"The encyclical of Pope Paul on birth control is true and must be
followed by mankind. There shall be no rationalization of sin. There shall
be no excuse for the murder of the unborn. Sin has become a way of life among
mankind, but Heaven does not condone murder. Heaven cannot condone sin,
though the Eternal Father in His mercy is most merciful and long suffering and
forgiving." - Our Lady, October 2, 1976
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Melinda Gates, the wife of Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, is running a £2.7 billion ($4.3 billion) project to provide birth control for an additional 120 million women in some of the world’s poorest countries.Her work has been criticized in some Catholic quarters because the Church opposes the use of contraceptives.However, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Stella magazine, Mrs Gates, 49, said she had wrestled with her beliefs before making her views - which put her at odds with the Catholic Church's teaching - public.“It took me a couple of years, quite honestly. I knew it would be controversial. But you can’t turn your back on these women you meet.”Access to contraception led to greater opportunities for girls, as preventing unwanted pregnancies allowed them to finish their studies, Mrs Gates said.“I use contraceptives. I believe in contraceptives, my friends use contraceptives. And so if I believe in this for myself – and for my daughters and other women – I said to myself, 'How could I not speak out about this?’”
Mrs Gates met her 53-year-old husband in 1987 when she moved to Seattle to take a job as marketing manager at Microsoft.
They married in Hawaii in 1994 and have three children, Jennifer, 17, Rory, 14, and Phoebe, 11.
In 2000, the couple founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given grants of more than £17.2 billion ($27.6 billion) to projects aimed at tackling global health, poverty and education – including combating malaria and HIV – and contraception.
Mrs Gates said she was heartened by Pope Francis, who has suggested that the Church is too focused on contraception and abortion.
“I’ve been so happy to hear him say overall is that he’s focused on the poor,” she said. “That is the Church’s mission. If you go back to the Bible, it was about focusing on people who were poor and marginalized.
“So I think he’s trying to put the conversation back on the roots of the Church, and I think that’s fantastic.”
Mrs Gates also spoke of the difficulty of juggling family life and her charity work. She said she and her husband used to try to travel together but had found they got more “bang for their buck” going separately.
“So this fall [autumn] I’ll go to Ethiopia, and the same week he is going to Nigeria,” she said.
When they did spend time together, they liked to go hiking and watch films and admitted that when she turns 50 next year, the theme of her birthday party will be The Sound of Music.
* Read the full interview in Stella magazine next week
You will send out the traitors, excommunicate the wrongdoers who do not repent of their sin. What does it gain a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? Your gathering in worldly wealth shall give you no passport to Heaven.” – Our Lady, September 27, 1975
"It will be a command of the Father from Heaven that all in authority defrock and excommunicate those under their rule who seek to destroy the Faith as given by the Father from Heaven.” – St. Michael, August 21, 1974
"Our hearts are torn because of the wanton murder of the young by evil man. Abortion, My children, is murder, the most foulest of deeds, that is punishable by death! And what is worse than death of the soul?
"I say unto you, as your Mother, that any man or woman who performs or takes part of this abomination of the murder of the unborn shall be given a heavy penance upon earth, or if this penance is not given upon earth, that person found guilty in the eyes of his God shall suffer eternal damnation in the fires of hell." - Our Lady of the Roses, December 28, 1976