Eclipse on Pope’s birth and funeral ominous?
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By Arnold B. Bañares, Contributor

Pope John Paul II was born during an eclipse on May 18, 1920, and today, his burial, a rare type of partial eclipse happens.

The eclipse today is called a “hybrid eclipse” and begins at 18:54 GMT (1:54 a.m. Saturday, Philippine time; Friday evening in Rome) southeast of New Zealand, then races eastward on a line north of the Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and finally Valenzuela. People living in New Zealand will see the partial eclipse. It will be visible along an arc ranging from the southwestern Pacific to South America.

The Irish monk Saint Malachy O’Morgair supposedly had a vision of future popes while visiting Rome in the 12th century. The authenticity of the event, according to a website of the religious journalist Michael Brown, is greatly disputed, but Saint Malachy is said to have prophesied the list of popes through short riddlelike nicknames.

If we accept it as a legitimate prophecy, John Paul II was De Labore Solis, “from the labor of the sun.”

Being considered the Pope of Fatima, where the famous “miracle of the sun” occurred, the Pope, who was nearly assassinated in 1981, was saved when he bent down to kiss a girl wearing a dress that had a picture of Our Lady of Fatima. This sun connection is hard to ignore. Like the sun, he came out of the east (Poland).

John Paul II may also be connected to the revelation of Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland, the Divine Mercy saint who had quoted Jesus as saying, “I bear a special love for Poland and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.” (Diary 1732 of Saint Faustina.)

Many believe that John Paul II was that spark, a view reinforced by further coincidences, especially his death on a Saturday at the end of a weeklong Divine Mercy novena.

Is the death of this Pope the harbinger of huge events?

Eclipses and comets have long been seen as a sign from the gods.

In ancient China eclipses occurred when the gods dispatched a dragon to eat the sun. The word eclipse comes from the Greek word ekleipsis, “to fail or be abandoned.” Eclipses are often associated with the downfall of kings and other leaders.

The next hybrid eclipse will take place on April 20, 2003. Is there something in that year?

Prophecies about the number of popes are many and often differ markedly from one another.

At the popular and controversial site of Garabandal in Spain, a seer named Conchita Gonzalez once noted: “The Blessed Virgin said in 1962 that there will only be two more popes after Paul VI.” A seer in Taytay, Rizal, in the seventies also claimed the same number.

Saint John Bosco foresaw a time when a pontiff would stand at the helm of a noble ship in turbulent seas and guide it to safe passage between twin pillars that represent the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist. No pope in history was more dedicated to the Virgin Mary than John Paul II and he had declared the current year as the “Year of the Eucharist.”

But major events that deal with the Church are allegedly mentioned in the secrets of Medjugorje. What will the next pope do about the apparition site? Will he reverse course and allow the bishop to make a negative judgment?

John Paul II reportedly read the monthly message from Medjugorje, often making statements that paralleled what Mary allegedly said there.

What are we to make of it all? Could we be ready for things to occur?