Fatima:“There are no hidden secrets” but the message is still relevant today

May 09, 2015

Fatima:“There are no hidden secrets” but the message is still relevant today

The statue of Our Lady of Fatima

This is according to Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and former Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who spoke to Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano about Christian martyrdom and “Islamist persecution”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

اقتباس :: “I can tell you straight away that there is no fourth secret” of Fatima “nor are there any other hidden secrets”. Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and former number two man in the former Holy Office, first under Joseph Ratzinger and then under Cardinal William Levada. The cardinal gave his own interpretation of the message linked to the 20th century’s most famous Marian apparition, revealed to the world by wish of John Paul II in June 2000, after the beatification of the two little shepherds Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fatima, on 13 May that year.
“The secret is composed of three parts,” Amato wrote on L’Osservatore Romano. “I can tell you straight away that there is no fourth secret, nor are there any other hidden secrets. The first two parts were written by Sister Lucia, one of the three seers of Fatima in 1941 (with some additions mad ein 1951). These parts were published and known. What are they about? These first parts paint a vision of hell, which is described as a big underground sea of fire, which engulfed demons and wailing souls that cried out in pain and desperation, terrifying people and making them tremble with fear. The vision is accompanied by the words of the Virgin Mary, who encourages the devotion to her Immaculate heart in order to save the souls of sinners.”
Cardinal Amato’s words echo those pronounced by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in 2000, when he was Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was instructed by John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger to go to Sister Lucia dos Santos to discuss the interpretation of the Third secret of Fatima before its publication. Some details regarding the history of the envelope containing the text, which was first kept by the Bishop of Leiria before reaching Rome in 1957, along with some incongruities – for example the fact that the vision of the martyrdom of Christians and the Pope is described but not the words explaining the apparition, as was the case with the other parts of the same secret, which were previously known ¬– led some to believe that there was a part that had not yet been revealed. Or at least that two texts existed: one kept in the Holy Office archives and the other in the papal apartment since the days of Pius XII.
In his article, Cardinal Amato stresses that there is no “fourth secret”, nor are there any other secrets linked to Fatima’s prophesy to be revealed. Fatima’s is one of the prophesies that is most closely tied to last century’s history; it foresaw the October Revolution and World War II.
“When I was Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” the cardinal wrote, “I had the privilege of getting hold of and reading the original manuscripts on the secrets of Fatima and their message. I spent a long time reflection on them because they shed a light of faith and hope on the extremely sad events of the past century and not only. As we recall, the 20th century, which was supposed to be an era in which reason and fraternity among peoples prevailed, was in reality a tragic period for Christianity, which underwent persecution and oppression in many parts of the world. Aside from the two world wars, the most tragic stations of this evangelical Via Crucis were the Armenian genocide, the Mexican repression, the Spanish persecution, the Nazi massacres, the communist mass killings and, in this initial phase of the Third Millennium, persecution by Islamist extremists. Millions have fallen victim to malicious ideologies that have generated and continue to generate conflict, hatred and division.”
“Today’s Church,” Cardinal Amato continued, “is a Church of martyrs, of innocent Christians who are killed on a daily basis, simply because of their unshakeable faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Fatima’s visionary message evokes this tragedy, exposing concrete historical facts,which see God’s benevolent Providence being countered by the malicious will of evil that dwells within the enemy of good who dared to tempt Jesus and continues to tempt Jesus’ holy Church today, instilling feelings of enmity and death in the hearts of humans. With her famous secret, Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern-day apparitions, with concrete allusions to wars, divisions and tragedies.”
Readers will recall that the vision contained in the third secret involved a “bishop dressed in white”, who was killed after climbing a mountain full of the corpses of martyrs. John Paul II had said he recognized himself in this vision as a result of the attempt on his life by Alì Agca in 1981, on the very day – 13 May – when the feast of Our Lady of Fatima is traditionally celebrated. When the secret was revealed in 2000, all interpretations seemed to lean towards a prophetic vision linked to the events which had already taken place. But during his visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in May 2010, right in the very midst of the Church’s paedophilia crisis, Benedict XVI said “We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete.”