From Lifesite:

Cardinals Raymond Burke and George Pell will not remain members of the Congregation for Divine Worship, the Vatican has confirmed in a list of the liturgical office’s new members.

Burke and Pell are known for their Catholic orthodoxy and strongly pro-life and pro-marriage stances. Burke is one of the four cardinals who has formally requested that Pope Francis clarify whether Amoris Laetitia is at odds with Catholic moral teaching. After the cardinals’ request went unanswered for two months, the cardinals went public with their concerns. Burke has said cardinals will need to make a “formal act of correction” if Pope Francis doesn’t clarify the serious errors related to the exhortation.https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinals-burke-pell-removed-from-congregation-for-divine-worship

The recent events in Japan were too close to the publication date of my book to be included in the text, so I have decided to add some musings on these events here. In Unveiling the Apocalypse, I discuss how the Marian apparitions in Egypt have been attempted to be explained scientifically by corresponding them with unusual weather phenomena such as so-called “earthquake lights” or St Elmo’s fire. Earthquakes and fires of heavenly origin are often described in the Bible as phenomena associated with theophany:
Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

He bowed the heavens and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,

thick clouds dark with water.

Out of the brightness before him

hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

(Psalm 18:7-12)

The passage in the Book of Kings concerning Elijah’s flight to Horeb is another good example of this phenomena during a theophany:

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1Kings 19:11-13)

It is not entirely impossible that “science” (to be used in quotation marks because science still cannot explain earthquake lights or St. Elmo’s fire) can be reconciled with the metaphysical in regards to these phenomena. Unexplained lights that coincide with earthquakes have been observed for the past century by meteorologists, but they have been occurring since long before. The writers of the Bible undoubtedly interpreted such phenomena as supernatural or even Divine in origin.

The case of the Marian apparitions of Egypt simply cannot be put down to unusual weather phenomena, given that they have all taken place on the roof of various churches in locations throughout Egypt associated with the Holy Family’s escape from Herod.

It is interesting that the phenomena known as “earthquake lights” occurred in Tokyo during an aftershock following the Japanese Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 which caused the Fukushima nuclear reactor to go into meltdown.

The Tohoku region of Japan contains six prefectures, one of which is that of Akita – the location of the apparitions of Our Lady to Sr. Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in 1973. During these apparitions, which are officially approved by the Catholic Church, Our Lady foretold a terrible fate of humanity’s destruction by fire.

“If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the Bishops and the priests.

…Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able to still save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in Me will be saved.”

In Unveiling the Apocalypse, I argue that the battle of Armageddon will follow shortly after the megatsunami generated by the collapse of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands (see the earlier post on the megatsunami here). The political landscape would be considerably different in the wake of this disaster, which will undoubtedly see the collapse of the US as a world power. In the book I argue that this could create a power vacuum which would be ripe for the rise to power of the Antichrist, who in turn will bring about the battle of Armageddon – a nuclear conflict which will bring about the demise of humanity. I also argue that the megatsunami will be part of the wider effects of the “eschatological earthquake” described in the Bible, which centres on Jerusalem and accompanies the appearance of the Sign of the Son of Man.

Could the connection between Our Lady of Akita, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and following nuclear disaster forewarn of these future events – a nuclear conflict brought about by the eschatological earthquake centred on Jerusalem and the related Cumbre Vieja megatsunami? Interestingly, another unusual light phenomenon occurred over the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem less than two months prior to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on January 28th 2011. This “UFO” event was captured on video-camera from multiple angles around the city. Could this provide a bridging connection?

View video’s here

http://unveilingtheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/our-lady-of-akita-and-japanese-tsunami.html

For the first time in almost 2,000 years, scientists have examined Jesus’s tomb; what they have found underlines the truth of the Gospels

Last week, for the first time in its history of nearly 2,000 years, the tomb (sepulchre) of Jesus was examined by archaeologists and conservationists. Never before has it been subject to scientific scrutiny. These men of science, accompanied by a group of selected priests and monks, were surprised by what they saw. Despite centuries of damp, wars and more than a dozen earthquakes, everything in the rock-cut cave chamber is still intact. It has been central to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or, as it is called by Orthodox Christians, the Church of the Anastasis (the Resurrection), since it was commissioned 1,670 years ago by Emperor Constantine a year after the Council of Nicaea.

Not only is the rough burial shelf hewn from rock in one piece, but an additional feature was noted which verifies that the holy tomb conforms to standard burial chambers of the era. Remnants of the original 6ft-high walls which had been cut into the ancient limestone quarry still stand on the bedrock. There was also a broken slab of marble protecting the burial slab on which a small cross is carved.

Equally important is how the features seen and photographed by the scientists tie in with the descriptions of Jesus’s burial and tomb in the New Testament. Fr Athanasius Macora, who looks after the Catholic interest in the church, explained: “Nothing contradicted what is described in the Gospels.”

Fr David Neuhaus, patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics, described the emotion of witnessing the moment of the uncovering of the tomb by the National Technical University of Athens, using physical strength and metal ropes: “It was very moving for all of us; a real……..

Rest of the story here.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/11/23/a-glimpse-inside-christs-burial-place/

The remains of Archbishop Fulton Sheen are to be moved from St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to the Illinois city of Peoria after a two-year dispute between the two dioceses.

A New York judge ruled in favour of a lawsuit launched by the Diocese of Peoria to bring the remains back to where Archbishop Sheen first served as an altar boy and then was ordained a priest.

The dispute led to the suspension of Archbishop Sheen’s Cause two years ago.

Two years earlier the Vatican had declared the archbishop – an early televangelist who presented the television programme “Life Is Worth Living” in the 1950s – to have lived a life of “heroic virtue”, meaning he is described as Venerable.

A possible miracle is being investigated that would pave the way for his beatification.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/11/18/remains-of-archbishop-fulton-sheen-to-be-moved-to-peoria/

When Zack Clements of Brownwood, TX, was 17, he collapsed while running during gym class and went into cardiac arrest.

In the blink of an eye, the teenager went from being an active, healthy, and normal athlete at Victory Life Academy to laying lifelessly on the ground.

For 20 minutes, Zack had no pulse and was “legally” dead. But then something happened that many people still cannot medically or scientifically explain.

Zack’s pulse suddenly returned to normal and he was revived. Three days later, he awoke at Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, TX, with no lasting effects from his terrifying ordeal.

As if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, it’s what the teenager said when he woke up three days later at the hospital that made his story to go viral.

His parents, Billy and Theresa, were so surprised by their son’s admission that they videotaped him recounting what he saw during those 20 minutes he went without a pulse.