Three Secrets of Fatima

From May to October, 1917, three young Portuguese shepherds, Lucia Abobora dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, claimed to have witnessed an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On July 13 Mary is supposed to have entrusted three secrets - in the form of prophecies - to the young visionaries. Two of the secrets were revealed in 1941 in a document written by Lucia to assist with the canonization of her cousins, while the third was to remain secret, although the bishop of Leiria commanded Lucia to put it in writing and to present it to the Pope. Lucia herself chose the 1960 date for the secret to be revealed, because she said she thought "by that time it will be more clearly understood".

Third secret disputed

Despite the revelation by the Vatican, many persons claim that only part of the secret was revealed or that a completely falsified secret was revealed. One argument for this lies in the refusal of the Popes to reveal the secret, even though most Catholics believed that the secret was commanded to be revealed no later than 1960 - not simply suggested by Lucia as an appropriate date. The non-revelation of the secret caused a lot of controversy for the subsequent 40 years from 1960, and it was assumed that somehow revealing the secret would be even more controversial or have some negative effect.

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Some speculated that the secret might criticise the reigning Pope (who would be therefore natually shy from revealing it), or that it might heavily criticise Russia (something that would be controversial during the Cold War). Instead, the secret as revealed is arguably much less controversial and specific than any of the other writings of the Fatima seers.

Related Topics:
Russia - Cold War

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Some argue that the above text released by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is not the entire Third Secret of Fatima. Few question that the handwriting is truly that of Sister Lucia, but there are many inconsistencies with what was known beforehand about the Third Secret.

Related Topics:
Vatican's - Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

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First, in her Fourth Memoir, Sister Lucia wrote what Fatima scholars had universally understood to be the start of the Third Secret: immediately after giving word for word the second part of the Secret, as above, Sister Lucia wrote "In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved... etc." As the official archivist of the Fatima apparitions, Father Joaquin Alonso, said that it must go on to say that the dogma of the Faith will not be kept in certain other parts of the world.

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Also, Father Joseph Schweigl was sent by Pope Pius XII to interrogate Sister Lucia. Here is his report on the interrogation: "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.?"

Related Topics:
Pope Pius XII - Pope - Portugal

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Thus, many conclude that the Vatican released the part of the twofold secret that that concerned the Pope, but neglected to address the other part, which is the continuation of the words of the Virgin Mary.

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In the Vatican announcement in February of 1960 that the Secret would not be released, the Vatican said the Third Secret contained the "words which Our Lady confided as a secret". No words of the Virgin Mary were included in the Vatican's version of the Third Secret.

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The official third secret contains the phrase "a great light which is God". According to Lucia's memoirs, these were Francisco's words after an earlier apparition; "I saw Our Lady with a heart in her hand, scattering on the world a great light which is God."

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It is also known from the testimony of Cardinal Ottaviani and Bishop Joano Venancio of the diocese of Fatima, Portugal that the Secret was written on one sheet of paper, whereas what was revealed was written on four sheets of paper, indicating again that there are two parts to the Third Secret.

Related Topics:
Cardinal Ottaviani - Bishop Joano Venancio - Fatima, Portugal

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