Besides
the Message of Fatima given by Our Lady to the general public in the series of
apparitions from May 13th to October 13th, She confided
on July 13th, 1917, a Secret which was to be given later to all the
faithful by Sister Lucy and the Church authorities.
This
Secret is divided into three distinct parts and Sister Lucy with the approval
of her bishop revealed the first two parts in 1941. The third part was written
down between January 2nd and January 9th, 1944, under
holy obedience to her bishop and after Our Lady of Fatima appeared to Sister
Lucy confirming that indeed God wanted the third part of the Secret to be now
written. (This third part of the Secret is commonly referred to as the Third
Secret). The Pope and the Bishop of Leiria could read it immediately.
Our
Lady asked that this third part of the Secret be made known to the faithful at
the latest by 1960. Like the first two parts of the Secret, it is clear, and
easy to understand. Like the second part of the Secret it is prophetic. We are
now living through the Third Secret. You may be one who needs to know its
contents in order to save your soul and your loved ones from eternal ruin.
The
Third Secret has been unveiled by Frère Michel, who is most qualified to write
this study after 4 years of research. His conclusion is the same as Father
Alonso, the official archivist of Fatima for 16 years. You will know when you
finish reading this study that you indeed know the substance of the Third
Secret.
This
is a profound, easy to read, and yet deeply moving study. Because it penetrates
with a high degree of certitude the Secret which the Vatican has sought for 34
years to bury, this article is bound to have great impact on the Church, the
salvation of millions of souls and ultimately on world history.
The
message of Fatima is a heavenly light and occasion of grace and salvation for
the 20th century, a Message and an event unparalleled in Church History,
the most momentous and important event of our time, which is still unfolding to
this day. So, too, this study is momentous and important since it finally tells
you the shocking, yet salutary Secret which once it is widely known will
deliver the Church and the world from the powers of Antichrist.
At
present, these satanic powers seek to drag millions of souls to eternal ruin
and the whole world to enslavement to Antichrist while various nations will be
“annihilated”, “wiped off the face of the earth”.
Read
these words, meditate on them and share them with others on. It is most
important and most urgent that the contents of this study be widely known
because it reveals the Third Secret of Fatima.
This
knowledge will finally unleash the power that will deliver mankind and the Pope
from the chains satan has bound us in. This Secret is the key to avoiding that
which Pope John Paul II at Fatima called “the almost Apocalyptic menaces
looming over the nations and mankind as a whole.”
Since
the Third Secret of Fatima has still not been officially revealed, it seems
obvious at first sight, that we can know nothing of its content. This however,
is only so in appearance. For if it is true that this vital secret remained
absolutely impenetrable in 1917 when it was revealed by the Blessed Virgin to
the three shepherd children of Aljustrel, or in 1944 when it was written down
by Sister Lucy, or yet again in 1960 at the time when it was to have been
publicly revealed to the world by Pope John XXIII, that is no longer the case
today. Indeed, for more than 40 years, a number of certain facts concerning it
have become known.
They
form today an impressive mass of sure information from which the historian can
precisely retrace its entire history and expose its essential content with a
considerable degree of certitude. Such has been my double concern in writing my
third volume of “The Whole Truth About Fatima”, which is completely devoted to
the mystery of the Third Secret.
It
is this minutely detailed demonstration that I shall attempt to present to you
while simplifying it and summarizing much of it, for I must be brief. But I
will tell you sufficiently about it, I hope, to show you how important this
final secret of Our Lady is. How it is at the very heart of the Message of
Fatima, and finally why it is urgent for the good of the Church that it be
revealed to the world according to the command of the Blessed Virgin.
It
was in July/August, 1941, in her third memoir, that Sister Lucy mentioned for
the first time the division of the Secret of Fatima into three distinct parts.
“The Secret is composed of three distinct matters,” she writes, “And I shall
disclose two of them.” The first is the vision of hell and the designation of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the supreme remedy offered by God to humanity
for the salvation of souls. “In order to save them, God wishes to establish in
the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart.” The second, is the great prophecy
concerning a miraculous peace which God wishes to grant to the world through
the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the practice of
Communions of Reparation on the first Saturdays of the month.(1) “If people
heed My commands, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace.” And
there is also the announcement of terrible punishments if people persist in not
obeying Her requests. As for the third part of the Secret, in 1941, Sister Lucy
declares that for the moment she is not permitted to reveal it.
The
dramatic account of the writing down and the transmission of this vital Message
begins in 1943. The hour of providence had then struck. Sister Lucy was living
at that time in the convent of the Dorothian Sisters of Tuy, in Spain. In June,
1943, she suddenly fell gravely ill. Her condition was so alarming that Bishop
da Silva, the Bishop of Leiria/Fatima, became worried. He feared that she would
die before having revealed the Third Secret of Our Lady and he sensed that it
would be the loss of an exceptional grace for the Church. Canon Galamba, the
friend and advisor of the Bishop, then suggested to him an extremely judicious
idea, that he at least ask Sister Lucy to write down forthwith, the text of the
Third Secret and then that she place it in an envelope sealed with wax, to be
opened later.
On
September 15, 1943, Bishop da Silva went, therefore, to Tuy and he asked Sister
Lucy to write down the Secret “if she really wanted to”. But the seer,
undoubtedly under the impulse of the Holy Spirit was not content with this
vague order. She requested of her bishop a written order, formal and perfectly
clear - that is very important. The final Message of the Virgin of Fatima is,
as previously were Her other requests, linked to marvelous promises. It is an
exceptional grace offered by God to our 20th century in order to
meet its most urgent needs. But again it is necessary that the pastors of the
Church have sufficient faith and docility to the designs of Heaven in order to
be instruments of this outpouring of grace that God wants to bestow upon the
world through the sweet mediation of His Immaculate Mother. In 1943, God
desired that it be the Bishop of Leiria, who demanded of this messenger the
writing down of the Third Secret.
Finally,
in mid-October, 1943, Bishop da Silva made up his mind. He wrote to Sister
Lucy, giving her the express order that she had besought of him. However, new
difficulties would arise. Sister Lucy experienced at that time, for almost
three months, a mysterious and terrible anguish. She has related that each time
she sat down at her work table and took her pen in order to write down the
Secret, she found herself obstructed from doing it. One must, no doubt, see
there the last outburst of satan against the messenger of the Immaculate One.
Guessing
what a terrible weapon this great prophecy could set up against his dominion
over souls and his plan to penetrate the very heart of the Church, such a trial
endured by the seer thus indicated the magnitude of the grandiose event which
was about to be carried out, should the Secret be put down on paper.
On
Christmas Eve, Sister Lucy confided to her director that she had still been
unable to obey the order that she had been given.
Finally,
on the 2nd of January, 1944, (this is very little known) the Blessed
Virgin Mary Herself appeared again to Lucy. She confirmed to her that such was
truly the Will of God and gave her the light and the strength to accomplish the
writing that had been commanded.
The
extreme care that Sister Lucy then took to transmit it with complete safety to
its recipient, Bishop da Silva, is a new proof of the exceptional importance
which she attributes to this document.
She
did not wish to entrust it to anyone but a Bishop. It was Bishop Ferreira,
Archbishop of Gurza, who received from the hands of Sister Lucy, the envelope
sealed with wax containing the precious document. He delivered it the same
evening to Bishop da Silva.
Concerning
the transmission of the Secret to the Hierarchy, it is necessary to underline
four facts of the highest importance:
Fact#1.
The immediate recipient of the Secret was Bishop da Silva and he could have
read it at once. Sister Lucy told him so from the Blessed Virgin. But
frightened by the responsibility that he would have to assume, he did not dare,
he did not wish to have knowledge of it. He then tried to commit it to the Holy
Office, but Rome refused to receive it. It was then agreed that if Bishop da
Silva happened to die, the envelope would be entrusted to Cardinal Cerejeira,
the Patriarch of Lisbon. It is therefore false to say, as has been so often
repeated after 1960, that the Third Secret is destined explicitly and
exclusively to the Holy Father!
Fact#2.
It is true, however, - I provide several proofs of it in my book - that Sister
Lucy wanted Pope Pius XII to know the Secret without further delay.
Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Fact#3.
Ascertaining that Bishop da Silva persisted in not wishing to open the
envelope, Sister Lucy “made him promise, in the words of Canon Galamba, that
the Third Secret would be opened and read to the world upon her death or in
1960, whichever would happen first.” A series of testimonies which give us an
account of the repeated statements of Sister Lucy enabled this fact to be
established with absolute certitude.
Fact#4.
Finally, this promise to disclose the Secret immediately after the death of
Sister Lucy or in any case, “in 1960 at the latest”, surely corresponds to a
request by the Virgin Mary Herself. In fact, when in 1946, Canon Barthas asked
the seer why it would be necessary to wait until 1960, Sister Lucy replied to
him in the presence of Bishop da Silva, “Because the Blessed Virgin wishes it
so.”
Briefly
stated, I have established it solidly in my book and we have all the proofs
that God desired, willed that the final Secret of Our Lady be finally believed
by the Pastors of the Church and made public to the faithful. This was to be
done at the earliest in 1944 or at the latest by 1960 because as Sister Lucy
further explained, “It would become clearer at that time.”(2)
I
cannot linger here on a still mysterious episode in the history of the Third
Secret: In 1957, the Holy Office demanded the text of it, kept until then at
the palace of the Bishop of Leiria/Fatima. Who took this initiative? With what
intention? A detailed analysis of the facts have enabled me to formulate a
plausible hypothesis but I have not arrived at any certitude.
In
mid March, 1957, Bishop da Silva entrusted his Auxiliary Bishop Venancio with
the responsibility of delivering the precious document to Bishop Cento, the
Apostolic Nuncio to Lisbon at that time. Bishop Venancio implored his bishop to
finally read the Secret and to make a copy of it before sending the manuscript
to Rome, but the old bishop persisted in his refusal. Bishop Venancio, who
related this to me in Fatima on February 13, 1983, had to content himself with
looking at the envelope while holding it up to the light. He could see inside a
little sheet of which he measured the exact size. We thus know that the Third
Secret is not very long, probably 20 to 25 lines, that is to say about the same
length as the Second Secret. This allows us to reject as certainly inauthentic,
several texts much too long, which some forgers have tried to foist upon the
public as being the true Secret of Fatima.
On
the 16th of April, 1957, the sealed envelope arrived in Rome. What
became of it? It was placed in the office of Pope Pius XII, in a little chest
bearing the note, “Secret of the Holy Office”.(3) It is Mother Pascalina who
confided this to the journalist, Robert Serrou who in turn recently confirmed
this fact.
As
surprising as it may seem the answer is almost certainly No. Like Father
Alonso, I give several solid arguments for this conclusion; notably the
testimonies of Cardinal Ottaviani and Monsignor Capovilla, Secretary of Pope
John XXIII, who stated to us that the envelope was still sealed when the Holy
Father opened it in 1959, one year after the death of Pope Pius XII.
One
understands, therefore, the solemn words which Sister Lucy addressed on the 26th
of December, 1957, to Father Fuentes, then Postulator of the beatification
causes of Jacinta and Francisco. She said: “The Blessed Virgin is very sad, for
no one attaches any importance to Her Message ... Neither the good nor the bad
...
The
good continue on their way but without paying attention to the Message ... I cannot
give any other details, since it is still a secret ... Only the Holy Father and
His Excellency the Bishop of Fatima would be able to know it in accordance to
the Will of the Blessed Virgin ... But they haven’t willed to know it as they
did not want to be influenced.”
Pope
Pius XII, therefore, without a doubt, preferred to wait for 1960, but he died
before then. What a loss for the Church!(4)
At
the approach of 1960, older ones remember it, the whole Christian people
confidently awaited the promised public unveiling of the Secret. And you
Italians (here present) you no doubt know that in 1959 there was in the whole
country a great movement of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For
several months, the Virgin of Fatima crisscrossed the peninsula drawing along
in Her trail enthusiastic crowds and spreading everywhere Her marvels of grace,
extraordinary fervor, miracles of conversion, miracles of doves(5) ... On the
13th of September, 1959, all the Bishops of the country solemnly
consecrated Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Unfortunately, the movement
was so little encouraged by Pope John XXIII that his silence and reserve could
not pass unnoticed.
We
know that the Pope had the envelope of the Third Secret brought to him at
Castelgandolfo on August 17, 1959, by Monsignor Philippe, who was then an
official of the Holy Office. Let us notice that this transmission of the Secret
to the Sovereign Pontiff thus took on an official character and gathered around
it a certain solemnity, which shows the esteem which Fatima was held in that
era. Pope John XXIII did not immediately open the envelope. He was content to
declare “I am waiting to read it with my confessor.” “The reading of the
Secret,” Monsignor Capovilla stated precisely, “was done a few days later.”
“But because of the difficulty raised by expressions peculiar to the language,
assistance was requested of the Portuguese translator of the Secretariat of the
State, Mgr. Paulo Jose Tavarez,” who became afterwards, the Bishop of Macao.
Later, Pope John XXIII had it read to Cardinal Ottaviani, Prefect of the Holy
Office.
Let
us open here a brief parenthesis. Certainly we know well that it belongs to the
Hierarchy to judge “private revelations”. In 1960, it was evident that the
Church had already officially recognized the Divine authenticity of the Fatima
apparitions, proved, moreover, more solidly than any other by incontestable
prophecies and dazzling miracles as Father Gruner has just reminded us. In
accordance with the command of the Most Blessed Virgin transmitted through
Sister Lucy, the two prelates in charge, the Bishop of Leiria and the Patriarch
of Lisbon had publicly undertaken to reveal the complete content of it by 1960
at the latest. For more than 15 years, no authoritative declaration had come
out to refute these repeated promises echoed throughout the entire world by
Cardinals, Bishops and Fatima experts as renowned as Canon Galamba, Canon
Barthas or Father Messias Dias Coelho. The disclosure of the first two Secrets
in 1942 with the consent of Pope Pius XII constituted moreover a precedent. So
that the faithful perfectly had the right to expect from the supreme authority
this promised revelation. They had at least a right to an exact and
straightforward explanation on the part of the Holy Father.
Alas,
on February 8, 1960, it was all of a sudden learned through a simple press release
that the Third Secret of Fatima would not be revealed. It was an anonymous
decision, which is by its very nature, totally irresponsible. What were the
reasons that had motivated it? The Vatican communiqué had offered only
inconsistent, and even contradictory excuses. This anonymous press release even
ended in treachery: “Although the Church recognizes the Fatima apparitions She
does not desire to take the responsibility of guaranteeing the veracity of the
words that the three shepherd children said that the Virgin Mary had addressed
to them.”(6) Thus, apparently, the Vatican not only assumed as its own the
untenable position of Father Dhanis (the detailed exposé and analysis of this
incoherent thesis is in the first volume),(7) but this communiqué went even
further. It publicly and without any valid reason cast the most ignominious
suspicion upon the credibility of Sister Lucy and upon the whole of the Fatima
Message!
According
to Mgr. Capovilla, several Roman Prelates had been consulted. But what is
certain is that the Portuguese authorities in charge were odiously disregarded.
Neither Bishop Venancio nor Cardinal Cerejeira had been consulted or notified
by Rome.
Upon
re-reading and analysing this lamentable press release of February 8, 1960, or
even more by studying the miserable article published in June by Father Caprile
in “Civilta Cattolica”, one is disheartened by the massive examples of
incoherence, inaccuracies and falsehoods which have been uttered by responsible
authorities in Rome itself on the subject of Fatima. This tells you how much
the decision to take no notice of the expressed will of the Immaculate Virgin,
Queen of the Apostles, demanding that Her Secret be revealed by 1960, was
unjustified and unjustifiable. It is certain also, that it did immense harm to
the Fatima cause.
One
can say that it was from this date after this public disregard for the “Secret
of Mary” that devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin began to decrease in a
perceptible and then alarming manner in the very bosom of the Catholic Church.
More than ever, the words of Sister Lucy applied: “The Blessed Virgin is very
sad, for no one pays attention to Her Message.” And this fault, one must dare
to say it, was going to have incalculable consequences. For in the disregarding
of the prophecies and requests of Fatima, it was the Virgin Mary, it was God
Himself who had been disregarded, who had been ridiculed in front of the world.
The conditional punishment announced through the maternal warning of the
Immaculate One was then going to be carried out tragically, inevitably.
Cardinal
Ottaviani related that Pope John XXIII placed the Secret “in one of those
archives which are like a very deep, dark well, to the bottom of which papers
fall and no one is able to see them anymore.” We know very well what became of
the manuscript of Sister Lucy. One can even discover the essential content of
it. What does Our Lady tell us in this warning in which She has given for our age
on July 13, 1917? First of all we can establish four certain and objective
facts concerning this Secret and which are going to enable us to advance with
long strides in the uncovering of the Mystery.
1.
A first capital fact: We know the context of the Third Secret. Properly
speaking, there is in effect only one Secret, revealed completely on July 13,
1917. Now of this composite entity at this moment, we know three parts of four.
We know the beginning, the first two parts of the Secret and the end, which is
surely formed by the conclusion: “In the end,” Our Lady promises us, “My
Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me and
she will be converted and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” It
is in this already known context, following the “etc.” in the text that Sister
Lucy herself wrote concerning the second part of the Secret, that the Third
Secret happens to be inserted. Such is the first fact which is for us an
important guide post in order to allow us to proceed in the discovery of the
content of the last Secret. The latter must correspond with its immediate
context and agree harmoniously with the whole of the Message of Fatima, whose
coherence is moreover completely remarkable.
2.
A second important fact: If the circumstances in which it was revealed, prove
to us its fundamental unity, the dramatic circumstances of its writing down
unveil to us on their own, its tragic seriousness.
3.
A third very illuminating fact: It is on account of its content and on these
grounds alone that since 1960, successive Popes have refused to disclose it.
First
of all, Pope John XXIII did this, as we have seen, despite the enthusiastic and
anxious expectation of the whole Catholic world.
Paul
VI adopted straight away the same attitude. Elected on June 21, 1963, some time
afterwards he asked for the text of the Secret. This proves his lively concern
for this subject. Since no one knew what Pope John XXIII had done with it, they
questioned his secretary, Mgr. Capovilla, who indicated the place where the
manuscript had been put. Pope Paul VI surely read it at that point but he did
not speak about it. You know, however, on February 11, 1967, as the 50th
anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions approached, Cardinal Ottaviani in the name
of the Pope, made a long declaration on the subject of the Third Secret of
Fatima, in order to explain that it would still not be revealed. In my book, I
cite and analyze this text, following the Portuguese experts, I am forced to
testify that in order to justify at any price the nondisclosure of the Secret,
the Prefect of the Holy Office, supreme guarantor of truth in the Church, is
compelled to accumulate a mass of incoherencies and patent untruths.(8) And
alas, we shall see the reasons advanced in 1984 by his successor, Cardinal
Ratzinger, are not any more consistent.
Pope
John Paul I was very devoted to Our Lady of Fatima; he went in pilgrimage to
Cova da Iria in 1977, and what is a very curious fact, Sister Lucy herself
asked to meet with him. Cardinal Luciani went therefore to the Carmel of
Coimbra and he conversed at length with the seer. I am in a position to verify
that Sister Lucy spoke with him about the Third Secret and revealed to him the
essential content of it. He was very impressed by it. He informed his entourage
at the time of his return to Italy, how moved he had been and how serious was
the Message. He then spoke and wrote about Fatima in vigorous terms and he
expressed his admiration and his total confidence in Sister Lucy whom he obviously
considered to be a saint. (I shall give in my fourth volume all the proofs of
these unpublished facts.) Having become Pope, he wished no doubt to prepare
public opinion before doing something. Unfortunately, he was tragically taken
away from us before having been able to say anything.
Pope
John Paul II, before going on pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 1982 asked for
the help of a Portuguese translator from the Curia, in order to translate to
him certain expressions of the Secret which are peculiar to the Portuguese
language. He also, therefore, has read the Third Secret but has not chosen to
make it public either.
Finally,
we know that Cardinal Ratzinger has read it as well since he told the Italian
journalist Vittorio Messori that he had read it. Cardinal Ratzinger has even
written about it on two occasions, in November, 1984, and in June, 1985,
alluding to its content in very different terms, which for us is significant.
In my book, I published and commented on the synopsis of these two successive published
versions.(9)
4.
The fourth principal fact: the prophecy of the Third Secret has been unfolding
at the present time, before our eyes, since 1960. There is, in fact, a
timetable, a chronicle in the realization of the prophecies of Fatima.
On
the one hand, it is indeed certain that we have not yet come to the time
announced by the conclusion of the secret. Why? Because Russia has not yet been
consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as it must be, and as it will be
one day. Sister Lucy made this known clearly even after the Act of March 25,
1984.(10) Russia is not yet converted and the world is not in peace, far from
it! Therefore, we are not at the end of the prophecy.
On
the other hand, the events announced in the Third Secret do not only concern
our future, for we have another guide mark: 1960. The Virgin had asked that the
Secret be made public in 1960 because Lucy told Cardinal Ottaviani, “In 1960,
the Message will appear more clear.” Now, the only reason that might render a
prophecy clearer from a specific date onward, without any doubt, is the
beginning of its fulfillment. And we have other statements from Lucy saying
that “the punishments predicted by Our Lady in the Third Secret have already
begun.”
The
terminus a quo (beginning point) and the terminus ad quem (the end point) of
the prophecy having been thus determined, we can be sure that we are presently
in the period of which She speaks. So we are living the Third Secret. We are
witnessing the events that it announces.
Basing
oneself on this reliable data, one can discard a whole series of false secrets
that have been successively published for 25 years. I cite them all in my work
and I demonstrate, for example, that the most famous of them, the “Secret”
circulated in 1963 by the German magazine “Neues Europa”, and which has been
ceaselessly reprinted in innumerable magazines, is a fake. There are in this
text, several monstrous errors which prove this sufficiently. Moreover,
although it is a matter we are told, of simple “extracts” of the real Secret,
these “extracts” are already at least four times too long to fit on the sheet
of paper on which Lucy wrote down the whole of the Third Secret.(11)
One
can dismiss also, a good number of false hypotheses. Certainly, one is not
dealing with a simple “invitation to prayer and penance”, as Father Caprile
dares to claim!(12) The Virgin Mary would not have asked Lucy to wait for 1944
or 1960 in order to divulge a message that would repeat word for word Her public
Message of October 13, 1917!
[Translator’s
Note: Nor would it explain the extreme difficulty Sister Lucy had from Oct/43
to Jan/44, in writing down the 25 lines of the Secret. If it were only a call
to prayer and penance there would be no such difficulty.]
Neither
is it a matter of happiness: The Third Secret of Fatima certainly does not
accord with the views of optimism of Pope John XXIII, proclaiming that the
Council would be “a new pentecost”, “a new springtime for the Church!” If that
were the case, he himself or his successors would have revealed it to us. “If
it were pleasant,” Cardinal Cerejeira said very justifiably, “We would have
been told so. Since we haven’t been told anything, the fact is that it is sad,”
Yes, it is obviously grave and tragic.
Neither
is it the announcement of the end of the world since the prophecy of Fatima
ends with a marvelous and unconditional promise, which ought to be preached in
season and out of season, because it is a source of unshakeable hope: “In the
end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Holy Father will consecrate Russia
to Me, it will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the
world.”
Would
it be the announcement of a Third World War? Of a Nuclear War? It would be sensible
to think so, for here the prophecy would do nothing but confirm the most lucid
political analyses. Would not the Virgin Mary have predicted this most horrible
future war, which so tragically threatens us?
Together
with Father Alonso, I think that this is undoubtedly not the essential of the
Third Secret. And I say this for a solid reason: Namely, this foretelling of
material chastisements, of new wars and of persecutions against the Church,
constitutes the specific content of the Second Secret. Have we yet reflected on
the terrible importance of these simple words: “The good will be martyred, the
Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated”?
“The Blessed Virgin has told us,” Sister Lucy confided to Father Fuentes, “that
many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, that Russia will be the
instrument of chastisement chosen by heaven to punish the whole world (for its
crimes)if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation.”(13)
That is why it is to be feared that the word “annihilated” is to be taken
literally in its obvious sense: annihilated, totally destroyed. Improbable in
1917, this tragic threat is not any longer farfetched for us today in the
Nuclear Age.
It
is therefore clear: all the material punishments which still threaten us, even
the most dreadful, like nuclear war, or the expansion of Communism over the
whole planet, are already foretold by Our Lady in Her Second Secret, and we
also know the supernatural means to avert them before it is too late.(14) We
can be certain, according to Father Alonso, that nothing about these material
chastisements is repeated in the third part of the Secret. Or at least, I would
add, if allusion to it is again made (as is quite possible), this will not be
the essential message of the Third Secret. In effect, since the Secret is
composed of three interrelated but distinct parts and whose date, for
disclosure, fixed by heaven were not the same, one can be sure that the third
part of the Secret is not going to repeat the same thing as the second in a few
lines of space.
Doubtlessly,
the Third Secret mainly refers to a spiritual chastisement. Far worse, even
more fearsome than famine, wars, persecutions, for it concerns souls, their
salvation or their eternal perdition. The late Father Alonso, named in 1966 as
official archivist of Fatima by Bishop Venancio, has proved that this is what
the Third Secret contains. He wrote about it in one of the volumes of his great
critical work, consisting of 14 volumes, which unfortunately, he was forbidden
to publish. But he was able, all the same, before his death on December 12,
1981, to make known to us his conclusions in various pamphlets and numerous
articles in theological journals.
My
personal research has only permitted me to clarify, to complete, to be more
specific about his thesis which new documents have come to confirm.
Here
is the most important: On September 10, 1984, Bishop Cosme do Amaral, the
present Bishop of Leiria, Fatima, in the Aula Magna (large auditorium) of the
Technical University of Vienna, declared in the course of a period of questions
and answers: “The Third Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs nor of
nuclear warheads, nor of SS20 missiles. Its content, he has insisted, concerns
only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with
a nuclear holocaust is to distort the meaning of the Message. The loss of faith
of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that
faith is continually diminishing in Europe.”(15)
For
ten years, the Bishop of Fatima kept an absolute silence about the content of
the Third Secret. When he opens his mouth in order to make so resolute a public
statement, one can be morally certain that he has not said this without having
beforehand consulted Sister Lucy. We can be all the more certain of this since
in 1981, he had already refuted some false secrets while saying that he had
questioned the seer on the subject.
This
is to say that the thesis of Fr. Alonso is now publicly confirmed by the Bishop
of Fatima: It is the terrible crisis within the Church. It is the loss of faith
that the Immaculate Virgin has foretold, precisely for our era, if Her requests
were not sufficiently carried out, and it is this drama which we have been
witnessing since 1960. The essential having been said, I shall now content
myself to mention the principle stages of my proof regarding the true content
of the Third Secret.
In
the first chapter(16), I set forth the reasons which prove that the Third
Secret deals specifically with the loss of faith. It is the principle element
of the Secret that we already know. In effect, we know more than only the
context of it. Sister Lucy was desirous to indicate to us the first sentence of
it, “In Portugal, the dogma of faith will always be preserved, etc.” This
little sentence which the seer surely and intentionally added when she wrote
down the first two parts and the conclusion of the Secret for the second time
in her Memoirs, is definitely significant. It provides us very discreetly, with
the key to the Third Secret.
Here
is the judicious commentary of Father Alonso: “’In Portugal, the dogma of the
faith will always be preserved”. This sentence in all clarity implies the
critical state of the faith which will befall other nations. That is to say
that there will be a crisis of faith, while Portugal will save its faith”.
“Therefore”, Father Alonso writes further, “in the period which precedes the great
Triumph of the Heart of Mary, the terrible things which are the object of the
third part of the Secret, will occur. Which ones? If, ‘In Portugal, the dogmas
of faith will always be preserved,’ one can deduce from it with perfect clarity
that in other parts of the Church these dogmas either are going to become
obscure or else even be lost.”
Most
of the experts have adopted this interpretation: Father Martin dos Reis, Canon
Galamba, Bishop Venancio, Father Luis Kondor, Father Messias Dias Coelho. Last November
18th, in the course of a conference that he gave in Paris, Father
Laurentin declared himself also in favor of this solution.(17)
Let
us add that Cardinal Ratzinger has himself spoken in this sense to Vittorio
Messori, while saying that the Third Secret concerned “the dangers threatening
the faith and life of Christians”. Finally, as we have said, the present Bishop
of Fatima is still more explicit. He lets it be understood that it is a crisis
of faith, on the scale of several nations and entire continents ... such a
defection has a name in Holy Scripture: It is apostacy. It is possible that
this word is found in the text of the Secret.
In
another chapter(18), I show that there is more: The Third Secret insists surely
on the heavy responsibility of consecrated souls, of priests, and even bishops
themselves in this unprecedented crisis of faith which has hit the Church for
25 years. I provide several proofs of it, several very clear indications. I
must be content here to cite to you Father Alonso: “It is therefore completely
probable that the text of the Third Secret makes concrete allusions to the
crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors
themselves.”
He
speaks further of “internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of
grave pastoral negligence by the high hierarchy”, of “deficiencies of the upper
hierarchy of the Church.”
These
very serious words, Father Alonso has surely not written and published them so
clearly and openly without having carefully considered the whole impact. As
official archivist of Fatima, would he have adopted after 10 years of labors
and various interviews, various conversations with Sister Lucy, a position so
bold on a subject so red hot without being assured at least of the tacit
agreement of the seer? The answer does not permit any doubt at all.
This
declaration of the deficiencies of the Hierarchy explains the haunting concern
of the three seers forcing themselves to pray, to pray much and to sacrifice
without ceasing for the Holy Father; the three months of insurmountable anguish
that Sister Lucy had to face before daring to write down this text. It explains
finally why the Popes since the optimist John XXIII, have hesitated, delayed
and ceaselessly put off until later its publication, seeking at all costs to
keep it hidden.
In
the third chapter(19), I show that Sister Lucy, without doubt, echoed a theme
of the Third Secret in certain of her words and letters where she lays stress
on the unleashing of the devil in our era. Already in 1957, she was confiding
to Father Fuentes, “The Most Holy Virgin has told me that the devil is about to
engage in a decisive battle against the Virgin ... and that he knows what most
offends God, and what will make him gain the most souls in the shortest
possible time. He does everything to gain souls consecrated to God, for in this
manner, he will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their
leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
But
it is especially in a series of very little known but very important letters in
the years 1969-1970, that she uses some striking expressions to describe the
present crisis of the Church. And, let us note it well, through the pen of a
soul who is so humble, and so respectful of authority, that such strong
expressions are without doubt the echo of the words heard from the very lips of
the Immaculate Virgin in Her Final Message concerning the protection of the
faith and the welfare of the Church.
“I
see by your letter,” she writes to a priest, “that you are preoccupied by the
disorientation of our time. It is sad, in fact, that so many persons let
themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is sweeping the world and
that they are blinded to the point of being incapable of seeing error! The
principle fault is that they have abandoned prayer, they have in this way
become estranged from God, and without God, everything is lacking.”
The
devil is very cunning and looks for our weak points in order to attack us.”
If
we are not diligent and careful to obtain from God strength, we shall fall, for
our age is very wicked and we are weak. Only the strength of God can keep us on
our feet.”
In
a letter to a friend who is zealously involved in the defence of Marian
Devotion, Sister Lucy writes:
“Let
people say the Rosary every day, Our Lady has repeated that in all of Her
apparitions, as if to fortify us in these times of diabolical disorientation,
in order that we not let ourselves be deceived by false doctrines ...
Unfortunately, in religious matters the people for the most part are ignorant
and allow themselves to be led wherever they are taken. Hence, the great
responsibility of the one who has the duty of leading them ...
“It
is a diabolical disorientation that is invading the world, deceiving souls! It
is necessary to stand up to ‘the devil’.”
On
September 16, 1970, she writes to a religious friend: “Our poor Lord, He has
saved us with so much love and He is so little understood! So little loved! So
badly served! It is painful to see such great confusion, and in so many persons
who occupy places of responsibility! ... For us, we must try, as much as it is
possible for us, to make reparation through a still more intimate union with
the Lord ... It pains me to see what you are saying, but now, that is happening
around here also! ... The fact is that the devil has succeeded in bringing in
evil under the appearance of good, and the blind are beginning to lead others
... This is like the Lord told us in His Gospel, and souls allow themselves to
be taken in. Gladly I sacrifice myself and offer God my life for peace in His
Church, for priests and for all consecrated souls, especially for those who are
so deceived and misguided!”
For
the confidant of the Virgin Mary, evil is not only in our world “in decadence”,
“plunged into the darkness of error of immorality and pride”. Evil is also in
the Church itself, where the devil has his “followers” and his “partisans” who
are always “forging ahead with intrepid audacity”. Facing them, there are so
many “timid persons” who do not have the courage to take a stand. And Sister
Lucy is not afraid to state that many bishops are among their number. Moreover,
it is not only a question of luke-warmness or of pastoral neglect, Sister Lucy
lets it be clearly understood that it is the faith itself that is being
attacked. She speaks of “false doctrines” and of “diabolical confusion”, of
“blindness” and this, among the very ones “who have great responsibility” in
the Church. She deplores the fact that, so many pastors “let themselves be
dominated by the diabolical wave that is invading the world”. Could one better
describe the crisis of the Church that has opened itself to a world ... of
which satan is the prince?
But
Sister Lucy insists, “The Virgin knew that these times of diabolical
disorientation had to come.” All these words of the seer and so many others
that we can cite, are explained perfectly, and take on great prominence, if on
July 13, 1917, in Her Third Secret, the Virgin specifically foretold this
“diabolical disorientation” which would suddenly invade the Church, if Her
requests were not obeyed.
To
someone who was questioning her on the content of the Third Secret, Sister Lucy
one day replied: “It’s in the Gospel, and in the Apocalypse, read them.” She
has also confided to Father Fuentes that the Virgin Mary has made her see
clearly that “We are in the last times of the world.” This does not mean, one
must emphasize, the time of the end of the world and of the last judgement,
since the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must come first. Cardinal
Ratzinger himself discreetly alluding to the content of the Secret of Fatima,
has mentioned three important elements: “The dangers threatening the faith,”
“the importance of the last times” and the fact that the prophecies “contained in
this Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture.” We even
know that one day Lucy indicated Chapters 8 and 13 of the Apocalypse.
That
is why, in the last two chapters of my book, I take up the great teachings of
Our Lord, of St. Paul and St. John so ignored today! - Announcing the troubles,
the heresy and finally the great apostasy which will arise in the Church during
the “last times”. And the objective comparison of the prophecies of Scripture -
very particularly those of the Apocalypse - and the great prophecy of the
Virgin of Fatima, at the dawn of our Century shows indeed very numerous and
quite striking parallels.
We
have said enough about it in order to understand that nothing is so important,
so necessary, so urgent, than to make known without delay, to all the faithful
of the Church, the complete and integral text of Mary’s Secret, in its limpid
truthfulness and in its prophetic richness and its Divine transcendence. It
would be proper here to cite the numerous and solid reasons which underline the
urgency of this disclosure. I shall be content at the end of this presentation
to mention the principle points.
1.
“Because the Blessed Virgin wants it.” We know indeed that Her will has not
changed in the least since the moment of Grace of July 13, 1917 when She
revealed it to the three shepherds nor has it changed since that January 2,
1944, when appearing to Sister Lucy in her convent at Tuy, She asked her to
write down the text of it. Our Lady wills that this prophetic oracle be
unveiled, that it be known. And Sister Lucy, Her messenger, has continued to
want this public disclosure and as much as she has been permitted, she has
urgently requested it from those in authority, this we know.
2.
For the good of souls. For contrary to the falsehood so often repeated, the
Secret is not intended exclusively for the Holy Father. Like the two preceding
ones, it is destined for all the faithful. As sons of the Church, we are all
children of Mary. We all have the right to know the salutary warning that Our
Heavenly Mother addresses to us in this very perilous hour, in order to help us
- we ourselves, our children, all those dear to us - to keep intact and alive
in our hearts, the true Catholic faith received from our forefathers.
3.
As long as this Secret is not revealed, the peace of the world will remain
tragically threatened! I will explain myself. We believe strongly, that as long
as Russia is not consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as God requires
it to be, Russia will not be converted. And as long as she will not be
converted, liberated from its atheistic and persecuting Bolshevism and from the
grip of satanic forces which enslave it, the risk of a nuclear apocalypse will
remain a terrible threat for the world.
God
has willed that the peace of the world depends, in our century, on the ardent
filial obedience of the Pope and of the bishops to the commands of His Most
Holy Mother who appeared at Fatima. Now, this act of faith, of confident
docility towards the Immaculate Mediatrix, through which our pastors shall
carry out the consecration of Russia, presupposes also, and I shall even say
first of all, the acceptance and the public disclosure of the Secret. It is a
lesson of history: Since 1960, the deliberate, contemptuous concealment of the
Secret of Our Lady has gone hand in hand with the stubborn refusal to precisely
carry out with exactitude, Her other requests. On the other hand, the
publication of the Third Secret will be the clear sign that the Church has
officially recognized the Divine authenticity and importance of the Fatima
Message in its entirety. One of the major obstacles to the consecration of
Russia shall in that case be set aside!
4.
Finally and especially, for the good of the Church. While the Church, without a
doubt, is going through the most serious crisis in her history, while heresies
of all sorts are taught and propagated, poisoning everywhere the people of God,
while her “self-destruction” continues without let up since 1960, and when the
“smoke of satan”(20) has penetrated into the holy place, to use some
expressions of Paul VI, it would be a very great pity and certainly even criminal
to continue to neglect, to disregard, to despise the salutary words of the
Virgin Mary - concerning precisely this ‘crisis of faith’ that we are
undergoing. Since the Queen of Heaven as early as 1917 had foretold the danger
and since She had certainly indicated the real causes of it, and moreover,
since She had proposed the effective remedies, is it not a terrible shame that
these remedies intended to be publicly made known in 1960 have yet to be
revealed to us? Is it not scandalous that for 25 years, millions of souls have
been suffering in this “diabolical disorientation” and have been running the
risk of being lost eternally without the pastors of the Church deigning to
accept the extraordinary aid that Heaven is offering them?
There
now are so many reasons which make it a duty for us to continue to address to
the Holy Father our repeated supplications for the disclosure of the Secret of
Fatima: It is for the honor of Our Mother, for the salvation of our brothers,
for the peace of the world, for the renewal of the Church. Let us not be told,
as a recent false report tries to make us believe, that the Fatima Secret
cannot be unveiled because “It would risk being misinterpreted!” Is it possible
that the Queen of Prophets who foresaw and announced in 1917 so many then
unforeseeable events that we have since witnessed, would have failed to foresee
this risk, to the point of making Her Secret completely useless for the Church?
This is unthinkable! No, Her Secret is clear, with neither the least ambiguity
nor difficulty in interpretation, we can be certain of it. Let us dare even to
say it! Would it not be rather because of its too great clarity which is making
our pastors uneasy? Let us therefore pray untiringly so that the Holy Father
can receive from God the light and the strength which will permit him to
finally conquer all obstacles. It is already late, but Jesus tells all through
Sister Lucy, “It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and to Mary.”
Finally,
and with this I shall conclude, if the Holy Father cannot yet decide to make
public the final Secret of Our Lady by exercising his personal authority, could
he not, should he not at least allow complete freedom to the Prefect of the
Holy Office or to the Bishop of Leiria, or to the seer herself, to obey the
expressed command of Our Lady that the Secret be made known to the faithful?
For
it is an astounding fact, that for more than 25 years, the Secret of Fatima and
it alone is in some manner on the Index.(21) Sister Lucy, and she alone is
compelled to silence. On November 15, 1966, Pope Paul VI abrogated articles
1399 and 2318 of the code of Canon Law, which prohibited the publication of
books and pamphlets which propagate without authorization new apparitions,
revelations, or prophecies still not approved by the Church. And this
abrogation is now in the new code.(22) So that since 1966 anyone can publish
and spread among the Christian people the most fantastic revelations. Any
deception, and devilry, nothing is prohibited anymore. Everything is authorized
to be published and the ‘prince of lies’ skillfully takes advantage of this
license by multiplying throughout the world, false apparitions and fraudulent
messages, which spread freely everywhere and lead astray countless members of
the faithful. Only that Message, the Secret of Fatima which is most certainly
and most unquestionably from God, is the only Message which is scandalously
prohibited from being published.
The
conclusion imposes itself: It is high time to also let the seer of Fatima
speak. And through her the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and our Mother, our
all loveable and all loving Mediatrix and Coredemptrix. It is urgent to listen
to Her since, “She alone will be able to help us” as She Herself informed us on
July 13, 1917.(23)
Her
three Secrets reveal to us in fact Her threefold power and Her threefold
mission which God has entrusted to Her. God wishes to manifest in a most
striking way in our century, this mission of Our Lady. It is through Her,
through the vision of hell and the revelation of Her Immaculate Heart, the
first terrible and marvelous Secret that He wishes to convert souls, all souls,
and to save them, because She is the ‘Mother of Mercy’ and the ‘Gate of
Heaven’. It is through Her - the commands, the promises, the threats in Her
Second Secret, that He has been seeking to save Christianity, to spare us from
horrible wars and Communist slavery! For He has established Her as ‘Queen of
Peace’. Moreover, it is through Her, through the prophecy of Her Third Secret
that He wishes to conquer today that “diabolical wave” surging upon the Church,
the impiety that has taken hold, even in the Sanctuary and all the dark forces
that have propagated and encouraged the modern apostasy, for She is the
‘Defender of the True Faith’ and She alone has received from Her Son the power
to conquer all of the heresies in the whole world: ‘Cuntas haereses tu sola
interemisti in universo mundo!’
And
this threefold mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix which Her great Secret
reveals to us, is also the unshakeable basis for our inconfoundable hope. Yes
we can be sure of it when Her Secret will finally be completely unveiled and
recognized as authentic, when Russia will finally be solemnly consecrated to
Her, and the reparational devotion of the First Saturdays of the month is
officially approved, the faithful and powerful Virgin, Virgo Fidelis’, Virgo
Potens’ will accomplish Her wonderful promises.
Filled
with joy, we shall then witness the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart, preparing
the universal reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Russia, delivered from her
demons through a remarkable miracle of conversion, will return to the sheepfold
of Roman unity. A period of peace will be granted to the world. The Catholic
faith will be preached to all nations. And countless numbers of souls shall go
in joy to the Fountains of Salvation in the One Holy Catholic, Apostolic and
Roman Church of Christ under the guidance of a single Shepherd!
Yes,
this hour will come, but we ourselves must hasten it by carrying out with love
all the requests of Our Lady from this moment onward.
For
She has need of us. “Modern times”, St. Maximilian Kolbe used to say, ‘Are
dominated by satan and they shall be so even more in the future ... The
Immaculate One alone has received from God the promise of victory over satan,
but being in the glory of Heaven, She needs us today, to work together with
Her. She seeks souls consecrated entirely to Her and become in Her hands a
force to conquer satan, and to become under Her direction effective means for
establishing the Kingdom of God.”
The
Third Secret Revealed!
1.
See Appendix
2.
See Brother Michael’s book “The Third Secret”, pages 33-56 & 467-478
3.
This is at least what Mother Pascalina Lehnert affirmed to the journalist
Robert Serrou on the occassion of a photographic reporting session at the
Vatican on May 14, 1957 (“The Third Secret”, pages 484-486) [Mother Pascalina
was in charge of a few sisters who looked after Pope Pius XII]
4.
“The Third Secret”, pages 486-502
5.
During processions of the Pilgrim Statue, doves would be released. Sometimes
they would huddle at the feet of the statue rather than fly away (“The Third
Secret”, pages 99-103, 251, 533,534
6.
“The Third Secret”, pages 578-586
7.
This incoherent thesis is in “Science and the Facts”, pages 381-434 and 482-528
[Father Dhanis was a theology professor at Louvain when he first published his
thesis in 1944. Basically, he claimed that Sister Lucy’s Memoirs (written
1935-1941) were not reliable] This is totally refuted by Brother Michael in
Volume I as noted above.
8.
“The Third Secret”, pages 721-734
9.
For the conclusions that one could draw from the Cardinal’s “variations”, “The
Third Secret”, pages 818- 840
10.
On this date Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary, with an indirect mention of Russia (not by name), after having asked all
the world’s bishops to join in this act from their respective dioceses. In fact
all bishops did not join the Pope and the act of consecration used was not what
Our Lady of Fatima requested.
11.
“The Third Secret”, pages 642 - 663 english edition
12.
In The June, 1960 edition of “la Civiltà Cattolica”
13.
This declaration to Father Fuentes, as Father Alonso and I also show is
certainly authentic. I demonstrate this in my book “The Third Secret” pages
503-510, 549-554. Sister Lucy’s declaration to Father Fuentes in December of
1957, of which I show, following Father Alonso, the incontestable authenticity
(“The Third Secret”, pages 503-510, 549 - 554), is a striking synthesis of the
message of Fatima. Published in 1962 in the Letters to My Friends, and again in
1974 in “The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the Twentieth Century” (no. 87,
page 12, French edition), this text, always very timely, deserves to continue
to spread. (See “The Third Secret”, pages 504 - 508, for text)
14.
The main supernatural means by which world peace will be brought about are the
Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope and all the
bishops of the world, and the Communions of Reparation on the First Saturdays
(see Appendix), as requested by Our Lady on December 10, 1925 and June 13, 1929
15.
The bishop could make such a strong statement because it is a dogma of the
Catholic Church that: in order to be saved from the eternal fires of Hell each
Catholic must not lose his Faith. Obviously, physical annihilation is not as bad
an evil as the loss of souls in Hell for all eternity. That is why this
chastisement proclaimed in the Third Secret is worse than war and death.
16.
“The Third Secret”, pages 683 - 693
17.
To our knowledge, only Rev. Father Antonio Maria Martins and Father Geraldes
Freire continue to maintain another hypothesis, according to which the Third
Secret would concern the expansion of Communism to Portugal, her overseas
colonies and the entire world (“The Third Secret”, pages 735 - 744)
18.
“The Third Secret”, pages 694 -720
19.
“The Third Secret”, pages. 745 - 762
20.Pope
Paul VI lamented the “self-destruction” of the Church in a speech he made on
December 7, 1968. In a homily on June 29,1972 he referred to the “smoke of
Satan” having entered the Church. See “The Third Secret”, page 849, Notes 1 and
2
21. This refers to The Church’s “Index of
Forbidden Books”, which has since been abolished.
22. The new Code of Canon Law was promulgated
on January 25, 1983
23. The three parts of the one Fatima Secret
were given on this date. We could call them (in a manner of speaking) three
secrets.