Cardinal
Carlo Caffarra – who died just a few weeks ago – revealed in 2008 that
shortly after Pope John Paul II charged him with founding the Pontifical
Institute for the Studies on Marriage and the Family he had written to
Fatima visionary, Sr. Lucia, asking for her prayers. To his surprise, a
few days later he received a lengthy response from Sr. Lucia. Included
in her letter was this startling statement:
The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.
However,
Sr. Lucia also offered words of encouragement to Cardinal Caffarra, who
had just stepped into the front ranks of this battle, adding: Don’t
be afraid, because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and
the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this
is the decisive issue.
Sr. Lucia concluded: However, Our Lady has already crushed its head.
How
can we not be overwhelmed by these words, simultaneously troubling and
comforting, when we look around and see that not only our secular
culture but even Holy Mother Church are being convulsed with dissension precisely in relation to fundamental questions surrounding marriage and the family?
The
enemies of Christ have long set their eyes on the family, recognizing
that the family, as the domestic church, first government, first school,
first hospital, first economy and the first mediating institution of
society, is the primary obstacle to their moral revolution.
