Another Boost to the Worship of Mary
The Church of Rome has recently certified “The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help”, in Wisconsin, where an apparition of Mary allegedly appeared in 1859, as a place of pilgrimage. It is the only one of its kind in the USA and is classed with such sites as Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal. Sadly, to the more than seven million who, in any year, make pilgrimages to the approved sites, the apparitions and messages are very real and are vital to their religion. Devotion to Mary is absolutely central in their worship.
When the last pope was shot, he prayed to Mary, repeatedly calling on her, “Mary, my mother!” When he recovered, he went to Fatima to give Mary, publicly, all the glory for saving his life. Two years later at Fatima, before the largest assembly of bishops and cardinals since the Second Vatican Council, he “consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. Little wonder he is regarded as the Marian pope.
At the last pope’s funeral, the present pope, while still a cardinal, entrusted the soul of the dead pope “to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son”. When he himself was elected pope he invoked, in front of the cardinals, “the maternal intercession of Mary most holy, in whose hands I place the present and the future of my person and of the Church.”
The subjects of the popes likewise worship Mary. For example, a Mexican woman said recently about her, “I pray to her every day. When I have problems, I pray to her.” Tragically, the poor woman’s words echo those of multitudes like her who are deceived by these Marian errors. Worse still is the fact that they trust in Mary as a mediator between them and God, instead of Christ, the “one mediator between God and men”. They have been taught that “Mary rules over the kingdom of mercy and Jesus rules over the kingdom of justice”, and so they prefer to go to her. They believe too that she is a co-redemer with Christ. The present pope’s namesake, Benedict XV, blasphemously said of Mary: “One can justly say that, with Christ, she herself redeemed mankind”.
Rome believes there is no salvation outside of Mary, as Liguori, a leader in the Marianist Movement, taught in his book, The Glories of Mary. In line with this, Pope Pius IX stated, “Our salvation is based upon the holy Virgin”.
How heretical, when Mary herself was resting for salvation on the One of whom Scripture says, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11). May multitudes who mistakenly lean on Mary be brought to rest on Christ, the Rock of Salvation. NMR