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It will be recalled by the reader that the three little seers of Fatima were kidnapped by the sub-prefect of Fatima Arturo dos Santos and taken to his house in order to prevent them from being present at the August 13th rendezous with the heavenly Lady. Under interrogation at the sub-prefect's office, they were threatened with death - in a cauldron of boiling oil - if they did not reveal a certain secret which the Vision had revealed to them, the knowledge of which was then agitating the local community - as secrets always do agitate people. The sub-prefect may have suspected that the secret, if revealed, would expose the whole story as a hoax. In the event, he was quite unable to shake the determination of the three little seers each of whom was prepared to die rather than betray Our Lady's confidences. As Francisco and Jacinta had only two months previously, been told by the Lady that they - would die soon, the threat of the subprefect must have been particularly terrifying for them. Even Lucia, the eldest and much more mature than the others, believed that the sub-prefect's threat was genuine. The secret which the children guarded so jealously was divided up into three parts. The first two were revealed in documents released privately by Lucia in 1929. The third secret is the well-known document which, it was widely believed, was to be revealed in 1960. The first secret was the vision of hell, which, for some Providential reason, was not meant for release in 1917. Possibly, there were so many marvels associated with the revelations that God did not wish to put too great a strain upon our earthbound minds, which find supernatural truths difficult to assimilate. Possibly God was reserving the knowledge of the vision of hell for a time when the dread doctrine of eternal damnation would be little thought of and discounted in the preaching of the Gospel. For although the words of Our Lord are absolutely unequivocal and unambiguous on this subject of an eternal hell of fire, the modern world closes its ears, turns away- its eyes from the dreadful reality. By refusing to think of hell, the modern world imagines it has abolished hell - a pathetically unreasonable attitude to take in a matter so serious. The doctrine was of course guaranteed by the solar miracle; none of us will be able to complain, at our judgement, that we didn't know that hell existed.
-The second secret related to that
remarkable series of future events which Our Lady spoke of in the July
apparitions but - which were not, as far as the world is concerned, prophecies
- strictly speaking. For they were only published widely after some of
the events had happened. This allocution of Our Lady was as follows: "You
have seen hell, where the souls of sinners go. It is to save them that
God wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If
you do what I tell you, many-souls will be saved, and there will be peace.
This war will -end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, another
- and more terrible war will begin. And when you see a night that is lit
by a strange and unknown light, you will know it is the sign God give:
you know that He is about to punish the world with war and with hunger,
and by the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this,
I shall come to the world to ask that Russia be consecrated to my Immaculate
Heart, and I shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month Communions
of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world. If my requests
are granted, Russa will be converted and there will be peace; if not, then
Russia will spread her errors throughout the world causing wars and persecutions
of the Church; the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will suffer much,
certain nations will be annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart
will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will
be converted, and the world will enjoy an era of peace." There was a warning
added that this was not to be communicated to anyone but Francisco. Francisco
was able to see Our Lady but was never able to hear what She said. It will
be noticed immediately that the first part of this warning by Our Lady
has been fulfilled. Error did spread and is still spreading from Soviet
Russia. The second world war has taken place. The church has been persecuted
as never before in history, and the good have been martyred in millions.
The final series of the prophecies has still to be fulfilled, namely the
suffering of the Holy Father, the annihilation of various nations, the
triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the conversion of Russia to Christianity
and the promised age of peace. Lucia stated later that Our Lady appeared
to her several times subsequent to the events in the Cova Da Iria. It was
in 1929, in the chapel of the Dorothean Sisters at Tuy in Spain that Our
Lady came to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
It was to be made by the Pope in union with all the bishops of the world.
If this was made then, Lucia understood, that the Second World War would
have been averted and the power of the Communist conspiracy destroyed.
Lucia passed this message on to two of her confessors, according to the
account by Father De Marchi; one of the confessors informed the Bishop
of Leiria, and arranged that the matter should be brought to the notice
of Pope Pius XI, then occupying the throne of Peter. The priest later informed
Lucia that the message had been graciously received by the Holy Father,
and that it would be taken into consideration. However, Pius XI did not
act on it in anyway.
When Pius XII succeeded Pius XI in 1938 the world was on the verge of the
second World War. As is known, the new Pope energetically promoted the
message of Fatima in many ways and ho was affectionately known as "the
Pope of Fatima" in some circles. He consecrated the whole world to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942 with a special mention of Russia. A great
effort was made by world Fatima crusaders to have Russia consecrated to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Paul in union with all the bishops
at Vatican Council II. Pope Paul did renew this consecration during the
Council in the presence of a considerable number of the bishops. However
this was not an explicit fulfilment of the request in the terms- outlined
by Our Lady. The third secret, the most widely publicized' of all, was
written down in Lucia's own hand, placed in a sealed - envelope, and marked
"to be opened in 1960". This was generally interpreted "to be revealed
in 1960" and there was a flood of speculation in both the secular and the
religious press as to the nature of the contents of the envelope. Photos
of the Bishop of Leiria, Dom Jose Correja da Silva, holding the "secret
envelope" appeared in some large circulation secular magazines, as well
as innumerable religious organs. Many thought that 1960 might be the year
of the third World War. In 1957 the Vatican itself intervened by asking
for the secret letter. The Bishop of Fatima, Dom Jose Correja da Silva,
asked his Auxiliary, the present Bishop, to take it to the Papal Nuncio
in Lisbon. It may be presumed that Pope Pius XII who was then alive, read
the Secret. But there is definite news that it was opened in 1960. John
XXIII was on the Papal throne at that time and he, according to the report
by Cardinal Ottaviani who was present, opened the letter, read its contents
and ordered that the communication be consigned to "top secret" Vatican
archives. There are various versions of the Fatima secret current but it
seems that its contents have been well hidden. There has been a vast amount
of speculation, but nobody can say with certainty what the contents of
the secret letter are. Conjecture centred, naturally enough, on Pope John's
motives for not revealing the secret. Some students of the subject concluded
that the contents must be gloomy, alarming, or perhaps embarrassing for
the Church.
In fact, interest in the subject had developed to such an extent that,
had Rome released the secret, the authority and prestige of the Vatican
would necessarily have been involved, seeing to be guaranteeing its authenticity.
That, at least, is how the world at large would have reacted. Irrespective
of what was in the letter, Papal authorities would not have liked to be
compromised in this way. Tens of thousands of devotees of Our Lady of Fatima
reacted understandably but unreasonably in drifting away from the crusade
in disillusionment over the failure to reveal the secret.
For some years after 1960 it was fashionable in certain circles to denounce
Fatima as a "fraud" although, in fact, nothing whatever had happened to
invalidate the revelations. Rather to the contrary, for the Fatima outline
of future events was coming true exactly as stated. In 1967 the visit of
Pope Paul VI to Fatima for the Golden Jubilee celebrations established
once more, for Catholics, the solid authenticity of the revelations, which
had been taken - for granted under Pope Pius XII.
According to Father Montes do Oca in his book More About Fatima, the third
secret appears to have been interpolated between the words "various nations
will be annihilated... in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph." If
this is so the secret would deal with the great climax in the modern collision
of spiritual forces, throwing light - on the tremendous events immediately
preceding the triumph of the Cross over the enemies of Christ. As to the
third part of the secret, wrote Fr. John de Marchi in his authoritative
book The True Story of Fatima "only in 1960 shall we know what the Blessed
Virgin told the children of Aljustrel. It Is in the possession of the bishop
of Leiria, written by Lucia, and placed in a sealed envelope." It will
be noted that Fr. de Marchi expected the third secret to be revealed in
1960. It may be inferred that Lucia also expected this also for she carefully
studied Fr. de Marchi's manuscript and passed it as authentic.
Attention has been drawn in recent years to another prophecy of Jacinta, made when in her final illness in the orphanage in Lisbon. Again it is based on the hearsay evidence of Mother Godinho and it is not part of the official Fatima revelations. Mother Godinho sent a note to Pope Pius XII just before her death informing him that Jacinta had asked her to pass on a serious warning that the world would be severely punished for its sins unless it turned back to God. Also she allegedly told the nuns of the Order through Mother Godinho that they should prepare themselves for the year 1972, speaking of this in the context of a great punishment or castigation of the world because of its sins. These things were revealed by Mother Godinho just before her death in 1954. The dying child is also alleged to have said that the triumph of Our Lord would yet come but that there would first be much suffering. There is something of a problem here for these things form the substance of the second secret, guarded with such immense care by the children even under threat of death. Would Jacinta have revealed them without a special direction of Our Lady? Did she receive such a direction? Our Lady did not command Lucia to reveal them until 1929. However the reference to 1972 was not included in the second secret as revealed by Lucia. There seems little doubt however that Mother Godinho received some warning from Jacinta about a terrible age to come. The author of More About Fatima, Father J. Da Cruz -C.S.S.P., notes that she referred to this in her conversation- as early as 1920, the year in which Jacinta died.
From
all the known private revelations, from the visions at La Salette and at
Lourdes, approved by the Church, from the message of Fatima and so on,
it can be seen that Our Lady is asking us for prayers, repentance and penance
to save mankind from a punishment which will come like the great Flood
to restore the balance of Divine Justice.
The secret of Fatima came in three
parts. The first part concerned the vision of Hell. The second foretold
the 1939-45 World War preceded by a strange light in the sky which was
announced by Our Lady. This prophesy was duly communicated by Lucy, and
the light was seen without any possible mistake or doubt on the night of
January 25th, 1938. The following day, the Press reported the phenomenon.
Regarding this phenomenon it is confirmed by a Nazi general that the Fuhrer
himself also saw it while on the terrace of his bunker in the mountains.
This general recalls Hitler being extremely perplexed and also scared,
though, after consulting his auger the Fuhrer got the reply that these
lights meant "blood and more blood if Poland was to be invaded". Hitler
in a rage exclaimed the words "let it be so then" and stormed into the
bunker.
Part three of the message was written out by the visionary and is still
sealed in an envelope which was for a long time deposited in the care of
the Bishop of Leiria, and is now kept in the Pontifical apartments at the
Vatican. This last part of the secret was revealed to Lucy of Fatima by
Our Lady as soon as the hair-raising dance of the sun was over.
"You have just seen the prodigy of a short while ago," she said, "the great
miracle of the sun. And now, proclaim in my name: A punishment will befall
the entire human race. It will not come today or tomorrow, but in the second
half of the 20th century. What I revealed at La Salette through the children
Melanie and Maximin I repeat today before you. The human race has sinned
and trampled with its feet the gift that was bestowed on it. No-where does
order reign. Satan has reached the very highest places and decides the
march of events. He will succeed in introducing himself into and reaching
the highest summit of the Church. He will succeed in seducing the minds
of great scholars who will invent weapons with which it will be possible
to destroy half of mankind in a matter of a few minutes. He will have powerful
nations under his empire, and he will lead them to the mass production
of these weapons. If mankind does not take steps to stop him, I shall be
obliged to let my Son's arm fall. And then, God will punish Man far more
severely than when He did so by means of the Flood. The great and powerful
will perish in the same way as the weak and small. But a time of severe
trials will also come for the Church. Cardinal will oppose cardinal, and
bishop will oppose bishop. Fire and smoke will then fall from the heavens,
and the waters of the oceans will evaporate; the spray will leap into the
sky, and everything that is standing will sink. Millions of men will perish
by the hour, and those who are left alive will envy those who have died..."
It is better not to go on with the
spine-chilling story. Our worries can be summed up in this question: Are
these really the contents of the secret that the visionary forbade to be
revealed before 1960? Why was the envelope not opened when the date arrived?
And, if it was indeed opened, why was the secret not made known?
The document that I have quoted in part above was published on the 15th
of October, 1963, in "Neu-Europa" of Stuttgart, under the heading "The
Future of Mankind". The article was signed by Louis Enrich, and was later
reprinted in "Mensage de Fatima" of Fundao; "Agora" of Lisbon; "El Pueblo"
of Madrid; "La Voz de Espana" of San Sebastian, etc. The publication of
this document was justified by the claim that it was the contents of the
secret of Fatima, and that it had been sent by Pope Paul VI to President
Kennedy, Mr. MacMillan and Khruschev prior to the Moscow meetings which
resulted in the agreement of August 6th, 1963, on the control of atomic
tests. The article likewise claimed that the success of the agreement,
which has now been signed by ninety countries, was largely due to the influence
of this document. The surprising part is that this news was not subsequently
denied by the Vatican as happens whenever something is affirmed as a fact
when it is really doubtful; whence we can reach the terrible conclusion
that the news item in question was true.
To ascertain the authenticity of the text, the magazine "Miriam" wrote
to the Carmelite Convent at Coimbra, requesting confirmation or denial
of the version published. A similar request was sent to the Bishop of Leiria,
the diocese to which the Fatima shrine belongs. "We know nothing about
the matter," came the 'reply from Coimbra. On the other hand, the Bishopric
of Leiria remained silent.
According to the January-February
1965 number of "Miriam", the most varied constructions may be put on the
evasive reply from Coimbra and the dead silence from Leiria. For his part,
the Archbishop of Oviedo made a statement to the Press, saying that he
"supposed the Portuguese Episcopacy would issue a statement on the subject."
But, no statement at all was forthcoming from the Portuguese ecclesiastical
authorities or, for that matter, from the Vatican. This alarming silence,
quite contrary to the traditional course taken by the Church, was universally
interpreted as meaning that the document of which we have quoted a small
part is unfortunately only too genuine. If this is so, then the Treaty
of Moscow was not the result of the activity of politicians, but the fruit
of Pope Paul's exquisite tact and Vatican diplomacy. And it means that
the present generation is gaily, yet unconsciously, sitting on top of a
volcano.
There have also been hints that
this is not the true original text, but merely the one circulated in diplomatic
circles following Pope Paul's appeal to world political leaders. The original
text is written in far more hair-raising terms. There is very explicit
proof of the veracity of this document. This is the visit paid to Lucy,
on November 26th, 1957, by Fr. Agustin Fuentes, Postulator in the process
of beatification of the Fatima visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta. After
due ecclesiastical censorship, the contents of their talks were published,
in June 1959, in a magazine called "Fatima Findings", and later in "In
Coure de Maria" (August-September, 1961.)
From their conversation the following
points may be gathered:
1.-Lucy is very upset because mankind
has not paid the slightest attention to Our Lady's Message, but has trampled
the Grace of Fatima in the dust, bringing upon itself a punishment in which
millions of people run the risk of perishing.
2.-This situation will end in a
decisive battle between Good and Evil, and in this struggle everybody will
be forced to take part either on one side or the other.
3.-Mary will win in the end. But
at the price of how many misfortunes? This is the point that it lies in
mankind's power to avert, or at least allay.
Fr. Agustin Fuentes quotes Lucy verbatim as follows: "The Lord will punish
the world very soon. The punishment is imminent. Just think, Father, of
all the souls that are cast into Hell; and this happens because people
do not pray or do penance. This is the reason for the Blessed Virgin's
great sorrow. Our Lady has often said to me: 'The punishment is on the
point of arriving.' And that 'many nations will vanish from the face of
the Earth; Russia will be the scourge chosen by God to punish mankind'
if we do not obtain the grace of her conversion by prayer and the Sacraments.'
Tell them, Father, about the sorrow of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary at
the falls of religious and priestly souls . . . There is still time to
check Heaven's punishment. We have two very effective means at our disposal:
prayer and penance. Three times Our Lady has told me that we are approaching
the latter times . . . It is urgent that we should realize the terrible
truth. And let us not forget that, since the Blessed Virgin gave such great
effectiveness to the Rosary, there is no material, spiritual, national
or international problem that cannot be solved by means of the Holy Rosary
and by our sacrifices. Reciting it with love and piety will enable us to
console Mary and wipe away those loving tears shed by her Immaculate Heart."
"The mysterious "Third Secret of Fatima" remains under lock and key in a Vatican archive, while Vatican bureaucrats attempt to silence a Canadian priest leading a movement for its disclosure.
On February 8, 1960 Catholics around the world were stunned when the Vatican announced in an unsigned press release that the famous "Third Secret of Fatima" would not be disclosed that year, as expected, and would probably remain a secret forever. Thus began a controversy in the Catholic Church which shows no signs of dying out, more than 35 years later.
What is the "Third Secret", and why is a Canadian priest, Father Nicholas Gruner, under fire by the Vatican bureaucracy for probing into it?
The three "secrets" of Fatima are part of the overall "Message of Fatima" said to have been conveyed by the Virgin Mary in a series of apparitions to three shepherd children, Franciso, Jacinta and Lucia, at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. The apparitions culminated on October 13, 1917, when 80,000 people gathered in a field to witness a sign the children said would be given to confirm the truth of their account. At the appointed time, the terrified crowd saw the sun descend from the sky, spin about and throw off dazzling colors. The event received worldwide press coverage and was even the subject of a Warner Brothers movie entitled "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima."
After a lengthy investigation by Catholic Church authorities, the Fatima apparitions were pronounced authentic and worthy of belief. With the consent of Pope Pius XII, the first two "secrets" of the Fatima message were disclosed to the world in 1942. These secrets predicted World War II and the rise of international Communism. They also call for the "consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary" by the Pope in union with the bishops in order to end Communism and bring peace to the world. Whether this "consecration" has been done is another matter of high controversy in the Church, with some Catholics claiming it was done by Pope John Paul II in 1984. An article in Newsweek magazine- suggests that the putative 1984 consecration is related to the collapse of the Soviet.
In 1957 a sealed envelope was transmitted from Fatima to the Holy Office at the Vatican. It contained the full text of the mysterious "Third Secret" in the handwriting of the only surviving Fatima seer Lucia, who is now a cloistered nun in Coimbra, Portugal. By publicly announced agreement, the Third Secret was to be disclosed to the world not later than 1960. Then came the unexpected Vatican announcement that it would be suppressed.
To this day the Third Secret remains under lock and key in the Vatican archives, and sister Lucy has been forbidden to discuss it with anyone. But Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II all read the Secret in private, as has John Paul II's right hand man, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The suppression of the Third Secret has naturally led to speculation among Catholics that its contents must be nothing short of explosive. Yet the official Vatican line is that the Secret contains nothing that has not already been revealed in Scripture. If that is so, then why is it being suppressed?
In November 1984 Ratzinger gave a tantalizing hint of what the Third Secret contains when he admitted that it refers to "dangers which threaten the Faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore of the world."
Father Nicholas
Gruner has given voice to the growing movement for disclosure of "The Third
Secret." Ordained in Avellino, Italy in 1976, Father Gruner received permission
in 1978 to reside in Canada, his home country, where he has since been
engaged in a worldwide Catholic apostolate devoted to promoting awareness
of "the frill Fatima Message" The apostolate has used print, radio and
television media to petition for disclosure of the Third Secret, as well
as the "consecration" of Russia to the Virgin Mary, which many Catholics
believe has yet to be done. The media effort has included an open letter
to the Pope in a major Italian newspaper, which caused a furor in the Roman
press.
Father Gruner has widely publicized the work of several Fatima experts who believe they have deduced what the Third Secret contains: a warning that the Catholic Church will undergo a catastrophic loss of faith and discipline beginning around 1960 - the "great apostasy" predicted in Scripture as a harbinger of the end times.
As evidence for this view, these experts point to unprecedented change and upheaval in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council was convened in 1960: the abandonment of all traditional forms of worship in Latin, the collapse of traditional orders of priests and nuns, the exodus of Catholics from the Church, the precipitous drop in Mass attendance among those remaining, the drastic decline in priestly and religious vocations, the innumerable sexual scandals involving priests and even bishops, and the widespread refusal of nominal Catholics in the pews to adhere any longer to Papal teaching on contraception, divorce, abortion or any other matter on which they "disagree" with the Pope.
Father Gruner, too, is convinced that the Third Secret warns of precisely these events, and that this would explain its suppression:
"Obviously, no Vatican official would
be eager to reveal a warning from Heaven which says that the great apostasy
in the Catholic Church is going to happen on his watch."
Father Gruner's pursuit of the Third Secret has earned him the enmity of certain members of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Father Gruner says that over the past few years two high-ranking Vatican officials in the Congregation for the Clergy, acting outside the proper channels of canon law, have been issuing a stream of deceptive "declarations" stating that Father Gruner's apostolate lacks "permission of ecclesiastical authority" and that no bishop should support him or the apostolate.
Father Gruner says these pronouncements are misleading to the faithful because Church law guarantees all Catholics, including priests, the right to form private associations of the faithful to express their concerns about Church affairs. He notes that he has received private expressions of support from over 1,500 bishops and 72 cardinals "who aren't fooled by the bureaucratic propaganda."
Over the past several years opposition to Father Gruner's work has taken on the appearance of an international campaign, orchestrated in large part by the two Vatican officials:
In October 1992, while in the Sacristy of the Fatima Shrine in Portugal, Father Gruner was beaten up by two men who fled the scene. They were later identified as employees of the Shrine. The rector of the Shrine at first denied that Father Gruner had been assaulted, but was forced to admit it when eyewitnesses came forward.
After this incident the Blue Army, an international Catholic organization with close ties to Vatican bureaucrats, began publishing stories highly critical of Father Gruner in its magazine. These were followed up by 'bulletins" in local Blue Army newsletters repeating the "declarations" made by the two officials.
Father Gruner points out that some years earlier his own magazine ran an article demonstrating that a purported interview with Sister Lucy published by the Blue Army "never took place and was a complete fabrication, as they were later forced to admit." He says that the "fake interview fiasco" resulted from increasing bureaucratic control over the Blue Army, making it a vehicle for propaganda against disclosure of the Third Secret and the "consecration" of Russia.
Father Gruner says that the campaign to "neutralize" him climaxed in 1994, when the bishop of Avellino, under pressure from Rome, suddenly ordered him to return to Avellino immediately and drop his work of 18 years. The only reason given for the order was that Father Gruner had failed to find another bishop to sponsor him. Father Gruner says that several bishops have offered to sponsor him, but each one was approached by a Vatican representative and pressured into withdrawing the offer. "It's the Catholic version of Catch-22: They order me to find another bishop. Then they tell all the bishops not to accept me."
Father Gruner's files contain one
particularly telling document: A benevolent Archbishop's decree of "incardination"
invites Father Gruner into his Archdiocese and states that "evil forces
have conspired to put an end to your work of love, but ... bureaucratic
forces cannot stifle God's work." Father Gruner says that the Archbishop
was soon pressured by those same "bureaucratic forces" to retract the decree.
"The Archbishop wrote me to say that he hopes I understand his predicament,
and his assistant told me that he feared reprisals against the whole Archdiocese
if he accepted me there."
Father Gruner is appealing the order to return to Avellino in the Church's canonical court system. He has also filed an unprecedented canonical lawsuit with Pope John Paul II himself, charging the two Vatican officials and their collaborators with "abuse of ecclesiastical authority". He believes he is the first priest ever to take advantage of a new Church law permitting such suits. Several lay women who are directors of the apostolate filed their own canonical lawsuit with the Pope, claiming that their right to engage in the apostolate as members of the laity has also been violated by abuse of authority.
Father Gruner is hopeful about the outcome of these appeals to the Pope: "We are praying for the Holy Father's intervention. I know that he is very devoted to Our Lady of Fatima. " Father Gruner is emphatic in his denial that the Pope has anything to do with the effort to silence him: "This is a case of some Vatican bureaucrats running a rogue operation and covering their tracks. They even sat in judgment on the first level of my appeal, upholding their own actions against me!"
The worldwide campaign by Vatican bureaucrats against a lone Canadian priest suggests there may be something to the hypothesis that the Third Secret of Fatima foretells a "great apostasy" during the tenure of current Vatican officials. Is this a case of guilty parties concealing a heavenly indictment of their governance of the Church?
Disclosure of the Third Secret would answer the question. Until then, Catholics will continue to wonder about the mystery of its suppression."
"The Congress, entitled: "Fatima 2000, World Peace and the Immaculate Heart of Mary", has been declared a success by organizers. Presented as a follow-up to the Open Letter to the Pope, published In the "Il Messaggero" on July 12, 1995, interest in the Conference was high with delegates free all over the world attending. The Congress was opened by His Grace Archbishop Benedict To Varpin.
Focusing on the present-day implications of the famous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, the Congress addressed the "Third Secret" disclosed by Our Lady to Lucia, the last surviving seer, who is now a cloistered nun In the Diocese of Coimbra. The "Third Secret" was to be revealed to the world by the Vatican in 1960, during the pontificate of John XXIII, but it was suddenly and mysteriously suppressed and placed under seal. Speculation about the content of the Third Secret has centered on Its probable prediction of an unprecedented less of faith in the hierarchy and the Church at large, beginning in 1960 the "great apostasy" prophesied in the New Testament as a harbinger of the end times.
The Third Fatima Congress attracted once again opposition of certain Vatican bureaucrats, who are determined to squelch the view expressed by The Fatima Crusader magazine, and held by many of the faithful, that the Consecration of Russia has never been accomplished in the manner prescribed by Our Lady of Fatima, and that the "Third Secret" should be unsealed and read to the world, so that mankind may receive the benefit of the dire warning which is evidently contained in the Secret.
This year's conference was the target of similar Vatican bureaucratic maneuvers, according to conference organizers, who have received correspondence from bishops in several countries attesting to the refusal of papal nuncios to grant the visas to attend, including Bishop Salvador Lazo of the Philippines: "I used to get a visa for Italy without any difficulty at all, but this time it is quite different." said Bishop Lazo in a letter expressing his regret at being prevented free attending the conference by the papal nuncio.
Despite Vatican opposition, this year's conference was attended by well over 100 delegates including Archbishops, bishops and priests.
Archbishop Emanuel of Zaire an outspoken critic of efforts by Vatican bureaucrats to prevent the attendance of bishops at the 1994 Fatima conference in Mexico by denying them exit visas a fiery speech to delegates at Rome are Satanists working to undermine the Catholic Church. In a speech
entitled "Good and Evil Toward the Year 2000", Milingo said that "evil forces" within the Church are behind the failure of the Vatican to disclose the mysterious "Third Secret" of Fatima.
Former Vatican insider aid but-selling author, Dr. Malachi Martin, reached for comment at his home in Manhattan concerned Archbishop Milingo's observations: "Archbishop Milingo is a good bishop and his contention that there are Satanists in Rome is completely correct Anybody who is acquainted with the state of affair, in the Vatican in the last 35 years is well aware that the Prince of Darkness has had aid still has his surrogates in the court of St Peter in Rome"
The Fatima 2000 Conference is sponsored by Fatima Crusader Magazine, whose publisher, Father Nicholas Gruner, has spent the past 18 years attempting to persuade the Vatican to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as she requested in apparitions to three shepherd children at Fatima Portugal in 1917. Father Gruner has also sought disclosure of the "Third Secret", which has been kept under lock and key in the Vatican since it was delivered there in 1957 and read by Pope John XXIII in private. Commenting on Father Gruner's work, Martin said: "Father Gruner is fulfilling a desperately needed function in the ongoing perception of Mary's role in the salvation of our imperiled world Father Gruner is absolutely correct that the Consecration of Russia as Our Lady desired it has not been executed. It may not be too late if Father Gruner's plea is heeded in time"
Dr. Martin was Secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea in the Vatican. Dr. Martin says that Cardinal Bea was shown the Third Secret by Pope John XXIII, and cane out of the meeting visibly shaken, expressing his distress to Dr. Martin that the Pope was not going to reveal the Third Secret to the world Dr. Martin also concerns that content of the Third Secret is the unprecedented crisis in contemporary Catholicism and the failure of the hierarchy to adequately address it
Father Gruner gave several addresses to the congress outlining the implications to the world if our Lady's wishes are not followed, "The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations win be annihilated." Now, with greater urgency that ever, we must petition our Holy Father to step through the phalanx of Vatican bureaucrats which surrounds him and do precisely what Our Lady requested at Fatima, in an apparition the Church has declared authentic and worthy of belief, an apparition confirmed with a miracle witnessed by 70,000 people, Father Gruner told delegates in his speech entitled," Fatima, Our Only Hope".
Well known Bible Scholar Gerry Matatics
in his address pointed out the relevance of the Apocalypse to the Fatima
Message, with Dr. Thomas Droleskey enlightening delegates about, the world
as it will look under the reign of Mary.
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