In another thread Wolseley mentioned "Three days of darkness" Catholics.

Interesting search - here's the first hit:


The Three Days of Darkness
Exerpts from Yves Dupont (1922-1979 A.D.)

THE ACT OF GOD

The most spectacular aspect of the Act of God will be the three days of darkness over the whole earth. The Three Days have been announced by many mystics, viz., Bl. Anna-Maria Taigi, Padre Pio, Elizabeth Canori-Mora, Rosa-Colomba Asdente, Palma d'Oria, in Italy; Father Nectou, in Belgium; St. Hildegard, in Germany; Pere Lamy, Marie Baourdi, Marie Martel, Marie-Julie Jahenny, in France. (This list is not exhaustive; many more mystics have announced the Three Days.)

Later, on that web page:

...The Church does not oblige us to believe in any particular prophecy as a matter of faith [de fide], but we are indeed obliged to believe that prophecies may be made even in our own times, for this is in the Gospel [Evangelium]: the Holy Ghost will speak to many in the Latter Days.

Moreover, when an identical prophecy has been made by widely separated people in time and space, when this particular prophecy was accompanied by other predictions which have already come to pass, and when the holiness of the mystics in question has been recognized by the Church, we would be foolish indeed not to believe that the prophecy must come to pass. Such is the case concerning the Three Days of Darkness. How else could we explain that an illiterate peasant woman of Brittany is describing the very thing that another mystic in, say, Germany or Italy is also describing?

and then:

THE PROXIMATE SIGNS

Here are the proximate signs in their probable order of occurrence. This, to be sure, is only my own opinion, and I may be wrong for I am no prophet myself; but, after studying a large number of prophecies, this order appears to me to be the most likely:

1. Flouting of church laws, irreverence and immodesty in church, fall in attendance at church.
2. Lack of charity towards others, heartlessness, indifference, divisions, contentions, godlessness, pride in human knowledge.
3. Breakdown of family life: immorality, adultery, perversion of youth via the media (e.g. homosexuals giving lectures in schools), immodest fashions (e.g. mini-skirts, bikinis, see-throughs), people concerned only with eating, drinking, dancing and other pleasures.
4. Civil commotions, contempt for authority, downfall of governments, confusion in high places, corruption, coups d'etat, civil war, revolution. (The first four proximate signs have already come to pass, at least partly; for we are yet to see civil war and revolution in the West. But the sequence of events is not strictly chronological; there is room for some overlapping. Thus, the 5th proximate sign seems to have begun also.)
5. Floods and droughts, crop failures, unusual weather, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, famines, epidemics, unknown diseases (e.g. new strains of viruses).

THE WARNING

This will take place between the proximate and the immediate signs. It will be a supernatural occurrence.

During the Warning, everyone will be made aware of his/her own sinfulness, and many will wish to die, but the Warning itself will be completely harmless.

The Warning must be viewed as the last act of mercy from God, a final appeal to mankind to do penance before the three days of darkness and the destruction of three-quarters of the human race. At a time when the murder of unborn babies and the sin of Sodom and Lesbos have become respectable and sometimes legal, we should not wonder why God is going to punish mankind.

By that time, war and revolution will have already caused a high deathtoll, and Communism will be victorious, but all this will be as nothing compared with the deathtoll caused by the Three Days.

http://www.opusdeialert.com/3daysofdarkness.htm

Keeping in mind, of course, that all of the "3 days of darkness" stuff is "private revelation", meaning that even if the Church approves it worthy of belief (the Church has not), no Catholic is required to believe it. I, personally, do not.

I've noticed before, on reading those sites, that a lot of the effects mentioned sound like the end results of a nuclear war---for example, the bitterly cold night, the howling wind, the hurricanes of fire; the advice to put plastic sheeting over the doors and windows, and anyone who goes outside will immediately die (fallout?), etc. The idea of three days of darkness, itself, argues for smoke from nuclear weapons detonations.

On the other hand, at the end of three days, all of these negative effects are supposed to miraculously disappear, and everything will be fine again. That wouldn't happen in the aftermath of an actual nuclear war, not to mention that it seems to be a discrepancy with what you find in Scripture regarding the end times.

I've also read on other sites that the supposed "revelation" to St. Padro Pio that he "wrote down in a letter" is a hoax---Padre Pio himself said he never wrote any such letter.

Wols, how would a person know where to find the truth about these things? We have to depend on writings of others that we know to be true, yet how do we know they are accurate?

Well, in my own case, I would tend to believe the Franciscan friars who are the caretakers of Padre Pio's belongings and writings over the word of an extreme right-wing Catholic eschatology site.

As for the overall truth or untruth of these things (and I know you won't like this answer), the ultimate judgement rests with the Holy See. If the Vatican says certain things are balderdash, then you can rest assured they are balderdash. If the Vatican says you can ignore them, then you can ignore them. After all, the Ordinary Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church is led by the Holy Spirit, Who cannot lead us into error---so if Papa Benedict smiles and dismisses these prophecies with a wave of the hand, you can relax and get on about the business of doing what Christ asks you to do, instead of worrying about The End.

In my case, I see all this jazz with the Israelis and Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, North Korea and their nukes, and the Russians and Iranians getting chummy with Hugo Chavez as possible precursors to a third world war, not as signs of the impending apocalypse.

No one, however, is under any compulsion to agree with me.

I didn't word it correctly. I didn't know the Franciscan friars were still caretakers of Padre Pio's things. That would suffice for me.

I meant to ask how we would we know whether or not some things attributed to people like Padre Pio were true or not? How do we go about finding out if it's accurate? You knew the friars were entrusted with Padre Pio's belongings but how did you know? And if you tell me it's that memory of yours then I'll smack you.

Some of us have very bad memory problems.

And yes, I do tend to go with Scripture before I go with the Pope. But it's all good as far as I'm concerned if you believe as you do.

The bolded part in the OP (bolding mine) is pretty uncanny (unless it was "past posted", i.e., writtern "retro" or after the fact)....

Just substitute Islam for communism in the last paragraph and it's still pretty freaky.