secret of fatima

7/29/2019 Secret of Fatima

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The Third Part of the Secret of FatimaBy Father Charles M. Mangan

ISSUE: What is the third secret of Fatima?

RESPONSE: The third part of the secret of Fatima concerns the suffering of the Vicar of Christ, bishops,priests, consecrated men and women religious, and lay faithful during the 20 th century who loyally followed Jesus

to the Cross.

DISCUSSION: That Pope John Paul II has decided to have published the third part of the secret of Fatima, OurLadys words delivered in 1917, are again likely to be afforded attention on a larger scale. While the third part

plays a relatively secondary role in the Fatima message, it does have much to say especially to those seeking to

love Jesus Christ and venerate the Immaculate Heart of His Most Holy Mother.

Our Heavenly Mother Comes to Humanity

The 1917 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in the Cova da Iria near Fatima,Portugal has been the topic of much interest for over 80 years. Millions of Catholics throughout the world have

been devotees of Our Lady of Fatima. They have sought to answer her various requests, all of which involve

praying for sinners and performing penance in reparation for transgressions.

Space puts limits on a complete presentation here, but there are some excellent works that convey well the

message of Fatima and offer counsel as to how Our Ladys call may be answered.1

Marys appearances at Fatima have attracted global notice for several decades. One facet of Fatima has been

called the third secret. In accord with recent Church pronouncements, we will use the phrase the third part of

the secret of Fatima.

A Recent Document: The Message of Fatima

Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima on May 12, 2000 for the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco to be heldthe following daythe 83rd anniversary of Marys first appearance in the Cova da Iria. Before the final blessing

of the Mass, during which time the Vicar of Christ raised brother and sister to the glories of the Altar, Vatican

Secretary of State Angelo Cardinal Sodano acknowledged the third part of the secret. He briefly summarized it

and then declared:

In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the secret, after the

preparation of an appropriate commentary.

On June 26, 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithat the directive of Pope John Paul II

released The Message of Fatima. This document identifies the content of the long-awaited third part of the

secret and gives an interpretation of it. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine

of the Laity, and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the same Congregation, participated in the Vatican

press conference concerning this publication.

We may speak of the secret of Fatima as having three distinct parts. Archbishop Bertone, in his Introduction

to The Message of Fatima, referred to the content of the first and second parts having been disclosed by the

Virgin Mary to Lucia dos Santos (1907- ) and her two deceased cousins, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto:

the frightening vision of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally

the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith

and embracing Communist totalitarianism.2


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On January 3, 1944 in Tuy, Spain, by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria [Portugal] and the Most

Holy Mother, the third part of the secret was recorded in writing by Lucia (now Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus

and the Immaculate Heart). A sealed envelope holding this third part was kept by the bishop of Leiria. On April

4, 1957 the envelope was placed for safekeeping in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office. For the next 43

years, the succeeding PontiffsPius XII, Blessed John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul IIchose

not to reveal the third part of the secret.

English Translation of the Third Secret

What follows is the English translation of the text of the third part of the secret of Fatima as written in 1944

by Sister Lucia.

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an

Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would

set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him

from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: Penance,

Penance, Penance! And we saw in an immense light that is God: (something similar to how people

appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it) a Bishop dressed in white (we had the impression that it

was the Holy Father). Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the

top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching

there the Holy Father passed trough a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted

with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of

the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired

bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests,

men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms

of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered

up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.

Important Considerations

Cardinal Ratzingers theological commentary in The Message of Fatima outlines important considerations

prior to attempting an interpretation of the Fatima message.

First, the third part of the secret possesses neither some earth-shaking mystery nor special knowledge of the

future. Its language is largely symbolic and therefore needs careful scrutiny.

Second, the distinction between public revelation and private revelation is important. Public revelation is Gods

revelation of divine truths for humanitys salvation. It is transmitted to us through Sacred Scripture and

Apostolic Tradition, safeguarded and interpreted by the Churchs Magisterium. Public revelation ended with the

death of the Apostle John.

Private revelation, the category that Fatima comes under, is Gods revelation notof new doctrine, but rather

of a message that points the faithful back to public revelation. Its purpose is, as Pope John XXIII stated, to

guide us in our conduct. Private revelation is meant to encourage us to live the Gospel message, to steer

freedom in a positive direction, as Cardinal Ratzinger states.

The Church is always cautious in her approach to reports of private revelation because as the guardian of

public revelation she must uphold the primacy and the essential character of the Gospel in the face of the non-essential character of private revelation. In her divine office, the teaching Church functions without need of

private revelation.

Third, there are three diverse forms of vision or perception in private revelation: vision with the senses,

interior perception, and spiritual vision. The private revelation of Fatima involves interior perception, meaning

that the souls of Sister Lucia and Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco were touched by something real, even if

beyond the senses. That Fatima has received proper ecclesial approval, we can confidently believe that during

the apparitions, the children were not deluded by fantasythey did experience something extraordinary. But, as

Cardinal Ratzinger points out in his commentary, they were not privileged to see Heaven in its pure essence, as

one day we hope to see it in our definitive union with God. The images that describe what the visionaries saw


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and heard were notphotographic but rather symbolic in nature and shrouded in figurative language. In his

remarks during the Beatification Mass, Cardinal Sodano asserted:

That text [of the third part of the secret of Fatima] contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in

Sacred Scripture, which do not describe photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and

compress against a single background facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and

duration. As a result, the text must be interpreted in a symbolic key.

Attempting the Interpretation

Sister Lucia herself did not provide an interpretation of the secret. She believed that to be the domain of the

Church. In The Message of Fatima, the Church provides a more detailed analysis than can be given here.

In any authentic interpretation, the correct concept of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is particularly

connected to the first and second parts of the secret, is critical. Poor souls may be saved from the fires of hell

through devotion to Our Ladys Immaculate Heart. Cardinal Ratzinger elaborates:

In biblical language, the heart indicates the center of human life, to the point where reason, will,

temperament and sensitivity converge, where the person finds his unity and his interior orientation.

According to Matthew 5:8, the immaculate heart is a heart which, with Gods grace, has come to

perfect interior unity and therefore sees God. To be devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means

therefore to embrace this attitude of heart, which makes thefiatyour will be donethe defining

center of ones whole life.

The Angels alarm, Penance, Penance, Penance! can be regarded as the key word of the third part. The

Gospel of Mark begins in similar fashion: Repent and believe in the Good News (1:15). The angel holding the

flaming sword represents judgment and destruction, while the compassionate Heart of Marywho invites us to

do penancestands in stark contrast. Cardinal Ratzinger states: In this way, the importance of human

freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably setthe whole point of the vision is to bring

freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction.

The Popethe Vicar of Christleads the Church of martyrs along the Via Crucis (the Way of the Cross)

that lasted for the entire 20 th century. All the Popes from Leo XIII through John Paul II shared the sufferings

of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. It has

been widely reported that three years after the May 13, 1981 assassination attempt, the Holy Father remarked:

. . . it was a mothers hand that guided the bullets path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of

death.

Any study of the secret of Fatima must confront Our Ladys stirring promise: In the end, my Immaculate

Heart will triumph. Marysfiatchanged the world. Although Satan does have power, human hearts that

imitate the Immaculate Heart open and commit themselves to God and His plan. They remain convinced that

Jesus, the Son of Mary, will not leave them orphaned.

Transforming Our Lives

The third part of the secret of Fatima deserves a hearing on behalf of Catholics around the globe.

Receptivity to this message should effect Catholics in the following ways.

1) Sincere gratitude to the Almighty for permitting Our Lady to visit humanity with a timely message to be

shared.

2) Renewed interest in the total Fatima message that has been hailed as nothing less than the Gospel in

miniature.

3) Filial devotion to the Mother of God who always heeded the voice of her divine Lord, regardless of the cost.

4) Deep appreciation for the treasures of Catholic sacramental life and spirituality encouraged by Our Lady of

Fatima, such as the Most Holy Eucharist (and the Five First Saturdays), the Sacrament of Penance, the Holy

Rosary, Saint Joseph, the person and mission of the Successor of Peter, and other true treasures of our Catholic

heritage.


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5) Spirit of gratitude for the gift of Pope John Paul II and all the courageous martyrs and witnesses of the last

century who encompass all vocations: clergy, consecrated religious, married and single.

Christ Our Victor

The third part of the secret of Fatima insists that Jesus wins! His faithful friends, no matter the degree oftheir suffering, inherit paradise. His Mother was granted the joy of revealing that in the end, her Immaculate

Heart will triumph. Her triumph is nothing more than participation in His triumph. The crucified Christ is the

risen Christ, now reigning in heaven forever. Her Son is still present in our sin-laden eraand will be until the

end of time. All those who are present to Him and carry their crosses and trust in His promise will receive

the prize that His Mother and the sterling witnesses of the 20th century now enjoy: perfect and unceasing union

with the heroic God-man.

1 Two apostolates that are primarily involved in the diffusion of the Fatima message are World Apostolate of Fatima (P.O.

Box 976 Washington, NJ 07882-0976 Phone: 908-213-2223), Fatima Family Apostolate (P.O. Box 55 Redfield, SD 57469-0055

Phone: 800-213-5541). Books, pamphlets, audio tapes, and video tapes may be purchased from these organizations.2 Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, The Message of Fatima (June 26, 2000). Most of the quotations in this FAITH FACT

are taken from this document, which may be obtained from the World Wide Web site of The Holy See (www.vatican.va).

Study Questions1. What was to be gained by the release of the third part of the secret of Fatima?

2. How does the third part of the secret compare to the first and second parts?

3. If the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph, then how are we to participate in that victory?

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Fatima in Lucias Own Words by Sister Maria Lucia

The Immaculate Heart of Mary: True Devotion by Father Robert J. Fox (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday

Visitor, 1986)

Our Lady of Fatima by William Walsh (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1954)

. Russia Will be Convertedby John M. Haffert (Washington, NJ: AMI Press, 1950)

. Rediscovering Fatima by Father Robert J. Fox (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1982)

AVAILABLEFROM CUF BOOKSAND TAPESBY MAIL

Holy Bible (Catholic edition)

Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paperback and hardback available)

To order, call Benedictus Books toll-free: (888) 316-2640. CUF members receive 10% discount.

FAITH FACTS: Answers to Catholic Questions; Suprenant and Gray

Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God; Hahn, Scott, et al.

Catholic for a Reason II: Scripture and the Mystery of the Mother of God; Suprenant, Leon, ed.

A Catholic Handbook for Engaged and Newly Married Couples; Marks, FrederickCourageous Love: A Bible Study on Holiness for Women; Mitch, Stacy

Mission of the Messiah: On the Gospel of Luke; Gray, Timothy

Servants of the Gospel; Suprenant, Leon, ed.

To order these and other titles, call Emmaus Road Publishing toll-free: (800) 3985470.

OTHER AVAILABLE FAITH FACTS: Honor Thy Mother: Praising Mary and the Saints is Biblically Correct

Mary, Mother of the Church


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Persevering to the End: The Biblical Reality of Mortal Sin

The Cardinal Virtues

Marys Perpetual Virginity

To receive these or other Faith Facts, call (800) MY-FAITH (693-2484).

Catholics United for the Faith827 North Fourth Street

Steubenville, OH 43952

(800) 693-2484

www.cuf.org

2000 Catholics United for the Faith Last edited: 10/19/2000

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