Francis and the power of a moment

Pope Francis, Roman Catholic pontiff, has once more demonstrated his capacity to capture a moment with a surprise visit to Fatima, one of the most popular of the Christian pilgrimage sites. In Portugal for an International meeting focused on youth, near Lisbon, Francis traveled to Fatima in central Portugal and, by his visit, drew attention to the “miracle of Fatima” which has attracted pilgrims by the thousands over the course of a century.

The iconography of Fatima is that of the Blessed Virgin, the Blessed Mother, and an injuction to “pray for peace”. It’s worth examining the stories associated with the visitations witnessed by the three children. There are predictions, for example, of a war to come that is “more grievous than the current one” (i.e., WWI) and a special outpouring of compassion for Russia, which at that time was soon to undergo the revolution. The Virgin herself is depicted (by the children) as a woman robed in white and more radiant than the Sun.

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A shrine to the Virgin of Fatima on a site in East Timor. For over 10 centuries the image of the divine feminine (as seen in a western European context) has fired devotion from monks, sisters, and secular individuals all over the world. The “Fathers” of the church have always had a problem with this. The fact remains that Jesus wasn’t there during the apparitions of the Blessed Mother, even though you’ll see his image prominently displayed in the basilica and environs of the Fatima site.

In his recent visit, Francis consecrated Ukraine into the compassion of the Blessed Mother’s “immaculate heart”, and the Vatican described his visit as one of “prayer for peace in the Ukraine conflict and all the wars that poison our world.”

These gestures by a leading faith figure carry real meaning. They incite millions of people to put their thoughts on the possibility of a world not governed by violence and warfare. The goal of a “non-violent Man” has animated The Prosperos mission for over 60 years. Our approach to understanding what we call Cosmic Intention differs radically from traditional prayer. At the same time Prosperos students learn the power of collective images such as the Blessed Mother and understand that the emergence of the compassion of such a figure depends upon each person finding in themselves the seeds of understanding and allowing those seeds to multiply in the garden of their relationships and in their relationship with what, these days, passes for “politics”.