A Time to Weep

A Flaming Sword: Nuclear-capable missile fired over California in November, 2015
Caters News Agency, (Abe Blair)

1917:

…at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’—Sr. Lucia of Fatima, July 13th, 1917

1937:

I saw the Lord Jesus, like a king in great majesty, looking down upon our earth with great severity; but because of His Mother’s intercession He prolonged the time of His mercy…the Lord answered me, “I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation.” —St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 126I, 1160

1965:

Although the world of today has a very vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. For political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. —Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes; vatican.va

2000:

The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgment which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword.—Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI) The Message of Fatima, from www.vatican.va

2002:

Today I willingly entrust to the power of this prayer [the Rosary]… the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family. —POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 39;

2003:

There will be no peace on earth while the oppression of peoples, injustices, and economic imbalances, which still exist, endure. —POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II, Ash Wednesday Mass, 2003

2005:

…the threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe, Europe and the West in general… Light can also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its full seriousness in our hearts… —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Opening Homily, Synod of Bishops,October 2nd, 2005, Rome.

2007:

…the danger of an increase in the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons causes well-founded apprehension in every responsible person. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, December 11th, 2007; USA Today

2013:

Weapons and violence do not lead to peace, war leads to more war. —POPE FRANCIS, September 1, 2013; france24.com

2014:

War is madness… even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a Third War, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction… Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep. —POPE FRANCIS, September 13th, 2015; BBC.com

2015-2016:

Pope Francis declares a “Jubilee of Mercy.”

Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.
—Jesus to St. Faustina; Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 300

…before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice… —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 1146

2017:

The winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline. —POPE FRANCIS, Urbi et Orbi, December 25th, 2017; Yahoo.com

…no war is just. The only just thing is peace. —POPE FRANCIS, from Politique et Société, an interview with Dominique Wolton; cf. catholicherald.com

2018:

I think we are at the very limit. I am really afraid of this. One accident is enough to precipitate things. —POPE FRANCIS, aboard flight to Chile and Peru, Reuters, January 15th, 2018; yahoo.com

2020:

“War brings only death and destruction…” there is a “terrible air of tension… I call upon all parties to fan the flame of dialogue and self-control, and to banish the shadow of enmity.” —POPE FRANCIS, Angelus, Vatican City, January 5th, 2020; vaticannews.va

2020:

We need to break with the present climate of distrust. At present, we are witnessing an erosion of multilateralism, which is all the more serious in light of the development of new forms of military technology, such as lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) which irreversibly alter the nature of warfare, detaching it further from human agency… —POPE FRANCIS, Address to the United Nations, September 25th, 2020; catholicnewsagency.com

2022:

I would like to appeal to those with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war; who is the Father of all, not just of some, who wants us to be brothers and not enemies… May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war. —POPE FRANCIS, General Audience, February 23rd, 2022; vatican.va

2022:

The madness is on all sides because war is madness …some are thinking of nuclear weapons — which is madness. —POPE FRANCIS, General Audience, August 24th; General Audience, Sept. 21st

2023:

The whole world is at war and self-destruction, we must stop in time! —POPE FRANCIS, press conference aboard the papal plane on the return flight to Rome from South Sudan, February 5th, 2023; vaticannews.va

And let it be understood that terrorism and war do not lead to any resolutions, but only to the death and suffering of so many innocent people. War is a defeat! —POPE FRANCIS, October 8, 2023; melbournecatholic.org

Syria, April 13th, 2018; AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

A woman embraces the body of a Palestinian child killed
at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip,
October 17, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)

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My dearly children beloved, my heart is torn by grief and my tears bathe the earth. Children, again blood and pain will tear my poor heart; the rumbling of wars that were distant are now at the gates. Everything that I had been announcing for a long time will come to pass; now the time has come. Children, pray and do not fall into the temptation of thinking that God has forgotten you; each one of you is precious in His eyes. Children, each of you has been paid for dearly, my son Jesus died for each one of you and loves you immensely, but unfortunately man, more and more, wants to take His place. Dearly beloved children (Mother was crying as she was speaking), you will experience momentous times, you will live in lament and pain; pray, children, make your life a continuous prayer. My children, the weapon for facing these moments of darkness and pain and for ensuring that all of this is mitigated, is prayer, and staying before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament: it is there that you will draw the greatest strength! —Our Lady of Zaro allegedly to Angela; Ischia, Italy; April 8th, 2017 (translation by Peter Bannister)

First published Nov. 11th, 2015; updated today.