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One of the main events requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima was made by Our Lady on June 13, 1929 that the Holy Father, in communion with all the Bishops of the world, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. On 25th March 1984, the Feast of the Annunciation, Pope John Paul II performed a ‘whole world consecration’ to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.

Much controversy arose among some as to whether The consecration of Russia specifically was ever done, although the remaining visionary, Sister Lucia, is quoted as saying before her death that the consecration had been done and accepted.

Regardless, according to the Vatican News Service, we are about to see the entire world consecrated to the Immaculate Heart by Pope Francis on October 13, 2013.  The pilgrim statue of Fatima will be flown to Rome on October 12th and after the consecration on the 13th it will be flown back to Fatima.

Several prayer events are planned for the 12th as well as a pilgrimage with the statue to the Tomb of Saint Peter along with prayer and meditation. Pope Francis will celebrate Mass the following day and make the consecration.  

The event will be attended by hundreds of religious movements and institutions that have a special Marian devotion.  This Mass is one of the last main events scheduled for the “Year of Faith” that will conclude on November 24, 2013.

August 9th a memorial Mass was held at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama for Father James Coyle who was murdered on August 11, 1921 .  For those who have forgotten….or perhaps never knew….anti-Catholicism, encouraged by the Ku Klux Klan, was rampant in the United States throughout much of the deep south at that time.  Father Coyle, a native of Ireland, came to the U.S.  and eventually was assigned to the parish in Birmingham.  

The daughter of a local Methodist pastor, E.R. Stephenson, converted to the Catholic faith, a fact that enraged her father.  When it became known that Father Coyle had secretly married her daughter to a Puerto Rican immigrant, Stephenson approached Father Coyle at the rectory and shot him three times in view of everyone.  

The ensuing trial was a sham and Stephenson was acquitted.  

The encouraging part of this story is the fact that On February 22, 2012, Bishop William H. Willimon of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church presided over a service of reconciliation and forgiveness at Highlands United Methodist Church in Birmingham.

Father Coyle is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, a ten-foot high Celtic cross marking his resting place. Plans are underway to re-inter his body near the Cathedral of St. Paul in downtown Birmingham.

 To learn more about this courageous priest click here (source for this article).

August 10, 1945 was the date that the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.  The first, Hiroshima, was two days earlier.  It was felt that just one bomb would not be enough to convince the fanatical Japanese military to surrender, since they might assume this was a one-time event and the U.S. military did not have the capability to repeat it.  That thinking came to an end on August 10th, and although some of the Japanese leadership still wanted to fight to the death, the emperor Hirohito intervened and announced the unconditional surrender.  Of course much debate raged over the use of the atomic bomb, but there is no doubt that thousands….and probably hundreds of thousands…of lives, both Japanese and American, were saved by avoiding a land invasion of Japan.

Nagasaki was famous long before that date as  the heartland of Catholicism in Japan.  It was here that 26 Jesuit priests were martyred in 1597.  Today a museum stands here in memory of those martyrs and is  fascinating look at the early efforts to evangelize among the Japanese.  To learn more about the 26 Martyrs Museum in Nagasaki click here.

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Gradually over the last few weeks the damage caused by the floods has been fixed and things are basically back to normal at the Shrine.  This is welcome news for the thousands of pilgrims who visit the site every day.

Pope Francis will be leading the Angelus at noon Sunday from the window of the Papal apartment at the Vatican.  Although it is vacation time in Rome and many natives are away, we still expect the Angelus to fill Saint Peter’s Square.  

The Wednesday Papal audiences are still cancelled for the month of August.

Krakow 2016 already has a website up….check it out here.