THE BISHOPS AFTER THE FACTS:

Msgr. del Val Gallo

From the village church; the Pines are viewed.

MSGR. JOSE MARIA CIRARDA 1968-1971

Doctor Jose Maria Cirarda is a Basque. He was born on May 17, 1917. Like Dr. Eugenio Beitia Aldazabal, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Comillas where he was ordained to the priesthood on July 5, 1942. After teaching theology for seventeen years at Vitoria, he was appointed auxiliary Bishop at Seville in April 1960, and then became Bishop of Santander on July 23, 1968. He took charge of the See on the following August 30. On October 9 of the same year, he published through his Secretariat, a Note in the Spanish press, stipulating, "he expects all the faithful to observe in greatest detail the dispositions taken by his predecessors . . . and still totally in force" . . . A few days later, as we saw, Conchita was leaving for Lourdes for the exceptional reasons we know!

Msgr. Cirarda became Bishop of Cordova on December 4, 1971. Later, already Archbishop, he was to become the Secretary of the Spanish Conference of Bishops.

MSGR. JUAN DEL VAL GALLO 1971 - 1991

Originally from Santander, Msgr. del Val Gallo had first filled several posts in the diocese. As a member of the "Special Commission" in charge of investigating the phenomena of Garabandal, he did not acknowledge at first their supernatural character. When he was appointed Bishop of Santander in December 1971, his initial negative stand had already softened a good deal. So much so that, in 1977, he requested that the "Garabandal dossier" be officially reopened. Rome
refused; it judged the initiative untimely since no "new events" had occurred. (Msgr. del Val was to be "the Bishop who would receive an irrefutable sign of the authenticity of Garabandal. This would incite him to lift the interdiction imposed upon the priests, forbidding them to go up to San Sebastian de Garabandal . . .")

MSGR JOSE VILAPLANA 1991 -

Msgr. Vilaplana, a profoundly Marian priest and a most competent pastor, let it be known about Garabandal that he would take the same stand as his predecessors and the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had taken in the past. He himself took the investigation file set up by Msgr. Del Val to the Vatican. In order to complete somewhat his information and form a personal opinion, Msgr. Vilaplana took the initiative of going to the village "disguised as a layman" and be driven up to the Pines by Don Juan himself!

His pastoral prudence and his vigilant "wait-and-see policy" undoubtedly preserved, up to this day, Garabandal, from an irrelevant agitation and from all inopportune assimilation with other "so-called sites of apparitions."

Since the great events predicted by the visionaries, through Conchita mainly, are not supposed to occur before Year 2000, we can reasonably think that Msgr. Vilaplana might be the one Bishop who will discern, along with Roman authorities, the supernatural character of
Garabandal.
[From 'Garabandal' Book, pages 218-220]

We are coming to the end of our story . . . well, actually it won't end until the fulfillment of the prophecies and the Triumph of Our Lady. Then will be the beginning, the New Era . . .

In the meantime our book now tells us of the main characters in the drama. So we now know the three Bishops who reigned after the "events" stopped. After this we will meet the new pastor of Garabandal, and then the leading figures who influenced the spread of the Messages
throughout the world. Stay tuned and give a comment if you like.
Roman Deacon