PSST! CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?

 I admit that I've been critical of the Catholic Church in my posts on this blog but Father Bliss did encourage me to have a questioning mind. I'm sure that he would approve of my and the other Curmudgeon's take on the inconsistencies, the irregularities and the downright untruths propagated by the Vatican over the years. He visited there and I wish I'd had the opportunity to ask him about it.

"I could have told you some stories Peter."

Robert The - well, Whatever might have a take on this as, after all he's still in active contact with the Church and follows religiously (see what I dId there?) the weekly missives emanating from that 120 acres in the middle of Rome. No doubt he's familiar with these 15 secrets the Vatican doesn't want us to know:

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

WOO-WOO!

Robert's at it again with his crazy Catholic beliefs.

In one of his recent posts for some reason he regurgitated the nonsense about  the Fatima (Portugal) sun miracle of 1917. OUR LADY OF FATIMA

In this catholics (some, not all) would have us believe that the sun zig-zagged in the sky, whooshed towards Earth and 'miraculously' dried up peoples' wet clothes and the ground after a rainstorm. Woo-woo! 

Any sensible person would see this for what it is - hysterical nonsense propagated by under-educated, naive and ignorant people - meaning the peasants in Portugal at the time. This seemingly is still being propagated by under-educated, naive and ignorant people even today  - see the link to Robert's post above (Our Lady of Fatima).

I had a quick read of his nonsense and the link to other catholic nonsense before looking up on the internet to find this:

FOUR DEBUNKED RELIGIOUS MIRACLES

2. The Sun Miracle of Fatima. In May 1917 in Fatima, Portugal, three children claimed to have encountered the Virgin Mary out in the countryside, who told them she would return on the thirteenth day over the next few months. Their tale grew in popularity, culminating with an estimated 70,000 people showing up at the site on October 13th, waiting for a miracle. On that day, the Virgin Mary "appeared", but only to the children – very suspicious. However, the other onlookers witnessed what has been called a "sun miracle". As investigator Joe Nickell recounted:


"Not everyone reported the same thing; some present claimed they saw the sun dance around the heavens; others said the sun zoomed toward Earth in a zigzag motion that caused them to fear that it might collide with our planet (or, more likely, burn it up). Some people reported seeing brilliant colors spin out of the sun in a psychedelic, pinwheel pattern, and thousands of others present didn't see anything unusual at all."

If anything did happen, it was likely an atmospheric event called a "sundog," in which light refracts off ice crystals, creating a wondrous halo of light.

I think I'll go with Joe Nickell's interpretation.

The Holy Seagull approves this post