Garabandal is a
village in Northern Spain in the diocese of
The first error
is the crown of twelve stars. In
Revelation a pregnant woman symbolising
The children
reported a close resemblance between the lady’s face and the face on the
Turin Shroud which is interesting for it is a forgery. The real Virgin would not look like a
picture of Jesus that was a fake. Yet
the Lady of Garabandal sanctioned the Shroud by making herself look like it.
And if the
children saw a Lady at all they must have realised that some woman would look
and sound like her. They are lying
about what they saw and heard. It is
just one of the silly mystical lies that some people indulge in.
The Virgin sent
Michael the
The Virgin says
that she is warning the world to amend through the intercession of St
Michael. Extraordinary! She only gave the warning because she was
asked! What kind of mother is
she? And why would Michael intercede
with her as if she were divine? Surely
saints go directly to God? Heaven is
the state of intimacy with God so they would be unable to do otherwise. An intercessor going to an intercessor to
talk to God for them sounds crazy.
The Virgin told
Conchita in 1962 that if they see an angel and a priest they should greet the
priest first for he is higher than the angel for he can turn bread and wine
into Jesus Christ. This message did
not come from Heaven but from a priest because it is full of clerical
snobbery. The priest gets the power to
do the miracle from God so it is really God who does it and not the
priest. God could do it through the
angels if he so wishes. So it is
stupid to say that the priest is more important than the angel for the angel
is holier than the priest. It is
holiness not privilege and power that ought to count.
The Lady said in 1961, “A time will come when all four of you will contradict yourselves one with the other, when your families will also contradict themselves about the apparitions; you will even deny that you have seen me or Saint Michael”. The children asked how they could do that and the Virgin said it was because they would become as confused as the Church in religious matters. This actually happened and Bishop Fernandez and Bishop Eugenio Beitia declared that they were certain that there was nothing inexplicable about the visions.
The problem with the prediction is that there is no evidence that it was made before the event. Only Conchita made the claim. The others did not. Marie Cruz made a retraction and though able and having stayed in Spain stood by it all her life. A real prophecy would be easily proven to have been made before the event. God would be enabling cheats if he would let it be any other way.
Page 147 of Encountering Mary says, "Conchita has said in her Diary that at the beginning of the apparition she and the other girls were told by the Virgin that they would come to deny the appearances - Conchita did not note the day on which this prediction was made." But, "her mother and aunt recalled hearing of it for the first time on the day when Conchita returned from Santander". The return referred to was when she signed a retraction for Dr Pinal. The retraction claimed "that she was no longer seeing the Virgin but that she thought her three companions were". The retraction is bizarre - if it is lies it is pointless lies. Conchita was untrustworthy. Her claim that the retractions were predicted is thereby called into question.
It could be argued that the visionaries
were being very clever. That they knew that
one day they would admit the hoax. So
they decided to make sure that even if they did, their admission would not be
accepted by everybody. They made sure
that even if their admission was gospel truth it would have less effect. For a long time, this could have stopped
them admitting for they saw no point in it.
It is impossible to believe the Virgin would give the witnesses a
message that could prevent their being believed if they said they saw nothing
or something different from the Virgin Mary.
She needs the witnesses. She
appeared to them so that they might testify for her and to her.
The four
visionaries all denied they saw anything to their parents, of all people, and
one of them still denies it despite the pressure to say they happened. If they had to deny the visions they knew
they could tell their parents the truth.
So, what they told their parents must be taken as true. It was strange that they denied the visions
but said the voices they heard and the miracle of receiving communion were
real (page 90, The Book of Miracles).
If they could deny the Virgin and the angel why could they not deny
all the wonders? The children were
untruthful in religious matters. They
could have said they saw some visions of Mary but they denied the lot. The Church investigated and unsurprisingly
found no evidence of supernatural events.
Some prophecies have proven to be false.
All the
visionaries but Mari Cruz retracted their confession that the visions never
happened. Mari Cruz could have told
the truth even if she was under pressure at the time she retracted for her
life has changed. Its different
now. The pressures are no more and she
should have been used to dealing with pressure anyway. So the retraction must be the truth.
Conchita
admitted that she told the Bishop of Santander that she no longer believed in
the apparitions (page 173, Powers of Darkness, Powers of Light). She had been given the third degree for
hours. It is nonsense to say she gave
in under pressure and pretended that the apparitions were faked for she had
plenty of pressure before that and never denied them. Nothing would be solved by denying the
visions and losing the thousands of friends they won her. She told Cornwell many years later that she
was not sure about the great sign or the promised warning or of anything
(page 173, Powers of Darkness, Powers of Light). Cornwell asked her if this was saying she
never had the visions. He knew she
could not say that the main messages of the visions were untrue unless the
visions were untrue. She then said she
saw a Lady. She is correcting the slip
here – she was sorry she admitted the visions were not true. Then she said that Mary had given her signs
and messages and abandoned her making her wonder how anything could be
true. Yet there is another slip here
because she says the Virgin abandoned her.
The visions said that was impossible even if it looked like she was
forsaken for she is saying they never said that at all.
The Sceptical
Occultist says that the
clergy and the people in the village and the parents of the children put them
under great pressure to deny the visions (page 133). Why couldn’t the Virgin protect her
apparitions by guiding them to make friends of the believers so that with
their support they would not retract?
Conchita was refused absolution by a priest in a Carmelite Mission in
which she had stayed if she did not deny the visions in public. But there were other priests. And why lie to get absolution for it is a
mortal sin to deny the mother of God and so any absolution would be invalid
anyway. That does not explain her
retraction. Honesty does. The parents had to sign the official
document of retraction as well but two mothers would not. One did said she would sign if her daughter
Jacinta would into ecstasy and prove the document worthless. Jacinta told her she could not make the
Virgin appear at will and so the woman would not sign. Jacinta pleaded with her to sign which
shows that she wanted the visions refuted.
Jacinta knew that her mother did not need to sign to refute the
visions so we can take it as evidence that Jacinta’s retraction was
sincere. Jacinta may have meant that
she could not make the Virgin appear to her at all. In 1967 Bishop Montis denied the visions
and the messages happened.
The
psychiatrist, Noriega, who denied any supernatural aspect to the events, came
out with a declaration in 1983 that they really happened and were
supernatural (page 134). He said that
Mary made him change his mind. He
probably thought he had some revelation from her or experienced some miracle
that he thought was telling him something.
It only means not that his first research and opinion was wrong or
dishonest but that he did his best with what he observed and now something
had happened to tell him he was understandably wrong. This shows the strength of his original
research. Research cannot be refuted
by some strange experience that contradicts it. If somebody is in a hypnotic trance and
this is verified the verification is not disproved by the verifier having
real visions later that testify that it wasn’t hypnosis.
The real Virgin
would not have chosen people who would deny that they spoke to her. She would pick reliable people who could be
trusted to give the truth and relay the messages right.
The children
running backwards down treacherous slopes without falling could be explained
by their being taken over by the subconscious mind which remembers everything
perfectly. They also were able to take
objects to the Virgin for blessing and give them back to the owners without
making a mistake. Wedding rings were
collected and returned by the children to the rightful owners. But wedding rings have an average size and
look the same especially in backward areas where there is not much of a
selection. And if a person were stupid
enough to let them have their ring they would have been too embarrassed to
admit it had they received the wrong ring back. Some of them might have
discreetly returned a ring they received by mistake to the real owner. Self-discipline could account for the
visionaries’ seeming insensitivity to pain when needles were stick in them
during their visions. A pinprick will
not make you jump when you are expecting it or when you are afraid of the
consequences of responding to it and showing that your trance is probably
faked.
Joe Nickell
tells us that none of the allegedly supernatural events that happened at
Garabandal can be proved to be supernatural (Looking for a Miracle,
Prometheus Books,
Garabandal is famous for Conchita’s Miracle of the Host. In this, an invisible angel would give her communion which would materialise on her tongue. A witness said that he host did not seem to be put on the tongue but just materialised there (Looking for a Miracle, page 183). The witnesses did not see the wafer appearing in space and floating on to her tongue. It just materialised there.
A film was
made of the event. Some sweets stick to
the roof of the mouth for a few seconds and then drop down. Conchita could have pushed a white round
flat one up to make it stick just before she opened her mouth and put her
tongue out so that it would fall on her tongue.
The host looked
spongy (page 133, Powers of Darkness, Powers of Light). If you push some saliva back and forth
though the gaps in your teeth it becomes white and spongy looking. Was this the host of Garabandal? Moreover, the light was poor (page 89, The Book of Miracles) and
many of the people walked past her for she was in an alley and dripped down
to her knees so suddenly (ibid, page
89). She deliberately chose a time in
which people would be distracted enough not to notice anything amiss.
Don Benjamin Gomez was a farmer Potes. According to him,
"I was standing at less than an arm's length from the girl. I saw very well that her tongue was completely clean of everything. The girl did not move. Suddenly there appeared on it the Sacred Host. It was white, shining and resplendent. It reminded one of the snow when the sun strikes it with its brilliant rays. The girl's face was beautifully transformed into heavenly ecstasy. Her face was angelic I can certify that she was there motionless, moving neither hands nor tongue. In this motionless position she received the Sacred Host. We had enough time to contemplate this marvelous phenomenon without any undue haste, and we were many who saw it. I was an unbeliever until that day. I am not such a Catholic as to be subject to any hallucination or imagination. I had not concerned myself about God until then except to offend Him. I went to confession in April but previous to that time I had not gone to confession for twenty-three years."
None of that is true. The girl did not look beautiful but sinister. The host appeared gradually. He said it was like the snow in the sun. Another said it was not. This testimony shows how people get excited and inaccurate.
The Virgin herself in the last apparition to Conchita expressed unhappiness that she had chewing gum in her mouth. Conchita had to spit it out. "At that very moment I saw Her with the Child in her arms. She was dressed as usual and smiling. I told Her, 'I have come to bring you the rosaries so that you can kiss them.' She said to me, 'I can see it.' I had been chewing gum, but as I was seeing Her I did not chew it; I placed the gum on a tooth. She must have noticed for She said, 'Conchita why don't you get rid of the chewing gum and offer it up as a sacrifice for the glory of my Son?' I, a bit ashamed of myself, took it out and threw it on the ground." Was chewing gum the host in the Miracle of the Host? She was fond of the chewing gum - she even chewed it when about to see Mary. Had the host miracle went wrong and people seen it was chewing gum she would used that excuse.
The circular, The
Warning of Garabandal, by Joseph A. Pelletier A.A. (published in
The circular
has a reprint of a letter in it by Archbishop Lopez who wrote that Padre Pio
recognised the apparitions and encouraged the witnesses to promote them. He wrote that the visions contained nothing
that was contrary to Catholic faith or morals.
Joey Lomangino
testified that Pio told him that the visions were holy and authentic (page
167, Powers of Darkness, Powers of Light).
The Virgin
claimed that the day after the miracle that will convince the world that
everybody would see the body of Fr Luis who died during the visions and find
it to be incorrupt (Garabandal, a Message for the World,
Catholic opponents to the apparition suggest that it was not Mary for she showed too much interest in mundane things while the real Virgin would focus on the religious message almost entirely. Another problem is that the Lady asked the children to bring unblessed items to her for she wanted to bless them herself rather than a priest doing it. The Church has authorised only priests to do that and Mary is not a priest.
The bishop banned apparitions at the Church. The visionaries just knelt at the Church door and had their vision. The believers in the apparitions see no disobedience in this. But it shows disrespect for the bishop's reasons for banning them from the Church. Having the apparitions in the Church is disrespectful as the vision might not be authentic. Also, the Church says that false diabolic apparitions like to attract people to the healing power of the mass so that they can get the credit for the blessings. Satan tries to thwart God's ways not by totally working against them but by introducing problems bit by bit. Its good strategy. Are we to think that it is not a sin to do a striptease in a Church but its okay to do it on the doorstep?
The children
touched Jesus and Mary but could feel nothing which seems to be evidence of
an illusion for Jesus and Mary have bodies and Catherine Laboure rested her
head on Mary’s lap.
They point out
that the miracle the Lady promised that would be a warning to the whole world
would disprove the scriptures when they say the return of Jesus would be
unexpected for it would mean we can’t rest assured he will not come back
until after the miracle. Yet the
scriptures forbid such complacent attitudes.
The Virgin was proved wrong when Padre Pio and the pope, Paul VI,
would see the miracle for they are both dead.
Supporters will be tempted to say that they will rise again in time
for the show. But if you start
assuming miracles to account for seeming failures you will end up having no
rational reason to believe one seer and not another and the result will be
chaos.
The
Another
objection is the fruits of Garabandal.
Conchita married a divorced man which was a terrible sin according to
the Lady who appeared to her and it is a problem why she lives in
The successor of Pope John Paul II, the former Cardinal Ratzinger who
took the name of Benedict XVI, is regarded as a more orthodox Catholic than
any of the previous Vatican II popes.
The Garabandal prophecies were false.
John Paul II has a bigger chance of being a fake pope than
Ratzinger. But one thing for sure is,
there is nothing about Benedict XVI’s holiness that is that remarkable.
The Virgin’s Second Formal Message given on 18th June 1965
went, “As the message I gave on October 18th has not been put into
practice and made known to the whole world, be advised that this is the last
one. Before the cup was filling up but
now it is overflowing. Many of the
cardinals, many of the bishops and many of the priests are on the road to
damnation and are taking many souls with them. … You are now receiving the last
warnings.” The believers who believe
in other apparitions that took place after Garabandal say she is saying she is
giving the last Garabandal warnings not that she will never warn us again in
other apparitions. If they are wrong
then all the apparitions taking place since such as those at Medjugorje are
false apparitions if Garabandal was authentic.
There are four reasons why the message is speaking of the final warning
meaning the final apparition.
The first reason is that the message speaks only of corruption in the
Church and the world and that the chastisement is looming so it is
vague. Yet she attaches supreme
importance to this message. Could you
imagine her appearing elsewhere with a more detailed message and not
declaring it to be of greater importance and urgency? When the Virgin wants supreme and unique
importance for her message in Garabandal that forbids any other apparition
that does the same with a different or more detailed message.
The second reason is that she warns about the excessive corruption in
the Church when she says that the cup of corruption has run over. It would only get worse as time goes on so
that nobody could trust the Church decisions on whether apparitions are true
or false so a reliable Church authentication of Garabandal would be imminent
and essential. And apparitions that do
not subject themselves to Church discipline are dangerous for it is not
apparitions that the Church is run by but bishops and the pope who have been
appointed by Christ. No true
apparition will happen when it can’t expect authentication by a legitimate
and orthodox bishop so by implication she is saying Garabandal is the last
true apparition. She is also
indicating that Garabandal will be quickly accepted by the Church before it
is too late. But this proved false.
The third reason, she expects the message to be promoted all over the
world which is a call on the Church to believe the apparition and perform
this promotion. The message will not
have much effect unless the Church accepts it as an authentic
revelation. It needs to put it first
above all apparitions. It needs to
reject apparitions such as Medjugorje which have other messages that the
apparition wants promoted.
The fourth reason is that nothing in the text indicates that the Virgin
ever intends starting up a new apparition site in future. Therefore she should be taken literally
and we must ignore fancy interpretations put on it by people who want to
forget that she said it was the last ever warning.
The apparition
is the most condemned one there ever was.
Conchita certainly lied about Pope Paul VI knowing the date of the
great miracle she promised and said he would live to see it. Her lady made a very basic error for the
great miracle was her main message and she failed to tell Conchita the right
date though she tried. She was a false
prophet.
Conchita
according to Father J Pelletier admitted that she stole a communion host from
a Tabernacle to fake her miracle of the host.
The Church said that the judgement if the vision was real or not or
from God or Satan or a lie rested entirely on the bishop of the diocese of
The testimonies of strange things happening are many. But none of the miracle events happened under test conditions. We must remember that similar stories are told about psychics such as Uri Gellar. Looking at the stories it seems very impressive. But when the psychics are put in the lab under test conditions the end result is anything but marvellous.
God would only do miracles for grave reasons. They are signs. They cannot be signs unless they can be checked out by scientists and qualified investigators and magicians. Until they are checked out, they are just interesting stories. They are not signs. True visionaries would be very keen on being tested and checked out. They would ask people not to be gullible and believe everything but to keep open minds.
Religionists know that people can lie about miracles happening, they can be mistaken or they can be telling the truth. It is possible that an apparition can seem to be very strong evidence for the supernatural and still be based on lies or errors or both and not be supernatural at all. How will you know how much evidence you need? You would need to do experiments. You would need to set up fake apparitions and see how reliable or unreliable those who testify to their supernaturality are. That is the only way you can discover the level of evidence you need before judging something as supernatural. We don't really have the right to say that anything supernatural happened at Garabandal - no matter how convincing it seems right now - until we first sort out this problem. An apparition asking for acceptance without the problem being dealt with is cheating us. What else is it lying about?
It would be very strange if the reported Catholic signs and wonders of Garabandal had really happened when you can read books such as The Rite (The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, Matt Baglio, Pocket Books, London, 2010) which show how unimpressive Catholicism's diagnoses of demonic possession and its exorcisms are! Exorcism would be a better sign than healings or miracles or prophecies that God is with the Catholic Church and that the Church is invested with his power. Yet the Church shows no real ability to cast out demons. For example, the Church teaches that mental illness and possession can go together and the demon can make the victim act mentally ill though he or she is not. Clearly the Church just assumes the person has a demon - this is blatantly wicked. And more so when the Church holds that demons like to hide their presence in the victim. Talk about irresponsible diagnosis . Even if a supernatural entity were possessing the victim, the Church has no right to say that entity is a demon who is damned in Hell and pure evil. It might not be that evil and besides to tell the victim he is possessed by evil is not helping him or her.
In Garabandal, we have the best authenticated incidences of miracles – though not accepted by the Church - ever and yet the apparition undermines the Church and makes false prophecy. It was not from God. It was not from Satan either who would never come saying that his appearance in the guise of the Mary would be the last ever. Garabandal proves that believing in the Church because of stories about a man rising from the dead and so on is foolery for miracles prove nothing. At best they prove the paranormal.
There is no evidence at all that the lady appeared. Children with paranormal abilities could use them and lie about seeing her. Garabandal became famous not for the apparitions so much as the apparently paranormal events. The children gave the Virgin rosaries to kiss. All they did was hold them up. Never did the rosaries show any sign that somebody invisible was taking them and kissing them.
Garabandal is not the great honour of Mary that it is said to be.
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THE WEB
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