The Failure to Consecrate Russia and to fully Reveal the 3rd Part of the Secret of Fatima, and the consequent Imminent Tribulation, Warning, Miracle and Chastisement Prophesied by the Blessed Virgin Mary at

Fatima, Garabandal and Akita

This paper considers the claims of the Vatican’s 26 June 2000 publication, The Message of Fatima, that John Paul II’s 1984 consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been accepted by heaven as fulfilling Mary’s request at Fatima for the papal consecration of Russia, and to have fully revealed the 3rd Part of the Fatima Secret. It will then consider the imminence of the Tribulation, the Warning, the Miracle and the Chastisement prophesied by the Blessed Mother at Garabandal and Akita, and suggest personal spiritual preparation for them.

In the Vatican’s The Message of Fatima Cardinal Tarciscio Bertone, then Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, asserted that “any further discussion or request” for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Holy Father and his Bishops “is without basis” because “Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration” had already been accomplished by Pope John Paul II. Bertone’s only authority for such a “game changing” assertion were two typed lines from a letter he claimed to have been written by Sister Lucia on 8 November 1989 stating that: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984.” 1

But is it probable that Sister Lucia, after 60 years of urgently proclaiming to a succession of pontiffs the Blessed Mother's request that the Holy Father order his Bishops to join him in solemnly consecrating Russia to her Immaculate Heart, would then state in 1989 that John Paul II's consecration of the world "corresponded to what Our Lady wished?" Considering Lucia's well known mind-set for these 60 years I must concur with those scholars who conclude that sister Lucia could not in conscience have composed such a letter.2

The credibility of Bertone’s claim is further weakened by the failure to include for readers of this document a fuller text of the letter, its addressee, or the signature of the author. It is at least disproportionate to base such a grave claim on such thin evidence. Moreover, there is a fatal contradiction to the possibility that Sister Lucia wrote the letter.

After the death of Sister Lucia's eldest sister, Senhora Maria dos Anjos, the then Rector of the Sanctuary of Fatima, the Rev. Msgr. Luciano Guerra, had asked Sister Lucia to complete her childhood recollections of her family, especially of her father. Sister Lucia gladly complied, writing as always in her own hand a Fifth Memoir, which begins with a letter to Msgr. Guerra, dated 12 February 1989. Sister Lucia there refers to Msgr. Guerra's letter to her of 23 November 1988 requesting the further recollections, and to a previous questionnaire Guerra had sent to her via her Provincial, Fr. Jeremias Carlos Vechina on 31 October 1986, requesting a prompt response, which her community duties prevented. Two years later a new provincial, Fr. Pedro Ferreira, believing the work to be for the glory of God, advised her not to delay longer. She then explained to Msgr. Guerra:

… believing this to be the will of God, and because it is what Your Reverence needs more speedily, I am going to begin by describing the portrait of my father, trusting in the material protection of Our Lady.

1

The responses to your questionnaire will be made afterwards, but, for now, I must say that to some - those referring to the Apparitions - I cannot reply without authorization from the Holy See, unless you would like to ask for this permission and obtain it. Otherwise, I will go ahead, leaving those questions blank. [Emphasis added]3

Is it, likewise, probable that after explaining in her handwritten letter to Msgr. Guerra on 12 February 1989 that she could not reply to questions "referring to the Apparitions ... without authorization from the Holy See," that on 8 November 1989 Sister Lucia would type the letter cited by Archbishop Bertone? Given Sister Lucia's personal moral integrity and her devotion to Our Lady and her messages, it is more than improbable; it is unthinkable that she would confirm that the 25 March 1984 consecration of the world corresponded to what Our Lady had asked in her apparition on 13 July 1917 at Fatima.

Moreover, it is not clear from Archbishop Bertone's text that the 8 November 1989 letter, whether typewritten by Sister Lucia or not, refers to the consecration of Russia proposed by Our Lady at Fatima. The consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is important and pleasing to Heaven and has been the cause of significant blessings in the past. But the promise of Our Lady of Fatima that Russia would be converted and that there would be world peace is conditioned on our Pontiff heeding her request for the consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotions of reparation. There were, in fact, two distinct requests and two distinct promises by Heaven. Assuming for argument that the 8 November 1989 letter was typewritten by Sister Lucia, it is most probable that the seer would have been confirming only that a second and different request, that the Holy Father consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, had been accomplished as Heaven wished. This conclusion follows from the following historical sequence.

On 1 August 1935 Our Lord asked another Portuguese seer, Alexandrina Maria da Costa, to write to the Holy Father asking him to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Her Jesuit confessor, Father Pinho, forwarded her letter to Pius XI through Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli on 11 September 1936. Pacelli instigated an investigation of the seer by the Holy Office, involving the Portuguese authorities. Coincidentally, Fr. Pinho preached a retreat to the Portuguese Bishops at Fatima in June 1938. Since previous requests for the consecration of Russia had resulted in obstinate silence from Rome, and since the world was once more rapidly descending into chaos, the Portuguese Bishops sent a collective request to the pontiff that he consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They urged that the protection God had given to Portugal in response to their having consecrated that country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary could be extended to the whole world by a similar consecration by the Holy Father. Pius XI, however, remained silent.4

Efforts by Sister Lucia's spiritual directors to obtain the consecration of Russia by the Holy Father with his Bishops seemed futile by the fall of 1940. Impelled by the immense dangers threatening the world they hoped to obtain instead the Holy Father's consecration of the world with a special mention of Russia. They ordered her to write to the Holy Father to ask for this. On 22 October 1940 Sister Lucia spent two hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and received this new promise from Our Lord:

His Holiness will obtain an abbreviation of these days of tribulation [World War II] if he takes heed of My wishes by promulgating the Act of Consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a special mention of Russia. [Emphasis added.] 5

2

On 2 December 1940 Sister Lucia wrote a letter from Tuy, Spain, to his holiness Pius XII that had been severely edited by Bishop da Silva of Leiria-Fatima, recalling the history of Our Lady's requests at Fatima and at Tuy:

... I come, Most Holy Father, to renew a request that has already been brought to you several times. The request, Most Holy Father, is from Our Lord and Our Good Mother in Heaven.

In 1917, in the portion of the apparitions that we have designated 'the secret', the Blessed Virgin revealed the end of the war that was then afflicting Europe, and predicted another forthcoming, saying that to prevent it She would come and ask for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart as well as the Communion of reparation on the First Saturday. She promised peace and the conversion of that nation if Her request was attended to. She announced that otherwise this nation would spread her errors throughout the world, and there would be wars, persecution of the Holy Church, martyrdom of many Christians, several persecutions and sufferings reserved for Your Holiness, and the annihilation of several nations.

Most Holy Father, this remained a secret until 1926 according to the express will of Our Lady...

In 1929, through another apparition, Our Lady asked for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, promising its conversion through this means and the hindering of the propagation of its errors.

Sometime afterwards I told my confessor of the request of Our Lady. He employed certain means to fulfill it by making it known to His Holiness Pius XI. In several intimate communications Our Lord has not stopped insisting on this request, promising lately, to shorten the days of tribulation with which He has determined to punish the nations for their crimes, through war, famine and several persecutions of the Holy Church and Your Holiness, if you will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a special mention of Russia, and order that all the bishops of the world do the same in union with Your Holiness. ...

Most Holy Father, if in the union of my soul with God I have not been deceived, Our Lord promises a special protection to our country in this war, due to the consecration of the nation, by the Portuguese Prelates, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; as proof of the graces that would have been granted to other nations, had they also consecrated themselves to Her. [Emphasis added] 6

Noted Fatima scholars Fr. Joaquin Maria Alonso, C.M.F. and Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, C.R.C. concur that at Fatima in 1917 and at Tuy in 1929 God asked through Mary for the consecration of Russia by the Holy Father with his Bishops, promising in return the conversion of Russia and world peace. Failing that, on 22 October 1940 "Heaven acceded to the desires of Sister Lucy's superiors, to see the consecration of the world with a special mention of Russia brought about. It is the Lord Himself who suggests such an act." But for this latter consecration the Lord promised not the conversion of Russia and world peace, but only the abbreviation of the tribulation of World War II.7

Finally, on 31 October 1942 Pius XII did so consecrate the world. Immediately thereafter the tide of battle turned on several fronts, including Stalingrad in Russia and El Alamein in North Africa, undoubtedly abbreviating the tribulation of World War II. But Sister Lucia then made no claim that such consecration of the world had been made just as Our Lady had proposed at Fatima in 1917 and requested with Jesus at Tuy in 1929 because that was clearly not the case! On 28 February 1943 Lucia wrote to her frequent correspondent, Bishop Manuel Ferreira da Silva,

3

titular Bishop of Gurza: "The Good Lord has already shown me His contentment with the act performed by the Holy Father and several bishops, although it was incomplete according to His desire. In return He promises to end the war soon. The conversion of Russia is not for now." 8 Indeed, Russia was not converted and a period of peace was not granted to the world. On the contrary, Russia spread her errors throughout the world. A dangerous cold war and a series of deadly hot wars impoverished enslaved and killed tens of thousands of human beings. An "Iron Curtain" divided Europe. Atheism, persecution of the Church, the terror, the Gulag, and a total suppression of freedom in communist eastern European nations and in communist Southeast Asian and Asian nations followed.

Likewise, the consecration of the world by John Paul II on 25 March 1984 has not resulted in either the conversion of Russia or in world peace, although there is much evidence that Blessed John Paul's act did bring many blessings to this troubled world. On 13 May 1984 a fire broke out within the Soviet naval arsenal at Severomorsk on the North Sea resulting in a series of explosions that on 17 May utterly demolished the facility. Until then the Soviet leadership had seriously considered a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the NATO allies during the Euro missile Crisis. Antonio Socci reports that according to military historian Alberto Leoni: "Without that missile apparatus that controlled the North Sea the USSR did not have any hope of victory. For this reason the military option was canceled." Commenting on this event, and on John Paul's faith that the liberation of Poland was a beneficial intervention of the Madonna, Sister Lucia, being questioned by the Italian journal "Thirty Days" declared: "I am completely in accord with what the Holy Father has said ... I believe this involves an action of God in the world, to liberate it from the danger of an atomic war that could destroy it, and an insistent call to all of humanity for a more lively faith." 9 Yet the demise of the Berlin Wall and the apparent political restructuring of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is neither the conversion of Russia nor the period of world peace promised at Fatima. So to which of these two separate and distinct consecrations requested by Heaven does the typewritten letter of 8 November 1989 proffered by Cardinal

From the first Sister Lucia has been adamant that at Fatima the Holy Mother had asked for the consecration of the country of Russia alone, not the world. The Lord had explained to her that He would not convert Russia without such consecration: "Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary." However, it appears that John Paul II believed that he could not consecrate Russia alone, but that heaven would be satisfied that he had done all that could be done in the practical circumstances. On 1 August 1984 John Paul told Father Pierre Caillon Bertone as from Sister Lucia refer? that "the consecration is done ... we cannot Consecrate Russia apart by itself. We have consecrated all of the nations and we have added a special mention for the nation which Our Lady was expecting the consecration." 10

Several conclusions follow from these facts:

(1) Sister Lucia knew that the consecration of Russia apart by itself was a condition of the conversion of Russia and world peace.

(2) Lucia understood Jesus' reason why He would not convert Russia without the distinct consecration of Russia apart from a general consecration of all countries: "Because I want My whole Church to acknowledge that consecration as a triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary." [Emphasis added.] For Lucia to have composed the 9 November 1989 typewritten letter would have contradicted what she knew to be the will of God.

(3) Sister Lucia could not have stated that the 25 March 1984 consecration of the world fully satisfied Heaven's condition for the Conversion of Russia and world peace given during the

4

13 July 1917 apparition at Fatima, that the Holy Father with his Bishops solemnly consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart, without disobeying the Vatican order that she not discuss the apparitions without explicit permission.

(4) Whoever composed the 8 November 1989 typewritten letter was unaware of the two different requests and promises for the consecration of Russia and the consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, rendering its assertion, and that of Cardinal Bertone, ambiguous at best.

It follows from each of these conclusions that the Vatican’s “The Message of Fatima” erred in claiming that Sister Lucia wrote the 8 November 1989 letter asserting that Heaven had accepted the 25 March 1984 consecration of the world as fully complying with the 13 July 1917 promises made at Fatima. Why is this error important to us? It remains to briefly consider the tragic consequences for the Church and the world if this claim of Cardinal Bertone continues to be believed by the leaders of the Church and the faithful.

Since 1960 the Vatican's Ostpolitik and diplomatic and social justice initiatives, like those proclaimed by John XXIII in Pacem in Terris, have failed to accomplish the conversion of Russia, to bring peace to the world, or any significant betterment in human behavior that would evidence the conversion of sinners' hearts and minds to Christ. And while significant blessings in the form of reductions of the tribulation of WWII and the Cold War have been obtained by the consecrations of the world to the Immaculate Heart by both Pius XII and John Paul II, "how much greater would they have been had the Madonna been heeded?" 11

Cardinal Bertone’s assertion in “The Message of Fatima” that Sister Lucia confirmed that the 1984 consecration of the world satisfied heaven has succeeded in continuing the ongoing suppression of Mary's 1917 requests at Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday reparatory devotions since its publication in June of 2000. But that period has seen, inter alia, the 9-ll destruction of the world Trade Center towers in New York City, ongoing tension between the Koreas, costly destructive wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Egypt, a real threat of nuclear war between Israel and its allies and Iran and its allies, the ongoing genocide of Sudanese and Nigerian Catholics by Muslim militias, increasing military competition between the United States and Communist China, a quiet but significant buildup of Russian nuclear weapons, and growing mutual mistrust between Russia and China and the West. Thus it is ludicrous to maintain that the consecration of Russia has been done as asked by Heaven at Fatima, or that the Ostpolitik of the Vatican or its diplomatic efforts in the United Nations have achieved world peace. Rather, the world has experienced continual war. It is certain that there is no time for business as usual by the Church as if there were endless centuries to work for Christ. Heaven has given the Holy Father and his Bishops specific orders at Fatima; they are not optional! We must pray that our Church’s leaders have the moral courage to step out in faith as did the Apostles.

Jesus told Peter: "Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch." Peter replied: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." 12 Benedict is Peter! He has all the authority he needs from Jesus, alone. He can avoid alarming the Russians or offending the Orthodox by ordering his Bishops to join him in consecrating a series of countries including Russia one by one, each by itself alone, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the 13th day of every month. He can personally lead the Church in the First Saturday reparatory devotions to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If Benedict does that he will lead the Church to victory over Lucifer as David led Israel to victory over Goliath and the Philistines. If he will not, then the world is poised to experience the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

5

the conversion of Russia and a period of world peace only after the further allocation of divine justice prophesied by the Blessed Mother after Pope John XXIII decided not to reveal the 3rd Part of the Secret and Sister Lucia was forbidden to speak on the apparitions without Vatican approval in 1960.13

Remember that after having read the 3rd Part of the Fatima Secret on 17 August 1959 Pope John had said it did not refer to his times and that he preferred to leave to others its appraisal, and it was announced that it would not be revealed.14 However in 2,000 at a mass in the Fatima Sanctuary celebrating the beatification of the two younger seers, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, announced that John Paul II had chosen to reveal it and read a brief synopsis of what he claimed to be its entire contents. On 26 June the Vatican’s The Message of Fatima was published with commentary to prepare the faithful to receive the final part of the Secret. The text of that document leads many, including me, to conclude that its writing was driven by the authority of Angelo Cardinal Sodano.15 In the Vatican government as restructured in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Sodano was then Vatican Secretary of State and ecclesial superior of then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Holy Office whose Prefect was the Pope) and then Archbishop Tarciscio Bertone, Secretary to the Congregation. 16

The Message begins with an eight page introduction by Archbishop Bertone which includes the first and second parts of the Secret as written by hand by Sister Lucia in her Third Memoir for the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima on 31 August 1941, with translation. Oddly, Lucia's more complete Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941 is not used, but is referred to in two 1 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Message of Fatima (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), p. 82 Fr. Paul Kramer, ed., The Devil's Final Battle, 2nd ed. (Terryville, CT: Missionary Association, 2010), pp. 133-137; and Antonio Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima (Milan: RCS Libri S.p.A., 2006, Eng. trans, Fitzwilliams, NH: Loreto Publications, 2009), pp. 21, 122 3 Fr. Louis Kondor, S.V.D., ed., Fatima in Lucia's Own Words: Sister Lucia's Memoirs, Vol. II, Eng. trans. Dominican Nuns of Perpetual Rosary and Dominican Nuns of Mosteiro de Santa Maria, (Secretariado dos Pastorinhos, Fatima, Portugal, 4th Ed., 2006) pp. 8-94 Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fatima: The Secret and the Church, vol. II, Eng. trans. John Collorafi (Buffalo: Immaculate Heart Publications, 1989) pp. 681-684 5 Ibid., pp.731-7326 Ibid., pp. 736-741 7 Ibid., pp. 732-7338 Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fatima, vol. III, Eng. trans., John Collorafi (Buffalo: Immaculate Heart Publications, 1990), pp. 60-619 Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, pp. 205-210; see also, Russian Navy Blog, accessed 10 Feb 2012, redbannernorthernfleet.blogspot.com/2008/05/soviet-naval-disaster-of-day.html10 Frère François de Marie des Anges, "The Requests of Our Lady of Fatima Are Being Deliberately Hidden," The Fatima Crusader, March - May 1990, Issue 31-32, pp. 28f, accessed 10 Feb 2012, www.fatima.org/crusader/cr31/cr31-32pg28.asp11 Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, , pp. 200-210, 220-22312 Lk. 5:5-6 13 Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, pp. 102-104, 195-197 14 Frere Michel, The Whole Truth About Fatima, vol. III, pp. 555-572; and Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, pp. 125, 153-15515 Fr. Paul Kramer, ed., The Devil's Final Battle, 2nd ed. (Terryville, CT: Missionary Association, 2010), pp. 124-130; see also, Edward Pentin, "The Allegations Against Cardinal Sodano," The Catholic World Report, July 2010, pp. 17-20 16 Kramer, The Devil's Final Battle, pp. 114-116

6

footnotes. Footnote 6 includes Lucia's assertion that in the Fourth Memoir "With the exception of that part of the Secret which I am not permitted to reveal at present, I shall say everything..." Footnote 7 states: "In the 'Fourth Memoir' Sister Lucia adds: 'In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. ...' " 17 The only comment made in The Message concerning that statement is that "some annotations were added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941," although noted Fatima scholar, Fr. Joaquin Maria Alonso, C.M.F., asserts that he and "all authors" consider that this sentence was spoken by the Blessed Mother and begins the third part of the Secret of Fatima.18

Then follow four pages of the original text of the third part of the Secret there published for the first time by the Vatican with translation, again written in Sister Lucia's own hand at Tuy, Spain, on 3 January 1944. In those pages Lucia describes the vision given to all three children of a complex scene in which "the Holy Father," and other bishops, priests, religious and lay persons are "killed by a group of soldiers" in the midst of a half-ruined city strewn with corpses.19 That vision is not found anywhere in Lucia's Memoirs, presumably because it is included in "that part of the Secret which I am not permitted to reveal at present," its several pages having been retrieved for inclusion in The Message from the Vatican archives.20

It appears that Lucia could not bring herself to write out what the Blessed Mother had told them after saying that "In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved," presumably because the Blessed Mother had told her not to reveal it, and also, perhaps, due to its shocking contents. The respected Italian journalist who authored The Fourth Secret of Fatima, Antonio Socci, proposes that Mary's brief explanation of that vision "contained ... something unimaginable and unspeakable, which after having 'paralyzed' Sister Lucia for three months had 'terrorized' even the Popes, inducing them not to reveal these words." 21 But in the summer of 1943 she became very ill and in September the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima visited her in Pontevedra and asked that she write down the still hidden part of the Secret to preserve it in case she might die, "if" she wished. Given the seriousness of the third part of the Secret and the command of Mary not to reveal it, Lucia asked for a clear order from the bishop. In October he complied and gave her a written, explicit order. Still troubled Lucia wrote to her confidant, the Apostolic Administrator of Tuy, Don Antonio Garcia that "she had several times wished to obey [the bishop] and had sat down at the table to write, only to find herself unable to do so." Finally, encouraged by letters from Don Antonio and having received in a vision the Blessed Mother's explicit permission, "we know for certain that between December 25, 1943 and January 9, 1944 the famous final section of the Secret of Fatima, revealed on July 13, 1917, was at last written down by Lucia." According to the former Fatima Archivist and foremost Fatima scholar, Fr. Joaquin Alonso, Sister Lucia wrote it on "a sheet of paper" which she sealed in an envelope and handed to the Bishop of Gurza on 17 June 1944 to be delivered to the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima in Braga.22

That fact contradicts the assertion in the Vatican’s The Message that the vision described above in four handwritten pages by Lucia at Tuy on 3 January 1944 is the complete third part of

17 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Message of Fatima, pp. 15, 16 18 Ibid., p. 4; and Fr. Joaquin Maria Alonso, C.M.F., The Secret of Fatima: Fact and Legend, Eng. trans. Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary (Cambridge: The Ravengate Press, 1979), pp. 69-70 19 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Message of Fatima, pp. 17-2120 Ibid., p. 4 21 Antonio Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima (Milan: RCS Libri S.p.A., 2006, Eng. trans, Fitzwilliams, NH: Loreto Publications, 2009), pp. 145-14822 Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Fact and Legend, pp. 35-42; and Antonio Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, p. 145

7

the Secret of Fatima.23 That claim has been proven false by abundant evidence produced by many researchers, including myself, which is not repeated here.24 But the following facts are unimpeachable. The statement related in Footnote 7 of The Message, that, "In the 'Fourth Memoir' Sister Lucia adds: 'In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc...'" is clearly significant, but not explained anywhere in the Vatican’s The Message of Fatima. In fact Sister Lucia does not "add" that statement as her personal comment, as footnote 7 of The Message suggests. On the contrary, in her more complete Fourth Memoir Lucia continues relating the previously unrevealed words of Mary beyond where Mary's words comprising the first and second parts of the Secret end: "In the end, 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. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved; etc... Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him." 25

It is clear from Lucia's text that all of these words are Mary's. One may validly infer that because of Lucia's terrible fear of disobeying Mary's command: "Do not tell this to anybody," and of the heavy content of the third part of the Secret that motivated Mary's command of silence, that Lucia could not bring herself to write it all down at that time, and ended her anguish by writing "etc..." 26 Moreover one must account for Mary's further statement: "Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him." It is clear that Mary gave Jacinta and Lucia permission to tell Francisco what she had said in explanation of the vision all three had just witnessed because he was not privileged to hear Mary's voice. Because of Francisco's lack of piety he had only seen the several apparitions and prophetic visions, but did not hear Mary speak.27 Therefore we must conclude that Mary's words following "In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved" explain and complete the third part of the Secret revealed in the vision. Otherwise Mary's permission for the girls to tell him what she had said would be meaningless.28This conclusion is a valid inference from Lucia's own words in the context of her account of the Fatima prophesies given in her Fourth Memoir. It is as clear to the authors of The Message as it is to their critics.

Fortunately facts exist that tell us much about the contents of the 3rd Part of the Secret of Fatima still being kept secret. In 1952 Pope Pius XII sent Fr. J. Schweigl to question Lucia about the 3rd Part of the Secret. Fr. Schweigl gave this reply to media questions: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope; the other logically (although I must say nothing) would have to be the continuation of the words: “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved” (The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. III, p. 74). As we have seen Fr. Alonso and many Fatima scholars believe that the words Lucia wrote in her 4th Memoir just after relating the 1st and 2nd Parts of the Secret are the beginning of the Virgin’s spoken explanation of the vision that she had just shown them. It is clear that the Blessed Mother’s words: In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved imply that nations other than Portugal will suffer a crisis of faith, but

23 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Message of Fatima, pp. 4, 39 24 Fr. James Anderson, M.S.A., "The Timeliness and Urgency of the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima," The New Oxford Review, July-August 2007; and Christopher A. Ferrara, The Secret Still Hidden (Pound Ridge, New York: Good Counsel Publications, 2008); and Antonio Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima (Milan: RCS Libri S.p.A., 2006, Eng. trans, Fitzwilliams, NH: Loreto Publications, 2009) 25 Fr. Louis Kondor, S.V.D., ed., Fatima in Lucia's Own Words: Sister Lucia's Memoirs, Eng. trans. Dominican Nuns of Perpetual Rosary (Fatima, Portugal: Postulation Center, 1976) pp. 168-17026 Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, p.14527 Alonso, The Secret of Fatima: Fact and Legend, p. 2528 Frere Michel de la Sainte Trinite, The Whole Truth About Fatima, vol. III, Eng. trans., John Collorafi (Buffalo: Immaculate Heart Publications, 1990), p. 710

8

that Portugal will preserve its faith, and that this crisis of faith is part of the missing 3rd part of the Secret.

This implication was confirmed by John Paul II in a homily given at Fatima on 13 May 1982 during a visit to commemorate the anniversary of the first vision in 1917 and to thank the Virgin for saving his life when he was shot in Saint Peter’s Square the preceding year. In obvious reference to Christ’s having from his cross made Mary to be mother of the whole Church in the person of St. John, he continued: "In the light of a mother's love we understand the whole message of the Lady of Fatima. The greatest obstacle to man's journey towards God is sin, perseverance in sin, and, finally, denial of God.... Can the Mother who with all the force of the love that she fosters in the Holy Spirit desires everyone's salvation keep silence on what undermines the very bases of their salvation? No, she cannot." John Paul here states unequivocally that "the whole message of the Lady of Fatima" concerns "what undermines the very bases of salvation." Then John Paul specifically states that the message of Fatima warns that societies are being menaced by apostasy, morale degradation and their collapse: "The message is addressed to every human being. The love of the Savior’s Mother reaches every place touched by the work of salvation. Her care extends to every individual of our time, and to all the societies nations and peoples. Societies menaced by apostasy, threatened by moral degradation. The collapse of morality involves the collapse of societies" (L'Osservatore Romano, 17 May 1982).

Clearly the description of the vision shown to the seers on 13 July 1917 and written down by Lucia on the four sheets of paper presented in the Vatican’s publication The Message of Fatima concerns the pope, and is the first part of the Third Secret referred to by Fr. Schweigl, Pius XII’s representative. But that vision does not depict or suggest the apostasy, moral degradation and moral collapse that John Paul II asserts is part of the whole message of Fatima. Neither are apostasy, moral degradation and moral collapse part of the 1st and 2nd parts of Secret. It logically follows that they are contained within what Fr. Schweigl refers to as the second part of the Third Secret that logically would have to be the continuation of the words: “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.” And according to Fr. Alonso that is accepted by Fatima experts as the first sentence of the missing third part of the Secret that Lucia finally wrote down on “a” sheet of paper between December 25, 1943 and January 9, 1944 and placed into an envelope for Bishop Gurza. It is clear that the Blessed Mother was warning the seers and the Church about a future apostasy in the Church and moral degradation and moral collapse in society. It would not serve any purpose to speculate here as to why this second part of what Fr. Schweigl refers to as the Third Secret of Fatima is being withheld. Yet it is clearly significant.

On 26 September 1956, in response to our devotion to her Immaculate Heart at the National Shrine in Washington DC, the Blessed Mother appeared to Sister Mildred Nuezil in the convent of the Precious Blood Sisters in Rome, Wisconsin as Our Lady of America. On 15 November 1956 she taught her this prayer: By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, deliver us from evil. She appeared to Sister Mildred many times through 1958 asking for purity and prayer and devotion and repeatedly warning of certain chastisement unless we repented of many sins. In January 1957 she warned: The hour grows late. My Son's patience will not last forever. Help me hold back His anger, which is about to descend on sinful and ungrateful men. Suffering and anguish, such as never before experienced, is about to overtake mankind. It is the darkest hour. These apparitions have been approved by her bishop, Most Reverend Paul F. Leibold, who was also her spiritual director until his death in 1972. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, now chief judge of the Roman Rota, when Archbishop of Saint Louis, expressed approval of this devotion in a letter dated 31 May 2007.

9

On 26 December 1957 Father Augustin Fuentes, the postulator for the beatification of the then deceased younger visionaries met with Sister Lucy in Coimbra and thoroughly discussed the apparitions with her. Back in his native Mexico he reported Sister Lucy’s words in a conference for religious sisters. "Father, the most Holy Virgin is very sad because no one has paid any attention to Her Message, neither the good nor the bad. The good continue on their way, but without giving any importance to Her Message. The bad, not seeing the punishment of God actually falling upon them, continue their life of sin without even caring about the Message. But believe me, Father, God will chastise the world and this will be in a terrible manner. The punishment from Heaven is imminent."

"Father, how much time is there before 1960 arrives? It will be very sad for everyone, not one person will rejoice at all if beforehand the world does not pray and do penance. I am not able to give any other details, because it is still a Secret. According to the will of the Most Holy Virgin, only the Holy Father and the Bishop of Fatima are permitted to know the Secret, but they have chosen to not know it so that they would not be influenced. This is the third part of the Message of Our Lady, which will remain secret until 1960."

"Tell them, Father, that many times the Most Holy Virgin told my cousins Francisco and Jacinta, as well as myself, that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth. She said that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation."

Sister Lucy also told him: "Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that offends God the most, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."

Is this another instance of the Mystery of Iniquity Paul reveals in 2 Thessalonians as the Diabolical Disorientation Mary warned Sister Lucia about, and the Confusion in the Church that she predicts will include the Garabandal seers doubting themselves and each other? This Mystery of Iniquity is Satan attacking Christ’s Bride, his Holy Church from without as militant atheism, pagan idolatry, Communism, Freemasonry, and from within by Diabolical Disorientation, Confusion, heresy, subversion, betrayal, occultism and immorality among both clergy and laity and much more. The attacks take many forms, recurring again and again in many places, but the enemy is always the same, Satan. But God has delegated his Virgin Mother Mary, made to be our Mother and Queen, to crush Satan’s head. Even while her mission at Fatima was being neglected and even undermined by those who should have accepted and fulfilled it, our Mother was active elsewhere.

Our Blessed Mother knows the danger and cares for her children. In the Spanish village of Garabandal in Santander Province in Northern Spain, on 18 October 1961, after appearing for 12 weeks to four 12 year old girls, Conchita, Mari Cruz, Jacinta, and Mari Loli, amid stunning phenomena, Our Mother delivered a heavy prophetic message to them, causing them to say: We must make many sacrifices, perform much penance, and visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. But first, we must lead good lives. If we do not, a chastisement will befall us. The cup is already filling up, and if we do not change, a very great chastisement will come upon us.

On 19 June 1962 at 10:30 pm Archangel Michael appeared to Loli, Jacinta and Mari Cruz, followed by the Blessed Mother who remained while the girls were in ecstasy for 50

10

minutes. During the fifty minute vision of the Blessed Virgin, the girls cried and cried and let out terrifying screams that stunned the crowd of onlookers. [A witness] Fr. Valentin Marichalar heard them say. “Don’t tell us these things! Take us away… They should confess! They should get ready!”

The archangel told them to write what the Blessed Mother had told them: The Virgin told us: that even though we don’t expect the Chastisement to come, it will come because the world has not changed. She has already told us twice, but we have not paid attention to her since the world is worse. And it should change very much, but has not changed at all. Prepare yourselves. Confess, because the Chastisement will come soon… The next night at 10:30 p.m. Archangel Michael appeared to Conchita, Jacinta and Mari Loli and told them the Virgin would soon arrive. Eloisa de la Roza y Velarde described the scene: The girls let out terrifying screams. And they said, Wait! Wait!... Everyone should confess! Oh! Oh! The people began to pray and to ask pardon publicly… The priest [Fr. Larrazabal], who was very excited, prayed in a loud voice, and we all prayed with him. When we momentarily stopped, the girls cried and screamed again in a very anguished manner. They calmed down again when the prayer resumed. On returning to normal, the girls said they would spend the night there in prayer. The people joined them and prayed for the rest of the night. When Fr. Larrazabal went to the church to hear confessions everyone followed him and virtually the whole town went to confession and Communion.

On 1 January 1965 at about 10:00 pm Conchita fell into ecstasy and received this second message of the Virgin delivered by Archangel Michael because, he said, Mary had not the heart to deliver it: As my message of October eighteenth has not been complied with and has not been made known to the world, I am advising you that this is the last one. Before, the cup was filling up. Now it is flowing over. Many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them. Less and less importance is being given to the Eucharist. You should turn the wrath of God away from yourselves by your efforts. If you ask His forgiveness with sincere hearts, He will pardon you. I, your mother, through the intercession of St. Michael the Archangel, ask you to amend your lives. You are now receiving the last warnings. I love you very much and do not want your condemnation. Pray to US with sincerity and we will grant your requests. You should make more sacrifices. Think about the passion of Jesus.

The Nights of the Screams were 19 and 20 June 1962, just before the Feast of Corpus Christi on 21 June that year. Our Mother’s explanation of those terrifying visions provides an important key to our immediate future now, in the fall of 2012. On 7 October 1962 Mari Loli told Maria Herrero de Gallardo that seeing the Chastisement was horrible; rivers turning into blood and fire falling from the sky and worse things that the seers are not permitted to tell. In 1967 Mari Loli told a Mexican priest, Fr. Gustavo Morelos that: “In spite of continuing to see the Virgin, we saw a great multitude of people who were suffering intensely and screaming in terror. The Blessed Mother explained to us that [during] this great tribulation, which was not even the Chastisement…. the Church would appear to be on the point of perishing. It would pass through a terrible trial. We asked the Virgin what this great trial was called and she told us it was communism.” In 1965 Conchita had told Albrecht Weber that the Blessed Mother had told her that Russia would finally make an all-out attempt at world domination. In 1978 Mari Loli told Fr. Francis Benac, S.J. the Blessed Mother spoke to us several times about communism; that it would seem that communism had mastered or engulfed the whole world. The Church would come under severe persecution. Priests would have to go into hiding and have difficulty offering mass. Europe will be especially hard hit but the tribulation would engulf the whole world. This prophesy of the Blessed Mother is supported by John Paul II suggesting that the 3rd Part of the Secret of Fatima concerns the global power of communism. When John Paul was in Fulda,

11

Germany, in November 1980, he was asked by a group of laymen about the third part of the secret of Fatima and about the near future of the Church. Answering the first question, the Holy Father replied, "Due to its shocking content and so as not to allow the global power of communism to interfere with the affairs of the Church, my predecessors gave confidential information in a diplomatic way.” (Vox Fidei, No. 10, 1981)

In 1979 Jacinta told Ramon Perez and Jacques Serre that God himself would intervene to stop the persecution “when the situation will be at its worse,” when no human means could stop the persecution. Conchita said it would be an individual, personal warning from God, using the Spanish word Aviso. It will begin as a supernatural sign in the sky seen by everyone everywhere at once. All will find themselves alone with their conscience bare before God. Frozen in time, each will see their sins and omissions and the harm caused by this “to open our soul to God and to bring repentance to us.” It will not harm us physically, but some could die of a heart attack or fright. Practicing Catholics will endure it better than others. Mari Loli was told the year but not the date, but that it would be followed within a year by a miracle in the pine grove at Garabandal.

Conchita said the warning would “correct the conscience of the world and prepare it for the great Miracle.” She was told the date and was heard to say while in ecstasy, “So far off. “ Shortly before the Miracle an event will occur that will cause people to stop believing in Garabandal. The miracle will occur on a Thursday at 8:30 pm between the 8th and 16th of March, April or May on the feast of a young martyr of the Holy Eucharist and coincide with a great ecclesiastical event in the Church. It will be seen in the sky and by all in the village and surrounding mountains and last 15 minutes and be able to be photographed and televised and will leave behind a permanent supernatural sign that will remain until the end of time. The sick present will be cured, sinners converted and the incredulous will believe. It will be Jesus’ greatest miracle. As a result Russia and other countries will be converted, presumably because the Holy Father will finally consecrate with his bishops Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as requested by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917.

As at Fatima, Our Lady warned of a final Chastisement of all humanity directly by the hand of God if the world does not change. This chastisement will be horrible beyond description, as seen by the Garabandal seers on the second night of the screams. Although the Chastisement is conditional should the world change, the Virgin told the seers the world has not changed at all so “that few will see God, so few that it is causing the Virgin great sorrow….the Chastisement is coming…”

On 7 August 1971 Conchita addressed the American Garabandal Workers, saying: “We are now in the last warnings, in the final moments. God has already prepared us for the last things, even the Chastisement, for it is needed. The Chastisement must come because the Miracle will not suffice by itself to make us change. It is true that we will change after the Miracle, but then we will fall again. That is why all of us who hear these words should prepare ourselves and induce all those around us, all those within our reach, to change their lives…it will not be possible to avoid the Chastisement because we have now lost even the sense of sin. We have reached such an extremity that God cannot now avoid sending the Chastisement. We need it for our own good. Those who survive the Chastisement will change very much and then we shall live for God until the end of time, which will also arrive.”

On 22 April 1984, the late Bishop John Shojiro Ito of the Diocese of Niigata, Japan, signed a pastoral letter authorizing "the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita, while awaiting that the Holy See publishes definitive judgment on this matter." In this letter, Bishop Ito recounted the apparently miraculous events of tears and blood flowing from a carved wooden

12

statue of our Lady, located at Akita in the convent chapel of the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist, and the restoration of the hearing of Sr. Agnes Sasagawa. The letter also included three messages claimed to have been given to Sr. Agnes by our Lady, seemingly coming from that same wooden statue. The third message came on an anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, October 13, 1973, as follows:

“My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior.

As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests.

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres, churches and altars sacked, the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.

The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”

Bishop Ito added that: "This message is based on the condition that if men do not repent and better themselves..." (Teiji Yasula, O.S.V., trans. John M. Haffert, Akita: The Tears and Message of Mary [101 Foundation, 1989], pp. 190-199).

A former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, said in a 1998 interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, "Bishop Ito was certain Akita was an extension of Fatima, and Cardinal Ratzinger personally confirmed to me that these two messages, of Fatima and Akita, are essentially the same."

And yet on 11 October 1962 Pope John XXIII concluded his address at the opening of Vatican Council II by stating that: We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom…. Moreover, none of the pontiffs who could have consecrated Russia and led the Church in the 1st Saturday Devotions of Reparation for Sins Committed Against the Immaculate Heart of Mary have done so. John Paul II clearly realized that heavens promise to convert Russia and bring an Era of Peace to the world was conditioned on the consecration of Russia, but he told Fr. Pierre Caillon that he could not consecrate Russia apart by itself, alone.

How can we account for this failure by Christ’s vicars to attend to what is clearly the most significant prophesy of our times delivered by the Queen of Heaven, herself, with the assistance of the Commander of all the heavenly host, Prince Michael, Archangel? Clearly the Mystery of Iniquity referred to by Saint Paul in 2 Thessalonians, the Diabolical Disorientation prophesied to Sister Lucia by the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Confusion in the Church by which the Virgin prophesied the contradictions, doubts and denials among the Garabandal seers must be considered a factor. But another factor is surely the increasing weight of the sins of the world, including our own. Let us consider the application by Saint John of the prophesy of Isaiah 6:9f to account for the unbelief of the religious leaders of the Jews in Jesus’ time: “Though they had been present when he gave so many signs, they did not believe in him; this was to fulfill the

13

words of the prophet Isaiah:’ Lord, who could believe what we have heard said, and to whom has the power of the Lord been revealed?’ Indeed, they were unable to believe because, as Isaiah says again: ‘He has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their heart, for fear they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn to me for healing.’ Isaiah said this when he saw his glory, and his word referred to Jesus. (John 12:37-41) The Blessed Mother said the same amid copious tears when she told the Garabandal seers that the Chastisement must now come because of the sins of the world. It remains to briefly consider how to prepare spiritually for this.

In response to the persistence of the questions about the 3rd Part of the Secret of Fatima by the pilgrims at Fulda, Germany in 1980, Pope John Paul II told them that “when you read that oceans will flood whole continents, that millions of men will die very suddenly in a few minutes...if this is known, it isn't really necessary to claim the publication of this secret.... Many people want to know it just for curiosity and sensationalism: but they forget that ‘knowing' involves also responsibility...but they just want to satisfy their own curiosity. This is dangerous when at the same time, they don't want to do anything, saying: ‘It is useless to do anything to improve the situation!'" Then the Pope took his Rosary and said: "Here is the medicine against this illness! Pray, pray and don't question further. Recommend all the rest to Our Lady!"

He continued: "We must be ready to face great imminent trials, which could also require the sacrifice of our life for Christ.... The trials could be reduced through your and our prayers, but they can't be (anymore) avoided, because a true renewal of the Church can take place only this way...just as it has already occurred many times that the Church rose up again through blood. It won't be different either this time. Let's be strong and let's get ready, having faith in Christ and in his Mother. Let's pray much and often the Holy Rosary" (Vox Fidei, No. 10, 1981).

At the Last Supper Jesus, as both priest and victim offered the consecrated bread and wine, now his body and blood, to his Father for us, taking the consequences of our sins upon himself. The next day Jesus consummated that offer by accepting his passion and death, thereby redeeming us and defeating and restraining Satan.

The spiritual power of the Eucharist to feed us and bring the very life of Jesus into our lives is proven by the lives of many saints, including Luisa Picarreta who died 4 March 1947 after having been bed-ridden for 64 years living in total abstinence, fed only her Jesus in daily holy communion; and Alexandrina Maria da Costa who lived in total abstinence for 13 years, from Good Friday, 1942 until her death 13 October 1955. Jesus explained to her: “You are living on the Eucharist alone because I want to prove to the world the power of the Eucharist and the power of my life in souls.” Both of these cases are medically verified and documented.

How can this help us to live our own lives striving to imitate Christ amid the general chaos in the world and our own trials and disappointments? How can we grow in faith, hope and love of God and other people in our lives, and practice prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance in our dealings with others? How can we be examples of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, modesty and self-control as Jesus, himself, was even in the face of the indifference, jealousy, rejection, hostility, lies and violence of those he came to love but who chose to make themselves his bitter, deadly enemies?

Let’s look at the example of the prophet Elijah in Chapter 19 of the 1st Book of Kings. After Elijah had defeated the several hundred priests of the false god Baal by calling down fire from heaven to consume his offering of oxen after they had failed, and then cut all of their throats, the pagan queen Jezebel had vowed to kill him in the same way. Elijah was terrified and God sent him180 miles south-east to the mountain of God, Horeb in Arabia. Elijah began to lose hope and lay down under a tree to die. But God’s angel twice roused him and gave him water

14

and a nourishing loaf to give him strength for the journey. Strengthened, Elijah took heart and completed his journey to Horeb where he encountered God and received God’s guidance for the final tasks he would perform for God before he would be taken up to heaven.

The water and bread from heaven that God gave Elijah to nourish and strengthen him are figures of Jesus body and blood given us to eat and drink to strengthen us for our journey to God. As we receive them with faith and love, thanking him for this intimate gift of himself to unite us with the very life of the Blessed Trinity, he will not only give us the spiritual nourishment to strengthen us for our own spiritual walk, but he will be right there with us every step of our way.

We in the Church must daily fast and pray to support Pope Benedict XVI as he prayerfully contemplates the promises and warnings of the three parts of the Message of Fatima within the prophetic context of Garabandal and Akita, and to defeat his enemies, visible and invisible, who work against him, within and without Christ's Church!29

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

29 Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima, p. 205; and Ezk. 8

15