It has been no secret that those who have followed the messages of Our Lady at Garabandal (1961-1965), have been waiting in joyful hope for the prophesied Warning and the Great Miracle to occur. There are several prophecies that point to a “Season” when these events will take place and a major one is the Warning will happen after a Synod. Another prophecy is that there would be great turmoil in the Church. When Conchita was asked as a young girl, do you mean a “Council” as the Second Vatican Council which was contemporaneous with the apparitions at Garabandal, she said , ”No, the Blessed Mother said Synod.” In the entire history of the Holy Roman and Apostolic Church, no event like this Synod has ever taken place.
When the Synodal process that was instituted by Pope Francis (age 88) started in 2022, it was originally planned as a two-year process with the Church listening to laity in every diocese of the world all the way to the parish level. It was unique and had never happened before. The bishops said, “let’s see what is the fruit from this listening process,” and the working document was called, Instrumentum Laboris. Mid way through the process, Pope Francis pushed the date out another year to end the meetings in Rome with clergy and laity meeting around tables for ten listening to one another to determine the vox populi (voice of the people) for the future direction of the Church. The last plenary meeting was October 2024. However, there was little to no news of the fact Pope Francis said the official end of the Synod would be June 2025. Why this was done, is anyone’s guess, but a logical answer would be the Church needed time to collate and publish its findings.
Then again, there was another three-year extension to the Synod that would even have a new name—An Ecclesial Assembly. This version of the Synod merely has a new name for the same event that has never been used in the 2,000-year history of the Church. For those wondering how the Church has defined what this new Ecclesial Assembly actually is, a letter was sent to the bishops of the world on March 15, 2025 which states, “The General Secretariat of the Synod announced that it will now start a process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase of the conclusions of the Synodal Assembly’s Final Document by the dioceses of the world. It will ultimately culminate in the celebration of an Ecclesial Assembly in the Vatican in October 2028.”
The letter further stated, “the celebration of the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028 will be structured in such a way as to offer adequate and sustainable times for the implementation of the Synod’s indications, while also providing some significant moments of evaluation.” What was to be an extension from October 2024 to June 2025 (8 months), is now extended to October 2028 before the Vatican releases its findings.
Cardinal Mario Grech (Malta), Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod said, “We are dealing with the first time that there will be an Ecclesial Assembly at the level of the entire Church; there are many things which have yet to be determined.” Cardinal Grech elaborates, “Where the Synod was substantially bishops, this new Assembly will be an Assembly of non-bishops, and most participants will be lay people.” The intent for the Assembly is to have a demographic mix of the Church as a whole in which clergy and bishops comprise a tiny fraction of the total number of Catholics, thus laity will have such a prominent seat at the table.
Conservative and orthodox Catholics should have cause for concern. Many fear that the rubrics and language of the Mass are the ultimate target moving the language from a sacrifice to a celebration and other nefarious language inserted into the rubrics of the Mass. Overall, a genuine concern is a woke agenda in its many forms that have been insinuated into the Church in recent years. If one looks at the appointments by Pope Francis to senior positions in the hierarchy, as well as appointments to major Commissions in the Church, some are liberal, and denounce Magisterial truth that has stood for millennia. Those supporting abortion rights, LGBTQI+, gender ideology and other anti-Catholic doctrine are numerous and vocal in leadership positions. Who will make the appointments to this new Assembly to draft this document and seek its implementation? Under whose direction? The Synod and this new Ecclesial Assembly are in essence the exact same event with just an extension in time for a new intended purpose. It may become the equivalent of Vatican III pointing the Church in a new direction.
In March of 2025 the world saw the precarious health condition of Pope Francis. It was revealed in the third week of March 2025 that the doctors openly discussed whether he could be saved through artificial means, or let him die in peace. For a few weeks while he was intubated, people were thinking there would be a Conclave to elect a new pope. He rallied due to having taken massive amounts of drugs, but the damage to his body was substantial. It is estimated he will need several months for recovery.
As of today, there are 252 living Cardinals. Only 137 are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a Conclave, and 79% of the voting cardinals have been appointed by Pope Francis. Pope Francis has appointed 163 cardinals from 76 countries, and the consistory of cardinals is considerably less European than at any-time in history. If one looks at the appointments of Pope Francis in just the USA, which is noticeably progressive, why should one logically think a conservative will be elected pope? Is the ideology of voting cardinals similar? One would have to logically assume so. However, the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways, and as the saying goes, he who enters the Conclave pope, leaves a cardinal. Major prophecies of Akita, La Salette, Fatima and many other approved (and unapproved, albeit credible) apparitions speak of apostasy at the top of the Church, the loss of faith, and the Church in eclipse. Pope Paul VI (died August 6, 1978) often spoke about the auto- demolition of the Church from within. This is another factor to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Garabandal that the Church will be in times of urgency, tumult, and chaos, where it would be difficult for the Mass to be said.
God answers prayers in three ways. Yes, no, and wait. As an element of wait is embedded the word TRUST. The Church Fathers, saints, and prophets, understood the word TRUST. This is where we remain today. Trust in the Divine Plan.
We know from Garabandal that near the events of the Warning and Great Miracle, it will be difficult for clergy to celebrate Mass, and priests will be in hiding. Although this is now in some parts of the world for various sociological, political, and religious reasons, it is not widespread throughout the world as the prophecy indicates it will be. This implies that there has to be major events inside and outside the Church to bring this prophetic utterance to fruition. There is no doubt there was a level of anticipation and excitement among Garabandal advocates when they saw more-light with the Synod ending in either October 2024 or June 2025, but, this extension of the Synod pushes that date out another three years to 2028 for the letter of the prophecy to be fulfilled. The prophecy is the Warning will be AFTER a Synod. After means after, and there is no date time certain that is tied to AFTER. There will surely be some to find criticism that the prophecy again is flawed or bogus from the start, but as the Lord said to Isaiah, “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts” (55:8-9). When the events happen, it will be in God’s perfect time, and all will understand—exactly what we have seen so many multiple dozens of times in Scripture.
These two events plus the Permanent Sign will change the Church, and thus the world. We await these events with prayer, fasting, and apostolic action.
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