persons of all ages and of every condition attach themselves to the perverse maxims of the world, and without shame outrage the God of all Majesty. In the ardour of her zeal to remedy this grave disorder, she offered herself to God to suffer all sorts of torments at the hands of men, and all kinds of vexations from devils. The Heavenly Father accepted her offering, and gave her the power of binding the devil who perverted so many souls, and of enclosing him in the abyss with the aid of two Fathers of the Order of the Holy Trinity. 

Mary Elizabeth Herbert, The Life of the Venerable Elizabeth Canori Mora, (London: R. Washbourne, 1878), pp101-104

 

Monday 7 September 2020

Apocalypse When? Catholic Millenarianism Rising

Below is a link to my article on Where Peter Is, covering the recent debacle concerning Fr. Michel Rodridgue and the milleanrian errors being promoted on the Countdown to the Kingdom website:

https://wherepeteris.com/apocalypse-when-catholic-millenarianism-rising/

Friday 28 August 2020

The Great Monarch, the "Warning" and the Duration of the Period of Peace



Mark Mallett and Daniel O'Connor have recently issued a couple of videos on the Countdown to the Kingdom website attempting to address some of my criticisms of their promotion of Fr. Iannuzzi's ideas concerning a millenarian "era of peace". While I don't hold any personal animosity towards either Mark or Daniel, the version of eschatology they are espousing is leading their regrettably sizable audience into a grave and dangerous millenarian error. Both Mallett and O'Connor reject Church Tradition concerning St. Augustine's amillennial interpretation of the Apocalypse in favour of a millennial "era of peace", which is foretold in a number of contemporary unapproved "private revelations", some of which have been rejected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (such as those of Edson Glauber). 

Even though St. Augustine's amillennialism has never been formally defined dogmatically, after his position concerning the Millennium of Rev 20 was first forwarded in the 5th century, it was universally accepted by the Tradition of the Church and has been ever since, which fulfils the criteria to identify it as a definitive teaching of the ordinary and universal Magisterium.  Mallett and O'Connor also ignore the prophecies of the Great Catholic Monarch and Angelic Pope in Catholic Tradition, made by numerous saints and blesseds, as well as apparitions which have full ecclesiastical approval, such as those of Our Lady of La Salette. The Great Monarch and Angelic Pope are foretold to restore the Church immediately before the coming of the Antichrist and the final Passover of the Church, as part of a ministry which echoes that of the Two Witnesses.

According to Mallett and O'Connor's view, the "era of peace" will only arrive after the Antichrist, and will last for a prolonged millennial epoch which will persist until the arrival of Gog and Magog at the end of a future thousand year binding of Satan, which they equate with a "final antichrist". As you can see from around the 45 minute mark on the below video, Mark Mallett repeatedly stumbles around the concept of the Great Monarch, before stating that he would not object to these prophecies if this figure arrives after the downfall of the Antichrist during the mooted invisible "Middle Coming" of Jesus to reign on earth in the Eucharist. Instead of attempting engage in a respectful academic dialogue, Daniel O'Connor also advises his audience to ignore my writings - without mentioning my name, lest he inadvertently alerts his audience to my research.




When we look to the doctors of the Church who have written about this subject, they concur that the Antichrist will only arrive at the very end of the world, immediately before the Second Coming of Christ:

Whereby He shows, that when Antichrist has come, the pursuit of unlawful pleasures shall be more eager among the transgressors, and those that have learned to despair of their own salvation. Then shall be gluttony, then revellings, and drunkenness. Wherefore also most of all He puts forth an example corresponding to the thing. For like as when the ark was making, they believed not, says He; but while it was set in the midst of them, proclaiming beforehand the evils that are to come, they, when they saw it, lived in pleasure, just as though nothing dreadful were about to take place; so also now, Antichrist indeed shall appear, after whom is the end, and the punishments at the end, and vengeance intolerable...(St. John Chrystom, Homily on Matthew, Chap 77)

But he who reads this passage, even half asleep, cannot fail to see that the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church before the last judgment of God shall introduce the eternal reign of the saints". (St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God XX:23)

For the Lord clearly teaches that after the persecution of Antichrist the last judgement will immediately follow [Matt 24]. Then all the good are going to eternal life, while all the wicked into the eternal fire, hence there is not going to be another thousand years, nor any battle. 
(St. Robert Bellarmine De Controversiis Book 3 Chap XVII)

We can thus see why Mallett and O'Connor have chosen to ignore the figure of the Great Monarch, since in Catholic Tradition this figure is equated with the biblical katechon - the restraining force holding back the appearance of the Antichrist mentioned by St. Paul:

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. (2Thes 2:3-8)

One of the oldest prophecies of the Great Monarch is found in the Apocalypse of Methodius, which also foretells the appearance of the sign of the cross before the Last Judgement. Ironically, this prophecy is also related to the central subject matter of Christine Watkins' book The Warning: Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Consciences, which has recently popularised Mallett and O'Connor's writings due to her endorsement of the Countdown to the Kingdom website:

…the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation of all will begin to appear before him at his coming to convict the lack of faith of unbelievers… When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the king of the Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition may be manifest.

According to Church Tradition, the Great Monarch will bring about the restoration the Church after a period of desolation, which I argue in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, is related to the current apostasy we are experiencing due to the period of the unbinding of Satan at the end of the "thousand years". After the Great Monarch brings about the renovation of the Church, the prophetic tradition tells us that he will lay down his crown on the Mount of Olives just immediately before the appearance of the Antichrist:

Some of our teachers say that a King of the Franks will possess the entire Roman Empire. He will be the greatest and last of all Monarchs. After having wisely governed his kingdom, he will go into Jerusalem and will lay his sceptre and his crown upon the Mount of Olives. Immediately afterwards, Antichrist will come.                                               (Adso of Montier-en-Der, De ortu et tempore Antichristi)

The only Church approved private revelation to give some indication of the duration of the period of peace is Melanie's 1849 version of the Secret of La Salette, which explicitly states that this period of renewal will not last long before the appearance of the Antichrist, and similarly connects the period of the restoration of the Church with the reign of the Great Monarch:

A great king will go up on the throne, and will reign many years. Religion will re-flourish and spread all over the world, and there will be a great abundance. The world, glad to be lacking nothing, will fall again into disorder, will give up God, and will return to its criminal passions. (Our Lady to Melanie Calvat)

The Church doctor St. Bonaventure also associates the renovation of the Church with the reign of the Great Monarch, and indicates that the restoration brought about by this figure will not last long before the arrival of the sudden destruction after the time of peace forewarned by St. Paul:

"no one knows how long that time of great peace will last since "when they said 'Peace and security,' then suddenly destruction came upon them" (Matt 24:21). The seventh time or age, that of quiet, begins with the shout of the angel who "swore through Him who lives forever and ever that there would be no more time; but in the days of the seventh angel the mystery of God will be completed" (Rev 10:6-7).
In the sixth age three things take place - excellence of victory, excellence of teaching, and excellence of the prophetic life.... In this age there ought to come a life through an order which will possess the prophetic life. This age is double. Just as in the Lord's Passion there was first light, then darkness, and then light, so it is necessary that first there be the light of teaching and that Josiah succeed Hezekiah, after which came the tribulation of the Jews through their captivity. It is necessary that one ruler, a defender of the Church, arise. He is either still to come or has already come. (He added: Would that he has not already come!) After him will come the darkness of tribulations..."

It was said to the angel of Philadelphia, the sixth angel: "He who is holy and true, who has the key of David, who opens and no man closes, closes and no man opens, says this - 'I know your works, and behold I have placed an open door before you'" (Rev 3:7). (And he said that now for the first time the understanding of Scripture would be given and that the revelation, or key of David, would be given to a person or a large group, but I think rather to a large group.) 
In the seventh age we know that these things will take place - the rebuilding of the Temple, the restoration of the city, and the granting of peace. Likewise in the coming seventh age there will be a restoration of Divine worship and a rebuilding of the city. Then the prophecy of Ezekiel will be fulfilled when the city comes down from heaven (Ezek 40); not indeed that city which is above, but that city which is below, the Church Militant which will then be conformed to the Church Triumphant as far as possible in this life. Then will be the building and restoration of the city as it was in the beginning. Then there will be peace. God alone knows how long that peace shall last.
(St. Bonaventure, Collation 16:17-19. Translated by McGinn, B. Visions of the End, pp199-200)

These numerous authentic prophecies concerning the restoration of the Church before the arrival of the Antichrist are closely associated with the ministry of the Two Witnesses, which is chiefly concerned with the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles and the conversion of the Jews before the Second Coming of Christ. Both scripture and the magisterium of the Church clearly teach that the conversion of the Jews will only take place immediately before the Parousia of Christ at the very end of the world.
St. Augustine explains how the ministry of Elijah is intimately connected to the conversion of the Jews foretold by the Prophet Malachi:

After admonishing them to give heed to the law of Moses, as he foresaw that for a long time to come they would not understand it spiritually and rightly, he went on to say, And, behold, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the great and signal day of the Lord come: and he shall turn the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his next of kin, lest I come and utterly smite the earth. Malachi 4:5-6 It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them. 
(St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, XX:29)

Basing itself on chapter 11 of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, the Catechism also explains that the Second Coming of Christ will take place immediately after the conversion of the Jews, which leaves absolutely no scope for an intervening millennial "era of peace" after this event:

The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come upon part of Israel" in their "unbelief" toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." St. Paul echoes him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles", will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all". (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para 674)

The Early Church Fathers had connected the conversion of the Jews promised in Rom 11 with the prophecy of Zech 12 and the appearance of the Sign of the Cross, which was later connected to the prophecies of the Great Monarch already mentioned above:

Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven; Matthew 24:30 that is, the cross being brighter than the sun, since this last will be darkened, and hide himself, and that will appear when it would not appear, unless it were far brighter than the beams of the sun. But wherefore does the sign appear? In order that the shamelessness of the Jews may be more abundantly silenced. For having the cross as the greatest plea, Christ thus comes to that judgment-seat, showing not His wounds only, but also the death of reproach. Then shall the tribes mourn, for there shall be no need of an accusation, when they see the cross; and they shall mourn, that by His death they are nothing benefited; because they crucified Him whom they ought to have adored.

Do you see how fearfully He has pictured His coming? How He has stirred up the spirits of His disciples? For this reason, let me add, He puts the mournful things first, and then the good things, that in this way also He may comfort and refresh them. And of His passion He suggests to them the remembrance, and of His resurrection, and with a display of glory, He mentions His cross, so that they may not be ashamed nor grieve, whereas indeed He comes then setting it forth for His sign. And another says, They shall look on Him whom they pierced. Therefore it is that they shall mourn, when they see that this is He.                      (St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Matthew, Chap 76)

It is thus fully apparent why Mallett and O'Connor wish to avoid discussing the prophecies of the Great Catholic Monarch and the conversion of the Jews, since they clearly establish that the period of the renewal of the Church takes place immediately before the time of the Antichrist, not after, during a millenarian "era of peace". The timeline presented by the authors of Countdown to the Kingdom is deeply flawed, and is effectively priming Catholics to reject the idea that the Church could be restored by the figures of the Great Monarch and Angelic Pope before the arrival of the Antichrist, as has been held from the earliest traditions of the Church, in accordance with the plain sense of Scripture. According to this timeline, the Great Monarch and Angelic Pope who bring about the restoration of the Church will potentially be rejected by the followers of Countdown to the Kingdom as the Beast and False Prophet of Rev 13, all in order to support the idea of a millenarian "era of peace" being espoused by alleged "seers" who are either unapproved or condemned by the Church. Therein lies the inherent dangers of rejecting the long standing Tradition of the Church concerning the Millennium and the restoration of the Church in favour of the millenarian prophecies of contemporary soothsayers.  

Monday 27 July 2020

"Countdown to the Kingdom" and Millenarian Heresy



St Robert Bellarime


I would like to notify readers about a new website that has been established by Canadian evangelist Mark Mallett and Daniel O'Connor, a New York Ph.D student who lays a claim to professorship, called "Countdown to the Kingdom".  This new website is being promoted by a hugely popular Catholic author, Catherine Watkins, whose book The Warning: Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Conscience, is currently one of the best-selling titles in the area of Mariology. Watkins has established her own publishing company, Queen of Peace Media, and has featured on Shalom World TV. Given this platform, Queen of Peace Media's YouTube channel has quickly developed a huge following, and Watkins' promotion of Mallett and O'Connor's new website has in turn garnered a substantial following for them.

Mallett closely follows the type of spiritual millenarianism promoted by Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi and the Divine Will Movement, which is essentially a "Catholic" version of the popular form of millennialism espoused by the Protestant dispensationalist movement in America. Various media outlets heavily promote the Rapture theology of dispensationalism, and as a direct result of this influence, a large number of Catholics in America have attempted to align this popular form of millennialism with certain prophetic elements found in Catholic eschatology - most notably the "period of peace" promised by Our Lady of Fatima. The result of this religious syncretism is the millenarian teachings of the Divine Will Movement, which has been given its most systematic treatment in the collective works of Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi, and widely promoted by his various followers, including the likes of Mark Mallett. It is no coincidence that this eschatological novelty first arose in North America from around the middle of the 20th century, just as the millennialism of the dispensationalist movement found increasing popularity in wider American culture, mostly due to the influence of preachers such as Hal Lindsey and Billy Graham.

The Divine Will Movement rejects the amillenialism of St Augustine in favour of a "spiritual" version of the Chiliasm held by some early Christians, and holds that the "period of peace" promised by Our Lady of Fatima is actually an "era" that is equated with the Millennium of Rev 20. During this future "era of peace", they hold that Satan will be fully chained and all evil on earth will cease to exist. This is because the freedom of choice necessitated by human free will is going to be removed, and every person on earth will live according to the "Divine Will", during the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, in fulfilment of the Lord's Prayer that "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". This notion is essentially the same as Quietism, which condemned as a heresy by Pope Innocent XI in 1687 in the papal bull Coelestis Pastor.

In his papal encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI categorically ruled out the idea that the "kingdom of the good" could be definitively established on earth because of the permanent reality of human free will and original sin:

Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined—good—state of the world, man's freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all. (para 24)

The Divine Will Movement teaches that the establishment of this terrestrial paradise will be inaugurated on earth during a "Middle Coming" of Christ to reign with the resurrected saints for the duration of the Millennium of Rev 20. They closely follow the dual-antichrist eschatology of Joachim de Fiore, and posit the arrival of two separate antichrist figures, one before and one after the Millennium.  The first antichrist figure will be slain by Christ during the event of the "Middle Coming" to establish the millennial reign on earth, and the final "tail/Gog" antichrist rises up to make one last assault against the Church at the end of the Millennium, when the forces of Satan once again surround the camp of the saints before the "Final Coming" of Christ in glory.  This contradicts the most authorative account on the Antichrist given by the Church Doctor St. Robert Bellarmine, who  teaches that there is only one Antichrist who comes at the very end of time, and that the opinion of Lactantius:

"...was also of many of the older Fathers, such as Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Apollonaris and of a few others, as Jerome relates in chapter XXXVI of Ezechiel, and Eusebius. But for a long time it had been refuted as an investigated error. For the Lord clearly teaches that after the persecution of Antichrist the last judgement will immediately follow [Matt 24]. Then all the good are going to eternal life, while all the wicked into the eternal fire, hence there is not going to be another thousand years, nor any battle. 
(St. Robert Bellarmine De Controversiis Book 3 Chap XVII)

St. Augustine of Hippo reiterates this point forcefully:

"But he who reads this passage, even half asleep, cannot fail to see that the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church before the last judgment of God shall introduce the eternal reign of the saints". (City of God XX:23)

The adherents of the Divine Will Movement attempt to bypass the charge of millenarianism by arguing that this only rules out a physical return of Christ in "the Flesh" to establish the Millennium on earth, and that because they teach that this "Middle Coming" of Jesus will be spiritual in nature, this is not the same as the form of millenarianism that was condemned by the Church. In doing so, they confine the meaning of the word millenarianism to relate solely to the teachings of ancient Chiliasm - which is specifics which this word simply does not have. Since the middle of the 20th century, the word millenarianism has been used by academics to cover a wide range of eschatological theories which postulate the imminent arrival of an earthly utopia. The teachings of Joachim de Fiore are classified in modern academia as the most famous example of millenarian thought in the Middle Ages, and they similarly posit an earthly utopia in the form of an "age of the Spirit", rather than the physical return of Christ to rule on earth for the duration of the Millennium posited in Chiliasm. So to attempt to argue that millenarianism is solely confined to a physical return of Jesus in the Flesh is an utter fallacy which can be discarded from the outset.

The word millenarianism covers a much broader array of eschatological teachings, and refers to the creation of any sort of terrestrial paradise, and can be non-Christian or even secular in nature. When we look to the Catechism, the type of millenarianism which is most vigorously condemned is "secular messianism" - the idea that a secular state can fulfill the role of "messiah" through the creation of an earthly utopia:

The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism... (CCC 676)

So the Catechism most certainly isn't condemning merely the idea of a return of Christ in the Flesh to establish the millennial kingdom on earth before the events of the new creation, but rather the secular type of millenarianism which gave birth to the communist and fascist movements of the 20th century. The revolutionary spirit which is fomented by the ideals of millenarianism is the main reason the Joachite movement was so vehemently rejected by the Medieval Church, most notably by St. Thomas Aquinas.

The central concept of millenarianism has practical implications which have historically led to bloody revolutions and genocides, all when the quest to establish the perfect society on earth has ultimately went awry. The goal of "immanentizing the eschaton" (Voeglin) lies at the very core of what is being condemned by the Catechism. This is the Promethean attempt to realise within history the messianic hope that can only be established on earth beyond the general resurrection of the dead, which takes place at the Last Judgement, after which the creation of the new heaven and the new earth is finally established. The temptation for humanity to place itself on the throne of the Creator is the goad which the Ancient Serpent first lay before Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis:

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.  (CCC 676)

Given the sudden popularity of Fr. Iannuzzi's millenarian theories through the promotion of Mark Mallett and Daniel O'Connor's new website by a best-selling Catholic author, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will now surely be forced into issuing a clarification on this matter. These authors have distorted the promises of Our Lady of Fatima into a bizarre millenarian heresy, and their collective works should be avoided by all faithful Catholics. 

Update:

It has recently emerged that Christine Watkins book The Warning: Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Conscience has been given a fake imprimatur from Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who controversially granted a canonically invalid imprimatur to Vassula Ryden. Ryden was condemned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for her espousal of a millenarian style "era of peace".

See the below post at Kevin Symonds' website:



Fr. Iannuzzi had used this fake imprimatur in a attempt to falsely assert that Ryden's book was approved by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Church Militant TV has recently exposed the fact that not only was this imprimatur fake, but that Vassula Ryden also falsely claims that her book has been published by Cambridge University Press. See the below post:


Also, Mark Mallett appears to make some sort of effort to address some of the criticism in the above post at the Countdown to the Kingdom website: 


Mallett attempts to separate secular messianism from millenarianism, in order to keep the pretense that millenarianism only refers to the coming of Christ in the Flesh to rule with the saints for the future "thousand year" period described in the Apocalypse. However, the Catechism clearly states that secular messianism is a form of millenarianism. Indeed the very worst form of it: 

"The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism" (CCC 676)

Of course, secular messianism has nothing to do with Christ coming in the Flesh, but instead refers to the danger of secular powers attempting to assume a type of messianism, promising deliverance from a current unjust political system through revolutionary means. In the footnotes to this paragraph in the Catechism, it specifically highlights the dangers presented by Nazism and Communism in the 20th century. The upshot of this is that if secular messianism is a form of millenarianism, then the spiritual Chiliasm espoused by Fr. Iannuzzi, Mallett and O'Connor is most certainly just yet another form of millenarianism, all of which are condemned by the Catechism as the "deception of the Antichrist".

Below is Norman Cohn's appraisal of the definition of millenarianism as used in the modern academic sense of the word. Cohn was one of the most influential scholars of the 20th century to specialise in the area of millenarianism, and his work had a clear influence on Cardinal Ratzinger when he composed the section in the Catechism condemning millenarian beliefs:

"... in recent years it has become customary amongst anthropologists and sociologists, and to some extent amongst historians too, to use the word 'millenarianism' in a more liberal sense still. The word has in fact become simply a convenient label for a particular type of salvationism. And that is the way it will be employed in this book.
Millenarian sects or movements always picture salvation as
(a) collective, in the sense that it is to be enjoyed by the faithful as a collectivity;
(b) terrestrial, in the sense that it is to be realized on this earth and not in some other-worldly heaven;
(c) imminent, in the sense that it is to come both soon and suddenly;
(d) total, in the sense that it is utterly to transform life on earth, so that the new dispensation will be no mere improvement on the present but perfection itself;
(e) miraculous, in the sense that it is to be accomplished by, or with the help of, supernatural agencies.
Even within these limits there is of course room for infinite variety: there are countless possible ways of imagining the Millennium and the route to it. Millenarian sects and movements have varied in attitude from the most violent aggressiveness to the mildest pacifism and from the most ethereal spirituality to the most earthbound materialism. And they have also varied greatly in social composition and social function.
There was certainly great variety amongst the millenarian sects and movements of medieval Europe. At the one extreme were the so-called 'Franciscan Spirituals' who flourished in the thirteenth century."
See Cohn, N. The Pursuit of the Millennium, (Oxford: OUP, 1957), pp15-16