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Appendix IV
Reprinted with permission
from The Fatima Crusader Issue 48.
Archbishop Milingo’s Dramatic Speech
The
following is an edited transcript of the talk Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo
gave to the Second Bishops’ Conference on World Peace in Mexico City,
on Sunday, November 13, 1994.
Archbishop
Milingo, former Ordinary of Lusaka, Zambia, now holds a high position
in the Vatican itself. He has been living and working in Rome for over
10 years. He is not only one of the youngest men ever to be appointed
Archbishop (at the age of 39) he has had vast experience in many different
aspects of Catholic Church life.
Over
1,000,000 people have been personally inspired or touched by one or
another of the Archbishop's apostolic works. Widely travelled, he came
to the Bishops' Conference from the Vatican after a stopover of several
days in Japan.
High Level Intervention
In one of the most electrifying presentations
by the bishops present at the Conference, Archbishop Milingo gives us
a living example of a true shepherd willing to fearlessly defend Our
Lady of Fatima's message, the Catholic Bishops and our Fatima Apostolate’s
rights to meet and freely discuss Her message.
by
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo
Let us be very honest. The Fatima responsibility
of the consecration is not in the hands of the bishops. It would happen
instantly if the order to do it came from the Pope. The bishops would
be there. If some objected, I'm quite sure it would not be many because
the Marian Movement on the whole is suddenly having a lot of impact
in the Church. I myself have witnessed twenty thousand people gathering
in traditional processions. Thousands of people come.
Thousands Write The Pope
I also have received thousands of letters
that were addressed to the Pope for the Consecration of Russia to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. I myself have brought from my office directly
to the Secretariat of State many, many, many of these letters since
1991.
Letters still come from all over the world asking for this consecration. I send them myself to the Secretariat of State. I am quite certain that is where they are stopped.
Abuse of “Obedience”
I really do not blame the bishops. If
some resist, they are just a few. And letters like this (holding up
a letter against the Fatima Peace Conference signed by a Secretary of
State official) will make some of the bishops have no courage. They
are unable to participate at a conference like this one.
But on the other hand,
this letter from the Nuncio telling us not to come to this Conference
shows, as a matter of fact, how one can misunderstand obedience.
This says to those who came here, you were disobedient because an official
letter told you not to come.
Then people tremble in their trousers.
What a pity! It is a humiliation to a human being who is an apostle,
a humiliation — intended to prevent him from fulfilling his duties according
to his own personality and character. Because of a letter like this
such a one will not come to this Conference.
It is sad. It is humiliating. It lowers
the dignity of a human being to have a letter like this going around
that actually prevents someone from coming to a conference for Our Lady.
Meanwhile you have been chosen to be bishops to bear the responsibilities
in your own dioceses. There you have got someone suspending your authority
in carrying out all your duties and fulfilling your responsibilities.
Suspension of Authority
It is clear that they are living under
suspended authority. No letter such as this should be able to affect
how we govern in our own dioceses. Coming here to the Conference does
not at all affect my policy in my diocese and does not at all touch
my relation with the Church as a whole. I am going to a meeting. I go
to other meetings, not only meetings about Fatima.
I go to different meetings, so why should
I be controlled when I actually come to a meeting like this one. This
is a great humiliation, as far as I am concerned, to circulate a letter
like this to the bishops and actually pressure the bishops into not
coming.
I came here purposely. Yes, purposely.
I wrote back to the Secretary of State to say please will you send me
a letter and let me have the permission that is needed. They wrote again.
One letter had three signatures. 1 told my secretary, let them know
I am going to the Fatima Peace Conference!
I Am An
Apostle
Evidently, I’ll be able myself to answer
them very, very clearly because I am responsible for what I’m doing.
I am not one whose authority is suspended. Not at
all. I am an apostle. That means I accept full responsibility
for what I’m doing.
If this letter represents their way to
control us, it means that they don't trust the people to whom they have
given authority.
And that doesn’t do at all! That is not
at all correct.
I Will Tell the Holy Father
Myself
Therefore I am very happy to take this
letter signed by the Papal Nuncio to the Holy Father. I’ll be very open
to him about it, because I have already gone this route.
I’ll tell the Holy Father in writing.
I will find channels through which to reach him and send this. I will
explain about this, that I have been there, but I take full responsibility
for coming here and I accept the consequences.
And I can assure you there will be no
consequences. I will say if you have bishops who cannot carry out the
Message of Fatima, let we who are in the field, who do not have dioceses but have
the people, have a chance. We may not be able to have a great influence
on having the Consecration done tomorrow but we will be able to tell
the people the demands of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We are able to do that, to the last degree. We know how to present it and we continue to present it. Ours is not just a diocese, it's the world, and we do have thousands and thousands of people that we deal with. Therefore, with regards to the Message of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we have occasions, we have opportunity, we are able to give that.
Catholics Being Swept Away
Basically I’d like to insist on this:
that each and every one of us in this world must become evangelizers.
The Kingdom of God demands violence, Pope Paul VI said already everyone
must become an evangelizer. We are unable to make this happen.
That is why thousands of people, like
in Zimbabwe, who have just come into the Church, now are going to evangelical
groups. We have got in Italy a second religion, the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Imagine that! And in France, Moslems, and so on. Why?
Because our own people
are fixed in certain stages such as baptism, marriage, first communion
and so on. But in between there is nothing to fill in. Therefore,
they are swept away by so many other doctrines that come in. Consequently
we find that they become victims.
Why? Because we are
never able to make them disciples. Nevertheless, Jesus came to
make disciples.
Standing on Your Own Feet
Not one of us will go to Heaven without
holding a brother, a sister. Each and every one of us must step out
of the crowd and stand on one's own feet strong enough to be a Christian,
able to give testimony for that Christianity.
I know a man who was praying one day and
the priest was confessing him — the power of the presence of God was
shaking the priest even in the confessional. Imagine how powerfully
God manifested Himself on that particular occasion!
We are acting as if this Catholic Faith
were a private affair. This is not true at all. There is a lot still
to be done even if the opening for the Consecration to be done is not
yet there. Nevertheless, I think we can still go very, very far if we
make each and every one of our Catholics concerned with the whole welfare
of the world.
The world must be saved and it must be
saved through each one of us.
To
reach Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, write him at his office:
The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants,
Piazza S. Calisto No. 16, 00153 Rome, Italy.
