Crucial Truths to Save Your So

What does it mean to be a Catholic - or more importantly, to be a faithful and obedient Catholic? Is a "good" Catholic one who automatically believes or does whatever the Pope and bishops say, even if it is the opposite of what was taught by the Popes and bishops of prior days?

Pope John Paul II's words at Fatima on May 13, 2000 suggest a bold answer to these questions. Quoting Apoc. 12:4, the Pope said: "The message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the 'dragon' whose 'tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth."

Like the physical stars which guide seafarers to their port, the "stars of Heaven" in biblical language represent the Cardinals, bishops, and priests of the Catholic Church, whose role it is to show us the way to Heaven. But Pope John Paul tells us that we are now living in the crisis predicted by Saint John in the Apocalypse and by Our Lady of Fatima as well, when one-third of these "stars" have (knowingly or unknowingly) fallen into the service of the devil!

Our Lord said that he who perseveres to the end shall be saved (Matt. 24:13). Our perseverance in the Catholic Faith and in obedience to legitimate Church authority will mean the difference between salvation and damnation. In times when God blesses His Church trustworthy leaders, the faithful are safe in following the mitered heads in the Vatican, who as true shepherds point out to them the way to Heaven. In times of crisis, however, such as during the Arian heresy - or NOW, after the Second Vatican Council - we are in danger of following those same hats away from the faith and into hell!

Catholics today must understand the limits of the Pope's and bishops' authority. The faithful must study and know the Faith for themselves, and they must understand the sources of Catholic dogma - especially the solemn and infallible definitions of Faith.