Pope Benedict, Our Lady and the Fifth Marian Dogma

The photo above is of the Shrine of Our Lady of All Nations in Amsterdam. Here is the official website. Pope Benedict's visit to Fatima was well reported in the Catholic Herald which printed his homily in full. Dr. Mark Miravalle, Professor of Theology at Steubenville, commenting on the Pope's visit, drew attention to an important meeting in Rome on March 25th of this year. This was a meeting to discuss the possibility of a fifth Marian dogma. There have been meetings about this before in Rome as well as conferences in different places. I have attended two in England over the last ten years, and had the privilege of hearing some of our best Catholic theologians speak on this and related topics. The Holy Father's entrustment of the Church and her priests to The Immaculate Heart of Mary is of great significance at this time of crisis. To some of us, the need of our Heavenly Mother's intercession was never more obvious. So much of what we have been (and still are) suffering in these days can be put into context through a deeper appreciation of the Message of Fatima. I would also add that a reading of the messages of Our Lady of All Nations can also help to put recent events into bold relief, especially with regard to priests.

My mother's recent death brought many graces. One of them was a deeper appreciation of the gift of motherhood, and this, in turn, has made me think again about Our Lady and the commission given to her at the foot of the Cross. I am in the process of writing an article on the Motherhood of Our Lady in relation to the Mass. It was to be a talk at the last Ushaw conference for priests learning the 1962 Latin Mass (my mother's death intervened). Some of the content has been changed because of recent events. I was also recently in Amsterdam, and was able to visit the shrine of Our Lady of All Nations. I had arranged to visit two churches, one in Amsterdam, the other in Utrecht where I celebrated Mass, gave a talk on Our Lady from the "True Life in God" messages, and prayed for healing and deliverance. Continuing to think about Our Lady's motherhood and the power of her intercession convinces me again of the need for that fifth dogma.