Fatima Secrets
Includes official Vatican documents and
Marian prayers by Pope John Paul II
Compiled by Jerome F. Coniker
©MMI Apostolate for Family Consecration
®
All Rights Reserved in All Media.
Table of Contents
I.
Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Shepherds of Fatima—Homily of His
Holiness Pope John Paul II
II. The Message of Fatima Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Introduction, by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.
• The “Secret” of Fatima: First and Second Part of the “Secret”
• Third Part of the “Secret”
• Interpretation of the “Secret”
— Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Sr. Lucia
— Conversation with Sr. Maria Lucia of Jesus of theImmaculate Heart
— Announcement Made by Cardinal Angelo Sodano,Secretary of State
• Theological Commentary by Cardinal Ratzinger
III. Other Letters by Sr. Lucia
• Apparitions of the Angel
• Apparitions of October 13, 1917
• True Penance for today
• First Saturday Communion of Reparation Devotion
• The Five Offenses Committed Against the Immaculate Heart
IV. Insights on Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Message of Fatima
Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, O.P., Papal Theologian
V.
Reparation for Sin
by Pope Paul VI
VI. Take Up Your Cross Daily
by Pope John Paul II
VI. Summary Articles on the Fatima Message from the Vatican Information Service
• Presentation of Text of Third Secret of Fatima (Summary)
• Complete Translation of Original Text
• Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: Penance is the Key to the “Secret”
• Presentation of the Message of Fatima
VII. Pastoral Letter of Apparitions of Akita
by Bishop John Shojiro Ito
VIII.Act of Entrustment to Mary
Pope John Paul II
IX. Prayers and Devotions
1
I. Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Shepherds of Fatima
Homily of His Holiness
Pope John Paul II
Saturday, 13 May 2000
Fatima
1.
“Father,…to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have
revealed to the merest children” (Mt 11:25).
With these words, dear brothers and sisters, Jesus praises the heavenly Father for his designs; he knows
that no one can come to him unless he is drawn by the Father (cf. Jn 6:44); therefore he praises him for his
plan and embraces it as a son: “Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Mt 11:26). You were pleased to
reveal the kingdom to the merest children.
According to the divine plan, “a woman clothed with the sun” (Rv 12:1) came down from heaven to this
earth to visit the privileged children of the Father. She speaks to them with a mother’s voice and heart: she
asks them to offer themselves as victims of reparation, saying that she was ready to lead them safely to God.
And behold, they see a light shining from her maternal hands which penetrates them inwardly, so that they
feel immersed in God just as—they explain—a person sees himself in a mirror.
Later Francisco, one of the three privileged children, exclaimed: “We were burning in that light which is
God and we were not consumed. What is God like? It is impossible to say. In fact we will never be able to tell
people.” God: a light that burns without consuming. Moses had the same experience when he saw God in the
burning bush; he heard God say that he was concerned about the slavery of his people and had decided to
deliver them through him: “I will be with you” (cf. Ex 3:2-12). Those who welcome this presence become the
dwelling-place and, consequently, a “burning bush” of the Most High.
2.
What most impressed and entirely absorbed Bl. Francisco was God in that immense light which pene-
trated the inmost depths of the three children. But God told only Francisco “how sad” he was, as he said. One
night his father heard him sobbing and asked him why he was crying; his son answered: “I was thinking of
Jesus who is so sad because of the sins that are committed against him.” He was motivated by one desire—so
expressive of how children think—“to console Jesus and make him happy.”
A transformation takes place in his life, one we could call radical: a transformation certainly uncommon for
children of his age. He devotes himself to an intense spiritual life, expressed in assiduous and fervent prayer,
and attains a true form of mystical union with the Lord. This spurs him to a progressive purification of the
spirit through the renunciation of his own pleasures and even of innocent childhood games.
Francisco bore without complaining the great sufferings caused by the illness from which he died. It all
seemed to him so little to console Jesus: he died with a smile on his lips. Little Francisco had a great desire to
atone for the offenses of sinners by striving to be good and by offering his sacrifices and prayers. The life of
Jacinta, his younger sister by almost two years, was motivated by these same sentiments.
3.
“Another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon” (Rv 12:3).
These words from the first reading of the Mass make us think of the great struggle between good and evil,
showing how, when man puts God aside, he cannot achieve happiness, but ends up destroying himself.
How many victims there have been throughout the last century of the second millennium! We remember
the horrors of the First and Second World Wars and the other wars in so many parts of the world, the concen-
tration and extermination camps, the gulags, ethnic cleansings and persecutions, terrorism, kidnappings,
drugs, the attacks on unborn life and the family.
2
The message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the “dragon”
whose “tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth” (Rv 12:4). Man’s final goal is
heaven, his true home, where the heavenly Father awaits everyone with his merciful love.
God does not want anyone to be lost; that is why 2,000 years ago he sent his Son to earth, “to seek and to
save the lost” (Lk 19:10). And he saved us by his death on the cross. Let no one empty that Cross of its power!
Jesus died and rose from the dead to be “the first-born among many brethren” (Rom 8:29).
In her motherly concern, the Blessed Virgin came here to Fatima to ask men and women “to stop offending
God, Our Lord, who is already very offended.” It is a mother’s sorrow that compels her to speak; the destiny of
her children is at stake. For this reason she asks the little shepherds: “Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for
sinners; many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.”
4.
Little Jacinta felt and personally experienced Our Lady’s anguish, offering herself heroically as a victim
for sinners. One day, when she and Francisco had already contracted the illness that forced them to bed, the
Virgin Mary came to visit them at home, as the little one recounts: “Our Lady came to see us and said that
soon she would come and take Francisco to heaven. And she asked me if I still wanted to convert more sinners.
I told her yes.” And when the time came for Francisco to leave, the little girl tells him: “Give my greetings to
Our Lord and to Our Lady and tell them that I am enduring everything they want for the conversion of sin-
ners.” Jacinta had been so deeply moved by the vision of hell during the apparition of 13 July that no
mortification or penance seemed too great to save sinners.
She could well exclaim with St Paul: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete
what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24). Last Sunday at
the Colosseum in Rome, we commemorated the many witnesses to the faith in the 20th century, recalling the
tribulations they suffered through the significant testimonies they left us. An innumerable cloud of courageous
witnesses to the faith have left us a precious heritage which must live on in the third millennium. Here in
Fatima, where these times of tribulation were foretold and Our Lady asked for prayer and penance to shorten
them, I would like today to thank heaven for the powerful witness shown in all those lives. And once again I
would like to celebrate the Lord’s goodness to me when I was saved from death after being gravely wounded on
13 May 1981. I also express my gratitude to Bl. Jacinta for the sacrifices and prayers offered for the Holy
Father, whom she saw suffering greatly.
5.
“Father, to you I offer praise, for you have revealed these things to the merest children.” Today Jesus’ praise
takes the solemn form of the beatification of the little shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta. With this rite the
Church wishes to put on the candelabrum these two candles which God lit to illumine humanity in its dark
and anxious hours. May they shine on the path of this immense multitude of pilgrims and of all who have
accompanied us by radio and television. May Francisco and Jacinta be a friendly light that illumines all
Portugal and, in special way, this Diocese of Leiria-Fatima.
I thank Bishop Serafim, of this illustrious particular Church, for his words of welcome, and with great joy I
greet the entire Portuguese Episcopate and their Dioceses, which I deeply love and which I urge to imitate
their saints. A fraternal greeting goes to the Cardinals and Bishops present, with a special word for the
Pastors from the community of Portuguese-speaking countries: may the Virgin Mary obtain reconciliation for
the Angolan people; may she bring comfort to the flood victims of Mozambique; may she watch over the steps
of Timor Lorosae, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe; may she preserve her Brazilian sons
and daughters in the unity of faith.
I extend a respectful greeting to the President of the Republic and to the authorities who have wished to
take part in this celebration. I take this occasion to express, through them, my gratitude to everyone who
helped make my pilgrimage possible. A cordial embrace and a particular blessing to the parish and city of
Fatima, which today rejoices in her children who are raised to the honors of the altar.
6.
My last words are for the children: dear boys and girls, I see so many of you dressed like Francisco and
Jacinta. You look very nice! But in a little while or tomorrow you will take these clothes off and…the little
shepherds will disappear. They should not disappear, should they?! Our Lady needs you all to console Jesus,
who is sad because of the bad things done to him; he needs your prayers and your sacrifices for sinners.
3
Ask your parents and teachers to enroll you in the “school” of Our Lady, so that she can teach you to be like
the little shepherds, who tried to do whatever she asked them. I tell you that “one makes more progress in a
short time of submission and dependence on Mary than during entire years of personal initiatives, relying on
oneself alone” (St Louis de Montfort, The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, n. 155). This was how the
little shepherds became saints so quickly. A woman who gave hospitality to Jacinta in Lisbon, on hearing the
very beautiful and wise advice that the little girl gave, asked who taught it to her. “It was Our Lady”, she
replied. Devoting themselves with total generosity to the direction of such a good Teacher, Jacinta and
Francisco soon reached the heights of perfection.
7.
“Father, to you I offer praise, for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed
to the merest children.”
Father, to you I offer praise for all your children, from the Virgin Mary, your humble Servant, to the little
shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta.
May the message of their lives live on for ever to light humanity’s way!
(Printed with permission L’Osservatore Romano)
II. The Message of Fatima
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(Note: section numbers added.)
Introduction
1.
As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II has decided to publish the text of the
third part of the “secret of Fatima.”
The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with its tragic and cruel events culmi-
nating in the assassination attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth.” Now a veil is drawn back on a series of
events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes,
often tainted with rationalism.
Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human
events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of his-
tory. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the
core of Christ’s proclamation: the Father’s love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the
grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its
urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel.
2.
Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. The first and second parts of the
“secret”— which are here published in sequence so as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the
frightening vision of Hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and finally the
prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and
embracing Communist totalitarianism.
In 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three pastorinhos of Fatima see, listen and remember, and
Lucia, the surviving witness, commits it all to paper when ordered to do so by the Bishop of Leiria and with
Our Lady’s permission.
For the account of the first two parts of the “secret”, which have already been published and are therefore
known, we have chosen the text written by Sister Lucia in the Third Memoir of 31 August 1941; some annota-
tions were added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941.
4
3.
The third part of the “secret” was written “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most
Holy Mother…” on 3 January 1944.
There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced photostatically. The sealed envelope was initially
in the custody of the Bishop of Leiria. To ensure better protection for the “secret”, the envelope was placed in
the Secret Archives of the Holy Office on 4 April 1957. The Bishop of Leiria informed Sister Lucia of this.
According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe,
O.P., with the agreement of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelope containing the third part of the
“secret of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some hesitation,” His Holiness said: “We shall
wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide.”
(1)
In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy Office and not to reveal the third
part of the “secret.”
Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo Dell’Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and
returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.
4.
John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part of the “secret” following the
assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18 July 1981, Cardinal Franjo Seper, Prefect of the Congregation,
gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State: one white
envelope, containing Sister Lucia’s original text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of
the “secret.” On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martinez returned the two envelopes to the Archives of
the Holy Office.
(2)
As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be
celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day chosen to
commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of
the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The fol-
lowing is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment:
“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you
feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the
plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and
Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you
too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with
affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the
time of truth, of justice and of hope.”
(3)
5.
In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy Father desired to make more explicit
during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been repeated in
Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter’s Square, while recalling the fiat uttered by Mary at
the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world, who had been “convoked”
beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in terms which
recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981:
“O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you
who have a mother’s awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which
afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your Heart.
Embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust
and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of individuals and peoples.
“In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need
to be thus entrusted and consecrated.
“‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!’ Despise not our petitions in our necessities.”
6.
The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific references, as though commenting on the
Message of Fatima in its sorrowful fulfillment:
5
“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with
the whole Church, to unite ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to
the Father: ‘For their sake’, he said ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth’ (Jn
17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human
race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.
“The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It over-
comes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the
heart of man and in his history.
“How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the world—our modern world—in
union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the
Church.
“The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the whole Church.
“Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the
divine call!
“Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son!
“Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten
especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth
of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.
“In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this very con-
secration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.
“Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the
people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to
block the paths towards the future!
“From famine and war, deliver us.
“From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
“From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
“From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
“From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
“From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
“From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
“From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us
“From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.
“Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with
the sufferings of whole societies.
“Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the ‘sin of the world’, sin in
all its manifestations.
“Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption:
the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate
Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!”
(4)
7.
Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what
Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it
has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November 1989). Hence any further dis-
cussion or request is without basis.
8.
In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia:
1) the Holy Father’s letter of 19 April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000
with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of
State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
6
9.
Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the third part of the “secret” in a letter to the
Holy Father, dated 12 May 1982:
“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If not [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the
world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have
much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated’ (13-VII-1917).
“The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by
whether we accept or not what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted,
and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, etc.’.
“Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the
world with her errors. And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we
are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice,
violations of the rights of the human person, immorality and violence, etc.
“And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves
who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while
respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible.”
(5)
10.
The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the third part of the “secret” of Fatima
brings to an end a period of history marked by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the mer-
ciful love of God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the Church.
The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility of man in the drama of his creative
freedom, are the two pillars upon which human history is built.
Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values. She reminds us that man’s future is in
God, and that we are active and responsible partners in creating that future.
Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith
7
The “Secret” of Fatima:
First and Second Part
of the “Secret”
According to the version presented by Sister Lucia in the “Third Memoir” of 31 August 1941
for the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima
(original text:)
(translation:)
(6)
11.
…This will entail my speaking about the secret, and thus answering the first question.
What is the secret? It seems to me that I can reveal it, since I already have permission from Heaven to do
so. God’s representatives on earth have authorized me to do this several times and in various letters, one of
which, I believe, is in your keeping. This letter is from Father José Bernardo Gonçalves, and in it he advises me
to write to the Holy Father, suggesting, among other things, that I should reveal the secret. I did say something
about it. But in order not to make my letter too long, since I was told to keep it short, I confined myself to the
essentials, leaving it to God to provide another more favorable opportunity.
In my second account I have already described in detail the doubt which tormented me from 13 June until
13 July, and how it disappeared completely during the Apparition on that day.
12.
Well, the secret is made up of three distinct parts, two of which I am now going to reveal.
The first part is the vision of hell. Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the
earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all black-
ened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued
from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a
huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us
and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness
to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we
ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first
Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
13.
We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly:
“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world
devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be
8
peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the
Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign
given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions
of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my
Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays [see page 90]. If my requests are
heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the
world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have
much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy
Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the
world.”
(7)
Third Part of the “Secret”
(original text:)
9
(translation:)
(8)
“J.M.J.
14.
The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.
I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of
Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an
Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set
the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her
right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance,
Penance!’ And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror
when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father’.
Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a
big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed
through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed
for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot
of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way
there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of
different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal
aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls
that were making their way to God.
Tuy-3-1-1944.”
Interpretation of the “Secret”
Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Sister Lucia
(original text:)
10
(translation:)
15.
To the Reverend Sister
Maria Lucia
of the Convent of Coimbra
In the great joy of Easter, I greet you with the words the Risen Jesus spoke to the disciples: “Peace be with
you”!
I will be happy to be able to meet you on the long-awaited day of the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta,
which, please God, I will celebrate on 13 May of this year.
Since on that day there will be time only for a brief greeting and not a conversation, I am sending His
Excellency Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to speak
with you. This is the Congregation which works most closely with the Pope in defending the true Catholic
faith, and which since 1957, as you know, has kept your hand-written letter containing the third part of the
“secret” revealed on 13 July 1917 at Cova da Iria, Fatima.
Archbishop Bertone, accompanied by the Bishop of Leiria, His Excellency Bishop Serafim de Sousa
Ferreira e Silva, will come in my name to ask certain questions about the interpretation of “the third part of
the secret.”
Sister Maria Lucia, you may speak openly and candidly to Archbishop Bertone, who will report your
answers directly to me.
I pray fervently to the Mother of the Risen Lord for you, Reverend Sister, for the Community of Coimbra
and for the whole Church. May Mary, Mother of pilgrim humanity, keep us always united to Jesus, her beloved
Son and our brother, the Lord of life and glory.
With my special Apostolic Blessing.
Ioannes Paulus PP.II
From the Vatican, 19 April 2000.
Conversation with Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart
16.
The meeting between Sister Lucia, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, sent by the Holy Father, and Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, Bishop of Leiria-
Fatima, took place on Thursday, 27 April 2000, in the Carmel of Saint Teresa in Coimbra.
Sister Lucia was lucid and at ease; she was very happy that the Holy Father was going to Fatima for the
Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, something she had looked forward to for a long time.
The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima read the autograph letter of the Holy Father, which explained the reasons for
the visit. Sister Lucia felt honored by this and reread the letter herself, contemplating it in own her hands. She
said that she was prepared to answer all questions frankly.
At this point, Archbishop Bertone presented two envelopes to her: the first containing the second, which
held the third part of the “secret” of Fatima. Immediately, touching it with her fingers, she said: “This is my
letter”, and then while reading it: “This is my writing.”
17.
The original text, in Portuguese, was read and interpreted with the help of the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima.
Sister Lucia agreed with the interpretation that the third part of the “secret” was a prophetic vision, similar to
those in sacred history. She repeated her conviction that the vision of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of
atheistic Communism against the Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the
victims of the faith in the twentieth century.
11
When asked: “Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?”, Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. She
recalled that the three children were very sad about the suffering of the Pope, and that Jacinta kept saying:
“Coitadinho do Santo Padre, tenho muita pena dos pecadores!” (“Poor Holy Father, I am very sad for sinners!” ).
Sister Lucia continued: “We did not know the name of the Pope; Our Lady did not tell us the name of the Pope;
we did not know whether it was Benedict XV or Pius XII or Paul VI or John Paul II; but it was the Pope who
was suffering and that made us suffer too.”
As regards the passage about the Bishop dressed in white, that is, the Holy Father—as the children imme-
diately realized during the “vision”—who is struck dead and falls to the ground, Sister Lucia was in full
agreement with the Pope’s claim that “it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and in his throes
the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the
Italian Bishops, 13 May 1994).
18.
Before giving the sealed envelope containing the third part of the “secret” to the then Bishop of Leiria-
Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote on the outside envelope that it could be opened only after 1960, either by the
Patriarch of Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria. Archbishop Bertone therefore asked: “Why only after 1960? Was it
Our Lady who fixed that date”? Sister Lucia replied: “It was not Our Lady. I fixed the date because I had the
intuition that before 1960 it would not be understood, but that only later would it be understood. Now it can be
better understood. I wrote down what I saw; however it was not for me to interpret it, but for the Pope.”
Finally, mention was made of the unpublished manuscript which Sister Lucia has prepared as a reply to
the many letters that come from Marian devotees and from pilgrims. The work is called Os apelos da
Mensagem de Fatima, and it gathers together in the style of catechesis and exhortation thoughts and reflec-
tions which express Sister Lucia’s feelings and her clear and unaffected spirituality. She was asked if she
would be happy to have it published, and she replied: “If the Holy Father agrees, then I am happy, otherwise I
obey whatever the Holy Father decides. Sister Lucia wants to present the text for ecclesiastical approval, and
she hopes that what she has written will help to guide men and women of good will along the path that leads
to God, the final goal of every human longing. The conversation ends with an exchange of rosaries. Sister Lucia
is given a rosary sent by the Holy Father, and she in turn offers a number of rosaries made by herself.
The meeting concludes with the blessing imparted in the name of the Holy Father.
Announcement Made by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State
19.
At the end of the Mass presided over by the Holy Father at Fatima, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of
State, made this announcement in Portuguese, which is given here in English translation:
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord!
At the conclusion of this solemn celebration, I feel bound to offer our beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul
II, on behalf of all present, heartfelt good wishes for his approaching 80th Birthday and to thank him for his
vital pastoral ministry for the good of all God’s Holy Church; we present the heartfelt wishes of the whole
Church.
20.
On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to
you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two “little shepherds.” Nevertheless
he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these
years of his papacy. This protection seems also to be linked to the so-called third part of the “secret” of Fatima.
That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in Sacred Scripture, which do not describe pho-
tographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts
which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration. As a result, the text must be interpreted
in a symbolic key.
The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheistic systems against the Church and
Christians, and it describes the immense suffering endured by the witnesses of the faith in the last century of
the second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes of the twentieth century.
21.
According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds”, which was also confirmed recently by Sister Lucia,
“the Bishop clothed in white” who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great diffi-
12
culty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (Bishops, priests, men and women
Religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.
After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, it appeared evident that it was “a mother’s hand that
guided the bullet’s path”, enabling “the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul
II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, Insegnamenti, XVII, 1 [1994], 1061). On the
occasion of a visit to Rome by the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to give him the bullet which
had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might be kept in the shrine. By the
Bishop’s decision, the bullet was later set in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
22.
The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern
Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heart-
felt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the Church and
against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring, tragically continue. Even if the events to which the
third part of the “secret” of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady’s call to conversion and penance,
issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent today. “The Lady of the message seems
to read the signs of the times—the signs of our time—with special insight… The insistent invitation of Mary
Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human
family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” (Pope John Paul II, Message for the 1997 World Day of the Sick,
No. 1, Insegnamenti, XIX, 2 [1996], 561).
In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the “secret”, after the prepara-
tion of an appropriate commentary.
Brothers and sisters, let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her protection. To her maternal intercession let
us entrust the Church of the Third Millennium.
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix! Intercede pro Ecclesia. Intercede pro Papa nostro
Ioanne Paulo II. Amen. Fatima, 13 May 2000
Theological Commentary
by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
23.
A careful reading of the text of the so-called third “secret” of Fatima, published here in its entirety long
after the fact and by decision of the Holy Father, will probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the
speculation it has stirred. No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled. We see the Church of the
martyrs of the century which has just passed represented in a scene described in a language which is symbolic
and not easy to decipher. Is this what the Mother of the Lord wished to communicate to Christianity and to
humanity at a time of great difficulty and distress? Is it of any help to us at the beginning of the new millen-
nium? Or are these only projections of the inner world of children, brought up in a climate of profound piety
but shaken at the same time by the tempests which threatened their own time? How should we understand
the vision? What are we to make of it?
Public Revelation and private revelations—their theological status
24.
Before attempting an interpretation, the main lines of which can be found in the statement read by
Cardinal Sodano on 13 May of this year at the end of the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in Fatima, there
is a need for some basic clarification of the way in which, according to Church teaching, phenomena such as
Fatima are to be understood within the life of faith. The teaching of the Church distinguishes between “public
Revelation” and “private revelations.” The two realities differ not only in degree but also in essence. The term
“public Revelation” refers to the revealing action of God directed to humanity as a whole and which finds its
literary expression in the two parts of the Bible: the Old and New Testaments. It is called “Revelation” because
in it God gradually made himself known to men, to the point of becoming man himself, in order to draw to him-
self the whole world and unite it with himself through his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. It is not a matter
therefore of intellectual communication, but of a life-giving process in which God comes to meet man. At the
same time this process naturally produces data pertaining to the mind and to the understanding of the mys-
tery of God. It is a process which involves man in his entirety and therefore reason as well, but not reason
alone. Because God is one, history, which he shares with humanity, is also one. It is valid for all time, and it has
13
reached its fulfillment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has said everything,
that is, he has revealed himself completely, and therefore Revelation came to an end with the fulfillment of the
mystery of Christ as enunciated in the New Testament. To explain the finality and completeness of Revelation,
the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes a text of Saint John of the Cross: “In giving us his Son, his only
Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word—and he has no more to
say…because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All
Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of
foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the
desire for some other novelty” (No. 65; Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22).
Because the single Revelation of God addressed to all peoples comes to completion with Christ and the wit-
ness borne to him in the books of the New Testament, the Church is tied to this unique event of sacred history
and to the word of the Bible, which guarantees and interprets it. But this does not mean that the Church can
now look only to the past and that she is condemned to sterile repetition. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church says in this regard: “…even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made fully explicit; it
remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries” (No. 66).
The way in which the Church is bound to both the uniqueness of the event and progress in understanding it is
very well illustrated in the farewell discourse of the Lord when, taking leave of his disciples, he says: “I have
yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you
into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority.…He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine
and declare it to you” (Jn 16:12-14). On the one hand, the Spirit acts as a guide who discloses a knowledge pre-
viously unreachable because the premise was missing—this is the boundless breadth and depth of Christian
faith. On the other hand, to be guided by the Spirit is also “to draw from” the riches of Jesus Christ himself, the
inexhaustible depths of which appear in the way the Spirit leads. In this regard, the Catechism cites profound
words of Pope Gregory the Great: “The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them” (No. 94; Gregory
the Great, Homilia in Ezechielem I, 7, 8). The Second Vatican Council notes three essential ways in which the
Spirit guides in the Church, and therefore three ways in which “the word grows”: through the meditation and
study of the faithful, through the deep understanding which comes from spiritual experience, and through the
preaching of “those who, in the succession of the episcopate, have received the sure charism of truth” (Dei
Verbum, 8).
25.
In this context, it now becomes possible to understand rightly the concept of “private revelation”, which
refers to all the visions and revelations which have taken place since the completions of the New Testament.
This is the category to which we must assign the message of Fatima. In this respect, let us listen once again to
the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations,
some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church.…It is not their role to complete Christ’s
definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history” (No. 67). This clarifies two
things:
(1) The authority of private revelations is essentially different from that of the definitive public Revelation.
The latter demands faith; in it in fact God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the
living community of the Church. Faith in God and in his word is different from any other human faith, trust or
opinion. The certainty that it is God who is speaking gives me the assurance that I am in touch with truth
itself. It gives me a certitude which is beyond verification by any human way of knowing. It is the certitude
upon which I build my life and to which I entrust myself in dying.
(2) Private revelation is a help to this faith, and shows its credibility precisely by leading me back to the
definitive public Revelation. In this regard, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, says
in his classic treatise, which later became normative for beatifications and canonizations: “An assent of
Catholic faith is not due to revelations approved in this way; it is not even possible. These revelations seek
rather an assent of human faith in keeping with the requirements of prudence, which puts them before us as
probable and credible to piety.” The Flemish theologian E. Dhanis, an eminent scholar in this field, states suc-
cinctly that ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing
contrary to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and the faithful are authorized to accept it with pru-
dence (E. Dhanis, Sguardo su Fatima e bilancio di una discussione, in La Civilà Cattolicà 104 [1953], II,
392-406, in particular 397). Such a message can be a genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it
better at a particular moment in time; therefore it should not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but
which one is not obliged to use.
14
26.
The criterion for the truth and value of a private revelation is therefore its orientation to Christ himself.
When it leads us away from him, when it becomes independent of him or even presents itself as another and
better plan of salvation, more important than the Gospel, then it certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit,
who guides us more deeply into the Gospel and not away from it. This does not mean that a private revelation
will not offer new emphases or give rise to new devotional forms, or deepen and spread older forms. But in all
of this there must be a nurturing of faith, hope and love, which are the unchanging path to salvation for
everyone. We might add that private revelations often spring from popular piety and leave their stamp on it,
giving it a new impulse and opening the way for new forms of it. Nor does this exclude that they will have an
effect even on the liturgy, as we see for instance in the feasts of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. From one point of view, the relationship between Revelation and private revelations appears in the rela-
tionship between the liturgy and popular piety: the liturgy is the criterion, it is the living form of the Church
as a whole, fed directly by the Gospel. Popular piety is a sign that the faith is spreading its roots into the heart
of a people in such a way that it reaches into daily life. Popular religiosity is the first and fundamental mode of
“inculturation” of the faith. While it must always take its lead and direction from the liturgy, it in turn enriches
the faith by involving the heart.
We have thus moved from the somewhat negative clarifications, initially needed, to a positive definition of
private revelations. How can they be classified correctly in relation to Scripture? To which theological category
do they belong? The oldest letter of Saint Paul which has been preserved, perhaps the oldest of the New
Testament texts, the First Letter to the Thessalonians, seems to me to point the way. The Apostle says: “Do not
quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything, holding fast to what is good” (5:19-21). In
every age the Church has received the charism of prophecy, which must be scrutinized but not scorned. On this
point, it should be kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to
explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future. A person who
foretells what is going to happen responds to the curiosity of the mind, which wants to draw back the veil on
the future. The prophet speaks to the blindness of will and of reason, and declares the will of God as an indica-
tion and demand for the present time. In this case, prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is
essential is the actualization of the definitive Revelation, which concerns me at the deepest level. The
prophetic word is a warning or a consolation, or both together. In this sense there is a link between the
charism of prophecy and the category of “the signs of the times”, which Vatican II brought to light anew: “You
know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; why then do you not know how to interpret the
present time?” (Lk 12:56). In this saying of Jesus, the “signs of the times” must be understood as the path he
was taking, indeed it must be understood as Jesus himself. To interpret the signs of the times in the light of
faith means to recognize the presence of Christ in every age. In the private revelations approved by the
Church—and therefore also in Fatima—this is the point: they help us to understand the signs of the times and
to respond to them rightly in faith.
The anthropological structure of private revelations
27.
In these reflections we have sought so far to identify the theological status of private revelations. Before
undertaking an interpretation of the message of Fatima, we must still attempt briefly to offer some clarifica-
tion of their anthropological (psychological) character. In this field, theological anthropology distinguishes
three forms of perception or “vision”: vision with the senses, and hence exterior bodily perception, interior per-
ception, and spiritual vision (visio sensibilis—imaginativa— intellectualis). It is clear that in the visions of
Lourdes, Fatima and other places it is not a question of normal exterior perception of the senses: the images
and forms which are seen are not located spatially, as is the case for example with a tree or a house. This is
perfectly obvious, for instance, as regards the vision of hell (described in the first part of the Fatima “secret”) or
even the vision described in the third part of the “secret.” But the same can be very easily shown with regard
to other visions, especially since not everybody present saw them, but only the “visionaries.” It is also clear that
it is not a matter of a “vision” in the mind, without images, as occurs at the higher levels of mysticism.
Therefore we are dealing with the middle category, interior perception. For the visionary, this perception cer-
tainly has the force of a presence, equivalent for that person to an external manifestation to the senses.
Interior vision does not mean fantasy, which would be no more than an expression of the subjective imagi-
nation. It means rather that the soul is touched by something real, even if beyond the senses. It is rendered
capable of seeing that which is beyond the senses, that which cannot be seen—seeing by means of the “interior
senses.” It involves true “objects”, which touch the soul, even if these “objects” do not belong to our habitual
15
sensory world. This is why there is a need for an interior vigilance of the heart, which is usually precluded by
the intense pressure of external reality and of the images and thoughts which fill the soul. The person is led
beyond pure exteriority and is touched by deeper dimensions of reality, which become visible to him. Perhaps
this explains why children tend to be the ones to receive these apparitions: their souls are as yet little dis-
turbed, their interior powers of perception are still not impaired. “On the lips of children and of babes you have
found praise”, replies Jesus with a phrase of Psalm 8 (v. 3) to the criticism of the High Priests and elders, who
had judged the children’s cries of “Hosanna” inappropriate (cf. Mt 21:16).
“Interior vision” is not fantasy but, as we have said, a true and valid means of verification. But it also has
its limitations. Even in exterior vision the subjective element is always present. We do not see the pure object,
but it comes to us through the filter of our senses, which carry out a work of translation. This is still more evi-
dent in the case of interior vision, especially when it involves realities which in themselves transcend our
horizon. The subject, the visionary, is still more powerfully involved. He sees insofar as he is able, in the modes
of representation and consciousness available to him. In the case of interior vision, the process of translation is
even more extensive than in exterior vision, for the subject shares in an essential way in the formation of the
image of what appears. He can arrive at the image only within the bounds of his capacities and possibilities.
Such visions therefore are never simple “photographs” of the other world, but are influenced by the potentiali-
ties and limitations of the perceiving subject.
This can be demonstrated in all the great visions of the saints; and naturally it is also true of the visions of
the children at Fatima. The images described by them are by no means a simple expression of their fantasy,
but the result of a real perception of a higher and interior origin. But neither should they be thought of as if for
a moment the veil of the other world were drawn back, with heaven appearing in its pure essence, as one day
we hope to see it in our definitive union with God. Rather the images are, in a manner of speaking, a synthesis
of the impulse coming from on high and the capacity to receive this impulse in the visionaries, that is, the chil-
dren. For this reason, the figurative language of the visions is symbolic. In this regard, Cardinal Sodano
stated: “[they] do not describe photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress
against a single background facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration.” This
compression of time and place in a single image is typical of such visions, which for the most part can be deci-
phered only in retrospect. Not every element of the vision has to have a specific historical sense. It is the vision
as a whole that matters, and the details must be understood on the basis of the images taken in their entirety.
The central element of the image is revealed where it coincides with what is the focal point of Christian
“prophecy” itself: the center is found where the vision becomes a summons and a guide to the will of God.
An attempt to interpret the “secret” of Fatima
28.
The first and second parts of the “secret” of Fatima have already been so amply discussed in the relative
literature that there is no need to deal with them again here. I would just like to recall briefly the most signifi-
cant point. For one terrible moment, the children were given a vision of hell. They saw the fall of “the souls of
poor sinners.” And now they are told why they have been exposed to this moment: “in order to save souls”—to
show the way to salvation. The words of the First Letter of Peter come to mind: “As the outcome of your faith
you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1:9). To reach this goal, the way indicated—surprisingly for people from
the Anglo-Saxon and German cultural world—is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A brief comment
may suffice to explain this. In biblical language, the “heart” indicates the centre of human life, the point where
reason, will, temperament and sensitivity converge, where the person finds his unity and his interior orienta-
tion. According to Matthew 5:8, the “immaculate heart” is a heart which, with God’s grace, has come to perfect
interior unity and therefore “sees God.” To be “devoted” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means therefore to
embrace this attitude of heart, which makes the fiat—“your will be done”—the defining centre of one’s whole
life. It might be objected that we should not place a human being between ourselves and Christ. But then we
remember that Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: “imitate me” (1 Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17; 1 Th 1:6; 2
Th 3:7, 9). In the Apostle they could see concretely what it meant to follow Christ. But from whom might we
better learn in every age than from the Mother of the Lord?
Thus we come finally to the third part of the “secret” of Fatima which for the first time is being published
in its entirety. As is clear from the documentation presented here, the interpretation offered by Cardinal
Sodano in his statement of 13 May was first put personally to Sister Lucia. Sister Lucia responded by pointing
out that she had received the vision but not its interpretation. The interpretation, she said, belonged not to the
16
visionary but to the Church. After reading the text, however, she said that this interpretation corresponded to
what she had experienced and that on her part she thought the interpretation correct. In what follows, there-
fore, we can only attempt to provide a deeper foundation for this interpretation, on the basis of the criteria
already considered.
“To save souls” has emerged as the key word of the first and second parts of the “secret”, and the key word
of this third part is the threefold cry: “Penance, Penance, Penance!” The beginning of the Gospel comes to mind:
“Repent and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15). To understand the signs of the times means to accept the
urgency of penance—of conversion—of faith. This is the correct response to this moment of history, character-
ized by the grave perils outlined in the images that follow. Allow me to add here a personal recollection: in a
conversation with me Sister Lucia said that it appeared ever more clearly to her that the purpose of all the
apparitions was to help people to grow more and more in faith, hope and love—everything else was intended to
lead to this.
29.
Let us now examine more closely the single images. The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the
Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgement which
looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer
seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword.
The vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction—the splendor of the
Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance
of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image which the children
saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the
vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. The purpose of the vision
is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize
the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the
“secret”, such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of 13 May 1981 was merely an instrument
of the divine plan guided by Providence and could not therefore have acted freely, or other similar ideas in cir-
culation. Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them.
The next phrases of the text show very clearly once again the symbolic character of the vision: God
remains immeasurable, and is the light which surpasses every vision of ours. Human persons appear as in a
mirror. We must always keep in mind the limits in the vision itself, which here are indicated visually. The
future appears only “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). Let us now consider the individual images which follow
in the text of the “secret.” The place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep mountain, a great city
reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross. The mountain and city symbolize the arena of human
history: history as an arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena of human creativity and social har-
mony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually destroys the fruits of his own work. The
city can be the place of communion and progress, but also of danger and the most extreme menace. On the
mountain stands the cross—the goal and guide of history. The cross transforms destruction into salvation; it
stands as a sign of history’s misery but also as a promise for history.
At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white (“we had the impression that it was the
Holy Father”), other Bishops, priests, men and women Religious, and men and women of different ranks and
social positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because of all the horrors
around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in ruins, but he makes his way among the corpses of the
dead. The Church’s path is thus described as a Via Crucis, as a journey through a time of violence, destruction
and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen represented in this image. Just as the places of
the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain and the city, and are directed towards
the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the vision we can recognize the last century as a
century of martyrs, a century of suffering and persecution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the
many local wars which filled the last fifty years and have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the
“mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the witnesses of the faith decade by decade. Here it would be
appropriate to mention a phrase from the letter which Sister Lucia wrote to the Holy Father on 12 May 1982:
“The third part of the ‘secret’ refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If not, [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the
world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have
much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated.”
In the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope has a special role. In his arduous ascent of the
mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to the present
17
Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the anguish along the
path which leads to the Cross. In the vision, the Pope too is killed along with the martyrs. When, after the
attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of the “secret” brought
to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he him-
self explained his survival in the following words: “... it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and
in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (13 May 1994). That here “a mother’s hand” had
deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are
forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more
powerful than armies.
The concluding part of the “secret” uses images which Lucia may have seen in devotional books and which
draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling vision, which seeks to open a his-
tory of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of the cross angels gather up the blood of
the martyrs, and with it they give life to the souls making their way to God. Here, the blood of Christ and the
blood of the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the martyrs runs down from the arms of the cross. The
martyrs die in communion with the Passion of Christ, and their death becomes one with his. For the sake of
the body of Christ, they complete what is still lacking in his afflictions (cf. Col 1:24). Their life has itself become
a Eucharist, part of the mystery of the grain of wheat which in dying yields abundant fruit. The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of Christians, said Tertullian. As from Christ’s death, from his wounded side, the Church
was born, so the death of the witnesses is fruitful for the future life of the Church. Therefore, the vision of the
third part of the “secret”, so distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no suffering is in vain, and it
is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man in his search for God. The
loving arms of God welcome not only those who suffer like Lazarus, who found great solace there and mysteri-
ously represents Christ, who wished to become for us the poor Lazarus. There is something more: from the
suffering of the witnesses there comes a purifying and renewing power, because their suffering is the actual-
ization of the suffering of Christ himself and a communication in the here and now of its saving effect.
30.
And so we come to the final question: What is the meaning of the “secret” of Fatima as a whole (in its three
parts)? What does it say to us? First of all we must affirm with Cardinal Sodano: …the events to which the
third part of the ‘secret’ of Fatima refers now seem part of the past.” Insofar as individual events are described,
they belong to the past. Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the
future course of history are bound to be disappointed.
Fatima does not satisfy our
curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. What
remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the “secret”: the exhortation to
prayer as the path of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.
31.
I would like finally to mention another key expression of the “secret” which has become justly famous: “my
Immaculate Heart will triumph.” What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of
God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the
history of the world, because it brought the Savior into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could
become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and
experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But
since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the
freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the
world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima
invites us to trust in this promise.
Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Endnotes
(1) From the diary of John XXIII, 17 August 1959: “Audiences: Father Philippe, Commissary of the Holy
Office, who brought me the letter containing the third part of the secrets of Fatima. I intend to read it with my
Confessor.”
18
(2) The Holy Father’s comment at the General Audience of 14 October 1981 on “What happened in May: A
Great Divine Trial” should be recalled: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 2 (Vatican City, 1981), 409-412.
(3) Radio message during the Ceremony of Veneration, Thanksgiving and Entrustment to the Virgin Mary
Theotokos in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 1 (Vatican City, 1981),
1246.
(4) On the Jubilee Day for Families, the Pope entrusted individuals and nations to Our Lady: Insegnamenti
di Giovanni Paolo II, VII, 1 (Vatican City, 1984), 775-777.
(5)
(6) In the “Fourth Memoir” of 8 December 1941 Sister Lucia writes: “I shall begin then my new task, and
thus fulfill the commands received from Your Excellency as well as the desires of Dr. Galamba. With the excep-
tion of that part of the Secret which I am not permitted to reveal at present, I shall say everything. I shall not
knowingly omit anything, though I suppose I may forget just a few small details of minor importance.”
(7) In the “Fourth Memoir” Sister Lucia adds: “In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved,
etc. ....”
(8) In the translation, the original text has been respected, even as regards the imprecise punctuation,
which nevertheless does not impede an understanding of what the visionary wished to say.
(Printed with permission L’Osservatore Romano)
19
III. Other Letters by Sr. Lucia
Apparitions of the Angel
Excerpt from the letter of December 8, 1941, to the Bishop.
…The dates I cannot set down with certainty, because, at that time, I did not know how to reckon the
years, the months, or even the days of the week. But I think it must have been in the spring of 1916 that the
Angel appeared to us for the first time in our Loca do Cabeço.
As I have already written in my account of Jacinta, we climbed the hillside in search of shelter. After
having taken our lunch and said our prayers, we began to see, some distance off, above the trees that stretched
away towards the east, a light, whiter than snow, in the form of a young man, transparent, and brighter than
crystal pierced by the rays of the sun. As he drew nearer, we could distinguish his features more and more
clearly. We were surprised, absorbed, and struck dumb with amazement.
On reaching us, he said:
“Do not be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.”
Kneeling on the ground, he bowed down until his forehead touched the earth. Led by a supernatural
impulse, we did the same, and repeated the words which we heard him say:
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not
adore, do not hope and do not love You!”
Having repeated these words three times, he rose and said:
“Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.” Then he disap-
peared.
The supernatural atmosphere which enveloped us was so intense, that we were for a long time scarcely
aware of our own existence, remaining in the same posture in which he had left us, and continually repeating
the same prayer. The presence of God made itself felt so intimately and so intensely that we did not even ven-
ture to speak to one another. Next day, we were still immersed in this spiritual atmosphere, which only
gradually began to disappear.
It did not occur to us to speak about this Apparition, nor did we think of recommending that it be kept secret.
The very Apparition itself imposed secrecy. It was so intimate, that it was not easy to speak of it at all. The impres-
sion it made upon us was all the greater perhaps, in that it was the first such manifestation that we had
experienced.
The second Apparition must have been at the height of summer, when the heat of the day was so intense
that we had to take the sheep home before noon and only let them out again in the early evening.
We went to spend the siesta hours in the shade of the trees which surrounded the well that I have already
mentioned several times. Suddenly, we saw the same Angel right beside us.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “Pray! Pray very much! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of
mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.”
“How are we to make sacrifices?” I asked.
“Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He
is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your
country. I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission, the suf-
fering which the Lord will send you.”
These words were indelibly impressed upon our minds. They were like a light which made us understand
who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing it is to Him and how,
on account of it, He grants the grace of conversion to sinners. It was for this reason that we began, from then
on, to offer to the Lord all that mortified us, without, however, seeking out other forms of mortification and
penance, except that we remained for hours on end with our foreheads touching the ground, repeating the
prayer the Angel had taught us.
It seems to me that the third Apparition must have been in October, or towards the end of September, as
we were no longer returning home for siesta.
As I have already written in my account of Jacinta, we went one day from Pregueira (a small olive grove
belonging to my parents) to the Lapa, making our way along the slope of the hill on the side facing Aljustrel
and Casa Velha. We said our Rosary there and the prayer the Angel had taught us at the first Apparition.
20
While we were there, the Angel appeared to us for the third time, holding a chalice in his hands, with a
host above it from which some drops of blood were falling into the sacred vessel. Leaving the chalice and the
host suspended in the air, the Angel prostrated on the ground and repeated this prayer three times:
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly. I offer You the most precious Body,
Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the out-
rages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred
Heart, and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.”
Then, rising, he once more took the chalice and the host in his hands. He gave the host to me, and to
Jacinta. and Francisco he gave the contents of the chalice to drink, saying as he did so: “Take and drink the
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your
God.” Once again, he prostrated on the ground and repeated with us three times more, the same prayer “Most
Holy Trinity...”, and then disappeared.
Impelled by the power of the supernatural that enveloped us, we imitated all that the Angel had done,
prostrating ourselves on the ground as he did and repeating the prayers that he said. The force of the presence
of God was so intense that it absorbed us and almost completely annihilated us. It seemed to deprive us even
of the use of our bodily senses for a considerable length of time. During those days, we performed all our exte-
rior actions as though guided by that same supernatural being who was impelling us thereto. The peace and
happiness which we felt were great, but wholly interior, for our souls were completely immersed in God. The
physical exhaustion that came over us was also great.
I do not know why, but the Apparitions of Our Lady produced in us very different effects. We felt the same
intimate joy, the same peace and happiness, but instead of physical prostration, an expansive ease of move-
ment; instead of this annihilation in the Divine Presence, a joyful exultation; instead of the difficulty in
speaking, we felt a certain communicative enthusiasm. …
(Fatima: In Lucia’s Own Words, edited by Fr. Louis Kondor, S.V.D., November 1998.)
Apparitions of October 13, 1917
While 70,000 people were witnessing the Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917, the three children had the
following vision. This text is an excerpt from Sr. Lucia’s letter of December 8, 1941, to the Bishop.
…Here you have, your Excellency, the reason why I shouted that they should look at the sun. My pur-
pose was not to bring the attention of the crowd to the sun, because I didn’t notice them. I wasn’t even
aware of their presence. I did so, moved by an inner force which impelled me to act thus. When our Lady
disappeared in the immense distance of the sky, next to the sun we saw Saint Joseph holding the Child
Jesus and our lady dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the Child seemed to be blessing
the world making the sign of the cross. Shortly after this vision had vanished, I saw our Lord and our Lady
who reminded me of our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord was blessing the world just the same way as Saint
Joseph. This vision vanished too, and it seemed to me I again saw our Lady dressed as our Lady of Mount
Carmel.…
True Penance
Excerpt from Sr. Lucia’s letter of May 4, 1943.
Reverend Father Superior,
Thank goodness, I finally received a letter from you. My God, it took so long!…I can’t even think that
you are so far away; but I think a lot about it so that my sacrifice may be more complete for the conversion
of those souls. May the good Lord accept it. As for me, I am doing well. The Bishop of Gurza tries to help
me, and I always thank his good counsel and prayers. He also shows me what I must make known, and
that is always the most difficult thing for me to do, but obedience gives strength and I keep going. I had to
make known to the Archbishop of Valladolid, by order of His Excellency, a little request of our Lord to the
Bishops of Spain and another to the Bishops of Portugal. God make all of them hear His voice. He wishes
that the Bishops of Spain unite themselves in a retreat and determine a reform in the people, clergy and
religious orders, some convents and many members of others!…do you understand? He wishes that it be
made clear to the souls that the true penance He now wants and requires consists of first of all
the sacrifice that each one must make to fulfill his own religious and worldly duties. He prom-
ises the end of the war shortly in answer to the act of consecration made by His Holiness. But since it was
21
incomplete, the conversion of Russia will take place later. If the Bishops of Spain do not attend to His wish-
es, it will be once more the scourge with which God punishes them…
First Saturday Communion of Reparation Devotion
Excerpt from Sr. Lucia’s letter to the
Holy Father on December 2, 1940.
Most Holy Father,
Humbly prostrated at your feet, I come as the last sheep of the fold entrusted to you to open my heart,
by order of my spiritual director.
I am the only survivor of the children to whom our Lady appeared in Fatima (Portugal) from the 13th
of May to the 13th of October 1917. The Blessed Virgin has granted me many graces, the greatest of all
being my admission to the Institute of Saint Dorothy.
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 the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart as well as
the Communion of reparation on the first Saturday [Pope John Paul II made this consecration on March
25, 1984, in union with the bishops]. 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, persecutions of the Holy Church, martyrdom of many Christians, several perse-
cutions 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. Then, in
a revelation she asked that the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months
be propagated throughout the world, with its conditions of doing the following with the same purpose:
going to confession, meditating for a quarter of an hour on the mysteries of the Rosary and saying the
Rosary with the aim of making reparation for the insults, sacrileges and indifferences committed against
Her Immaculate Heart. Our good Heavenly Mother promises to assist the persons who will practice this
devotion, in the hour of their death, with all the necessary graces for their salvation.…
The Five Offenses Committed Against the Immaculate Heart
The Five First Saturdays devotion makes reparation for the offenses that offend the Immaculate Heart of
Mary. Below is an excerpt from Sr. Lucia’s letter of June 12, 1930, to her confessor.
…There are five ways in which people offend and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
1st — The blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.
2nd — Against her Virginity.
3rd — Against the Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to accept her as the Mother of all
mankind.
4th — Those who try publicly to implant in the children’s hearts, indifference, contempt and even hate
against his Immaculate Mother.
5th — Those who insult her directly in her sacred statues.…
IV. Insights on Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Message
of Fatima
The following article from the Pope’s newspaper about the late papal theologian, Mario Luigi Cardinal
Ciappi, gives you an idea of His Eminence’s relationship with the papacy and his competency at reading
the signs of the times.
22
Cardinal Ciappi was the master of the papal palace and papal theologian for the last five popes and
was the Apostolate for Family Consecration’s primary theological advisor from 1979 until his death on
April 22, 1996.
Excerpts from Pope John Paul II’s Homily at Cardinal Ciappi’s Funeral, April 25,
1996
“Dear brothers and sisters, today in St. Peter’s Basilica we are celebrating the funeral of beloved Cardinal
Mario Luigi Ciappi, whom God called to himself last Monday evening after a long life spent in service to the
Church and, in particular, to the Holy See. I have felt a personal bond with him since my studies, and I am
pleased to honor his memory at this moment, so full of emotion, by my testimony of sincere esteem and deep
gratitude.
“His brilliant and keen capacity for theological investigation grew and was quickly noticed.
“With a profound knowledge of the theological thought, he was himself a capable theologian who was able
to serve the Church generously, first by teaching dogmatic theology and Thomistic aesthetics. The results he
achieved in this task brought him to the attention of Pope Pius XII, who in 1955 wanted him at his side as
Master of the Sacred Palace. He was confirmed in this office by Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, who
spelled out his duties in the Motu Proprio Pontificalis Domus, and appointed him Theologian of the Papal
Household.
“His clear thinking, the soundness of his teaching and his undisputed fidelity to the Apostolic See, as
well as his ability to interpret the signs of the times according to God, were qualities that made him a val-
ued collaborator during the intense period of the Second Vatican Council to which he made a significant
and balanced contribution.
“His careful scholarly work was always accompanied by an intense spiritual life and prayer, the first
and fundamental nourishment of his whole life.”
(Printed with permission L’Osservatore Romano)
The Marian Multiplier
Luigi Cardinal Ciappi’s letter of August 24,1989, reveals the immense spiritual effects of consecration to
Mary and the importance of the daily living of consecration.
00120 Citta del Vaticano
Vatican City
August 24,1989
Dear Jerry and Gwen Coniker and all the families of The Apostolate,
I wish to encourage your continued stress on total consecration to Jesus through Mary.
Paragraph 4 of Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences states:
“By the hidden and kindly mystery of God’s will, a supernatural solidarity reigns among men. A con-
sequence of this is that the sin of one person harms other people, just as one person’s holiness helps oth-
ers.”
If this is true, how true it is that when we give all our merits to Mary, she multiplies them by her own
incalculable merits. This puts into motion positive spiritual forces to repair the damage due to sin and sig-
nificantly change the course of history, if enough make this commitment.
Mary’s merits can multiply the effects of one person’s holiness and help countless souls. Only Heaven
knows the depth of holiness a soul must achieve to tip the scales for world peace.
I agree that this apostolate of family consecration is the best way to defeat the scourge of abortion and
renew family life.
The spiritual offensive must always be in the vanguard, presupposing all other activities.
The “Marian Era of Evangelization Campaign” can put into motion a chain of events to bring about that
era of peace promised at Fatima. With His Holiness Pope John Paul II, we look expectantly and prayerful-
ly for this era to begin with the dawn of the third millennium, the year 2001.
Praying for the success of your most needed apostolate, I remain,
23
Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Mario Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, O.P.
Pro-Theologian of the Pontifical Household
Greatest Miracle in the History of the World
Luigi Cardinal Ciappi’s letter of October 9, 1994, talks about the greatest miracle in the history of the world
as he addressed the Apostolate for Family Consecration’s annual Totus Tuus Family Conference.
00120 Citta del Vaticano
Vatican City
October 9, 1994
Dear Jerry and Gwen:
Once again, your Totus Tuus “Consecrate Them in Truth” Conference will be serving the Church in a
very timely way.
I want to thank everyone who will be attending the Conference this November in Philadelphia, which
is focused on the priorities and spirituality of Pope John Paul II. It will truly give families a strong moti-
vation to deepen their knowledge of the Faith and to share it with others in their neighborhoods.
Your use of the social communications and the way in which you are using audio and video
tape is a “fail-safe method” of teaching and will allow families of today’s media culture, which
the Holy Father frequently mentions, to become powerful instruments of the Immaculata to
bring about the era of peace she promised at Fatima.
Yes, a miracle was promised at Fatima, the greatest miracle in the history of the world, sec-
ond only to the Resurrection. And that miracle will be an era of peace which has never really
been granted before to the world.
I believe that this peace will begin in the domestic church, the family, and go out to the parishes and
into the diocese, the country, and the world. This lasting peace will be the fruit of a life of service and of
evangelizing one’s family and neighbors with the truth that will set them free!
Our Blessed Mother promised us this era of peace if we say the daily Rosary, practice the First
Saturday Communion of Reparation, and live lives consecrated in the truth. This consecration includes giv-
ing all of our possessions, both interior and exterior, to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and,
as you know, in the Apostolate for Family Consecration, we like to add, “in union with St. Joseph.”
As the primary theological advisor to The Apostolate for Family Consecration since 1979, I
have reminded its members frequently that consecration is not just a prayer or a devotion but
a commitment to a way of life which must be nourished through continuous formation in the
eternal truths of our faith.
Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Mario Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, O.P.
Papal Theologian Emeritus for Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John
Paul I, and John Paul II
24
V. Reparation for Sin
Excerpts from the Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, Pope Paul VI, January 1, 1967
[The numbers found at the end of the paragraphs refer to section numbers in Pope Paul VI’s document.]
Sins Must be Expiated
The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. God’s holiness and justice
inflict them. Sins must be expiated…
In fact, every sin upsets the universal order God, in his indescribable wisdom and limitless love, has
established. Further, every sin does immense harm to the sinner himself and to the community of men. (2)
What Expiation Involves
The full taking away and, as it is called, reparation for sin requires two things. Firstly, friendship with
God must be restored. Amends must be made for offending his wisdom and goodness. This is done by a sin-
cere conversion of mind. Secondly, all the personal and social values, as well as those that are universal,
which sin has lessened or destroyed must be fully made good....
The very fact that punishment for sin exists and that it is so severe make it possible for us to under-
stand how foolish and malicious sin is and how harmful its consequences are.
The doctrine of Purgatory clearly demonstrates that even when the guilt of sin has been taken away,
punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated or cleansed. (3)
The Communion of Saints
By the hidden and kindly mystery of God’s will a supernatural solidarity reigns among men. A conse-
quence of this is that the sin of one person harms other people just as one person’s holiness helps others. (4)
Following in Christ’s steps, those who believe in him have always tried to help one another along the
path which leads to the heavenly Father, through prayer, the exchange of spiritual goods and penitential
expiation. The more they have been immersed in the fervor of love, the more they have imitated Christ in
His sufferings. They have carried their crosses to make expiation for their own sins and the sins of others.
They were convinced that they could help their brothers to obtain salvation from God, Who is the Father
of mercies. This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints. It means that the life of each
individual son of God is joined in Christ and through Christ by a wonderful link to the life of all his other
Christian brethren. Together they form the supernatural unity of Christ’s Mystical Body so that, as it were,
a single mystical person is formed. (5)
What Indulgences Are: The Church’s Authoritative Intervention
The taking away of the temporal punishment due to sins when their guilt has already been forgiven
has been called specifically “indulgences…”
In fact, in granting an indulgence, the Church uses its powers as minister of Christ’s Redemption…
The authorities of the Church have two aims in granting indulgences. The first is to help the faithful
to expiate their sins. The second is to encourage them to do works of piety, penitence and charity, particu-
larly those which lead to growth in faith and which help the common good.
Further, if the faithful offer indulgences by way of intercession for the dead they cultivate charity in an
excellent way. (8)
VI. Take Up Your Cross Daily
As Holy Week approaches, Christ’s invitation to deny oneself and take up one’s cross is more pressing
than ever, the Holy Father said on Sunday, 1 April, before leading the recitation of the Angelus with the
faithful in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope said that this invitation particularly applies to young people, to
whom the Church presents the Lord’s message “without shortcuts”. Here is a translation of his reflection,
which was given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. Today we begin the last stage of our Lenten journey, which next Sunday will bring us into Holy Week.
As we approach the great event of Easter, we hear Jesus’ invitation more pressing than ever: “If anyone
25
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23).
This demanding condition, which Jesus sets for anyone who wishes to follow him, must form the
Christian lifestyle, which Lent urges us to examine, renew and deepen. Jesus does not propose mortifica-
tion as an end in itself. In fact, “denying oneself ” and “taking up one’s cross” mean thoroughly accepting
one’s responsibility before God and our neighbour. The Son of God was faithful to the mission entrusted to
him by the Father, to the point of shedding his blood for our salvation. He asks his followers to do the same
by giving themselves without reserve to God and to their brethren.
By treasuring these words of his, we discover how Lent is the time for a fruitful deepening of our faith.
It has a lofty educational value, particularly for young people, who are called to give clear direction to their
lives. To each of them Christ says again: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow me”.
2. Dear young people, this is precisely the theme of my Message for the 16th World Youth Day, which will
be celebrated next Sunday, Palm Sunday, in every Diocese.
Christ is demanding with his disciples, and the Church does not hesitate to repropose his Gospel to you
“without shortcuts”. Those who are taught by the Divine Master lovingly embrace his Cross, which leads
to the fullness of life and happiness. Is it not the Cross which for 15 years now has led the pilgrimage of
young people on the occasion of the World Youth Days?
Next Sunday at the end of the Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Square, this Cross, which has traveled around
the world, will be handed over by Rome’s young people to those of Toronto, the Canadian city that will host
the World Youth Meeting in July 2002.
3. To prepare ourselves for this inspiring ceremony, I invite you, dear young people of Rome, to come here,
to St. Peter’s Square, next Thursday afternoon. We will spend a time of prayer, reflection and celebration
together. I am expecting you in large numbers and, while waiting to meet you, I entrust you and your peers
from every nation and continent to the Blessed Virgin, that she may lead you to meet her Son, Jesus.
(Printed with permission of L’Osservatore Romono.)
VII. Summary Articles on the Fatima Message from the
Vatican Information Service
(Note: section numbers added.)
Presentation of Text of Third Secret of Fatima
1.
VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office, the document “The
Message of Fatima’’ was presented. It has been prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
and carries the signatures of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., respec-
tively prefect and secretary of the congregation.
The document, which is over 40 pages long, has been published in English, French, Italian, Spanish,
German, Portuguese and Polish. It is made up of an introduction by Archbishop Bertone; the first and sec-
ond parts of the “secret’’ of Fatima in Sr. Lucia’s original text dated August 31, 1941 and addressed to the
bishop of Leiria-Fatima, and a translation; the photostatic reproduction of the original manuscript of the
third part of the “secret’’ and a translation; John Paul II’s letter to Sr. Lucia dated April 19, 2000, and a
translation; a summary of Sr. Lucia’s conversation with Archbishop Bertone and Bishop Serafim de Sousa
Ferreira e Silva of Leiria-Fatima which took place on April 27, 2000, in the Carmel Monastery of St. Teresa
of Coimbra, Portugal; the words of Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano at the end of the beatifica-
tion of Jacinta and Francisco on May 13, 2000; a theological commentary by Cardinal Ratzinger.
2.
In his introduction, Archbishop Bertone affirms that “Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of mod-
ern apparitions...in 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three ‘pastorinhos’ of Fatima see, listen
and remember, and Lucia, the surviving witness, commits it all to paper when ordered to do so by the
Bishop of Leiria and with Our Lady's permission.’’
He continues: “The third part of the ‘secret’ was written…on January 3, 1944. There is only one manu-
script, which is here reproduced photostatically. The sealed envelope was initially in the custody of the
Bishop of Leiria. To ensure better protection for the ‘secret’ the envelope was placed in the secret archives
of the Holy Office on April 4, 1957. The Bishop of Leiria informed Sr. Lucia of this.’’
26
3.
The secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith indicates that “according to the records
of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Fr. Pierre Paul Philippe O.P., with the agreement of
Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelope containing the third part of the ‘secret of Fatima’ to Pope
John XXIII on August 17, 1959. ‘After some hesitation,’ His Holiness said: ‘We shall wait. I shall pray. I
shall let you know what I decide.’ In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy
Office and not to reveal the third part of the ‘secret.’ Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute,
Archbishop Angelo Dell’Acqua, on March 27, 1965 and returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy
Office, deciding not to publish the text. John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the
third part of the ‘secret’ following the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981,’’ and this was given to
Archbishop Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State, on July 18 of the same year.
On August 11 it was returned to the Archives of the Holy Office.
4.
“As is well known,’’ added Archbishop Bertone, “Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrat-
ing the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an
‘Act of Entrustment’ which was to be celebrated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on June 7, 1981.’’
“In order to respond more fully to the requests of ‘Our Lady,’ the Holy Father desired to make more
explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of June 7, 1981, which had been
repeated in Fatima on May 13, 1982.’’
“Sr. Lucia,’’ continued the archbishop, “personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of con-
secration corresponded to what Our Lady wished. Hence any further discussion or request is without
basis.’’
5.
Sr. Lucia had already hinted at the interpretation of the third part of the ‘secret’ in a letter to the Holy
Father dated May 12, 1982. That letter is also published in the document.
Finally, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone indicates that “the decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to
make public the third part of the ‘secret’ of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked by tragic
human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love of God and the watchful care of the
Mother of Jesus and of the Church.’’
Complete Translation of the Original Text
1.
VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2000 (VIS) - Given below is the complete translation of the original
Portuguese text of the third part of the secret of Fatima, revealed to the three shepherd children at Cova
da Iria-Fatima on July 13, 1917, and committed to paper by Sr. Lucia on January 3, 1944:
“I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of
Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
2.
“After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw
an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they
would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards
him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice:
‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how peo-
ple appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that
it was the Holy Father’. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at
the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reach-
ing there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step,
afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached
the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who
fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops,
priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the
two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they
gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.’’
Cardinal Ratzinger: Penance is the Key to the “Secret”
1.
Vatican City, Jun 26, 2000 (VIS) - Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, writes that the “key word’’ of the third secret of Fatima “is the triple cry, ‘Penance, Penance
27
Penance!’ ” These words appear in his “theological commentary’’ published at the end of the document made
public today by the Holy See. Cardinal Ratzinger goes on to state that other key words are “my Immaculate
heart will triumph,’’ and “the Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns
and weapons of every kind. The ‘fiat’ of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world.’’
The theological commentary of the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is divided
into three parts: Public Revelation and private revelations—their theological status”; “The anthropological
structure of private revelations” and “An attempt to interpret the ‘secret’ of Fatima.”
2.
“The term ‘public Revelation’ refers to the revealing action of God directed to humanity as a whole and
which finds its literary expression in the two parts of the Bible: the Old and New Testaments. It is called
‘Revelation’ because in it God gradually made himself known to men, to the point of becoming man him-
self, in order to draw to himself the whole world and unite it with himself through his Incarnate Son, Jesus
Christ.…In Christ, God has said everything, that is, he has revealed himself completely, and therefore
Revelation came to an end with the fulfillment of the mystery of Christ as enunciated in the New
Testament.’’
3.
‘Private revelation’, on the other hand, “refers to all the visions and revelations which have taken place
since the completion of the New Testament. This is the category to which we must assign the message of
Fatima. …The authority of private revelations is essentially different from that of the definitive public
Revelation. The latter demands faith.” Private revelation, on the other hand, “is a help to this faith, and
shows its credibility precisely by leading (one) back to the definitive public Revelation.”
Quoting the Flemish theologian E. Dhanis, Cardinal Ratzinger affirms that “ecclesiastical approval of
a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing contrary to faith or morals; it is law-
ful to make it public; and the faithful are authorized to accept it with prudence. Such a message can be a
genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it
should not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged to use.’’
Cardinal Ratzinger also highlights that “prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the
future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the
future.’’
4.
The most important part of the theological commentary is dedicated to: “An attempt to interpret the
‘secret’ of Fatima.” In the same way as the key word of the first and second part of the ‘secret’ is to ‘save
souls,’ “the key word of this third part is the threefold cry: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’ The beginning of
the Gospel comes to mind: ‘Repent and believe the Good News.’ To understand the signs of the times means
to accept “the urgency of penance—of conversion—of faith. This is the correct response to this moment of
history, characterized by the grave perils outlined in the images that follow. Allow me to add here a per-
sonal recollection: in a conversation with me Sister Lucia said that it appeared ever more clearly to her
that the purpose of all the apparitions was to help people to grow more and more in faith, hope and love—
everything else was intended to lead to this.’’
5.
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith then considers the “images’’ of the secret:
“The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of
Revelation. This represents the threat of judgement which looms over the world. Today the prospect that
the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his
inventions, has forged the flaming sword.
“The vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction the splendor of the
Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the impor-
tance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image which the
children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole
point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction.…Its
meaning is to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatal-
istic explanations of the ‘secret’, such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of May 13, 1981
was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence.…Rather, the vision speaks of dangers
and how we might be saved from them.’’
Cardinal Ratzinger explains that “the place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep moun-
tain, a great city reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross. The mountain and city symbolize
the arena of human history: history as an arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena of human
28
creativity and social harmony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually destroys
the fruits of his own work.…On the mountain stands the cross—the goal and guide of history. The cross
transforms destruction into salvation; it stands as a sign of history’s misery but also as a promise for his-
tory.
“At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white: (‘we had the impression that it was
the Holy Father’), other Bishops, priests, men and women Religious, and men and women of different ranks
and social positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because of all the hor-
rors around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in ruins, but he makes his way among the
corpses of the dead. The Church’s path is thus described as a ‘Via Crucis’, as a journey through a time of
violence, destruction and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen represented in this
image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain and
the city, and are directed towards the cross, so to time is presented in a compressed way.
6.
“In the vision we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of suffering and per-
secution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many local wars which filled the last fifty years
and have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the ‘mirror’ of this vision we see passing before us the
witnesses of the faith decade by decade.’’
The cardinal also states that “in the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope has a spe-
cial role. In his arduous ascent of the mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes.
Beginning from Pius X up to the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to
go forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. In the vision, the pope too is
killed along with the martyrs. When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father
had the text of the third part of the ‘secret’ brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it
his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words:
‘... it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold
of death’ (May 13, 1994). That here ‘a mother’s hand’ had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more
that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that
in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.”
The conclusion of the secret, continues the cardinal, “uses images which Lucia may have seen in devo-
tional books and which draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling
vision, which seeks to open a history of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of
the cross angels gather up the blood of the martyrs, and with it they give life to the souls making their way
to God. Here, the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the mar-
tyrs runs down from the arms of the cross. The martyrs die in communion with the Passion of Christ, and
their death becomes one with his.’’
“The vision of the third part of the ‘secret’, so distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no
suffering is in vain, and it is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man
in his search for God.…From the suffering of the witnesses there comes a purifying and renewing power,
because their suffering is the actualization of the suffering of Christ himself and a communication in the
here and now of its saving effect.’’
7.
“What is the meaning of the ‘secret’ of Fatima as a whole (in its three parts)?’’ asks the Cardinal: “First
of all we must affirm with Cardinal Sodano: ‘...the events to which the third part of the ‘secret’ of Fatima
refers now seem part of the past.’ Insofar as individual events are described, they belong to the past. Those
who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are
bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in gen-
eral cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. What remains was already evident when we began
our reflections on the text of the ‘secret’: the exhortation to prayer as the path of ‘salvation for souls’ and,
likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.
8.
“I would like finally to mention another key expression of the ‘secret’ which has become justly famous:
‘my Immaculate Heart will triumph.’ What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contem-
plation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The ‘fiat’ of Mary, the word of her heart,
has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Savior into the world—because, thanks to her
‘Yes’, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world,
as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away
29
from God.
“But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good,
the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this:
‘In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world.’ The message of Fatima
invites us to trust in this promise.’’
Presentation of the Message of Fatima
1.
VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today in the Holy See Press Office, Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, presented the document “The Message of Fatima.”
2.
During the conference, the cardinal explained the themes presented in the text concerning the “third
secret,’’ particularly highlighting the role of the Mother of Christ in the history of salvation.
“There exists a synergy between Mother and Son that spans all history,’’ said the cardinal, and he men-
tioned the Gospel account of the wedding of Cana when Mary “induced (her Son) to the first sign that man-
ifested His glory. The poverty of the guests is what inspired Mary to intervene then. Poverty at any time
is a motive for the Mother of the Lord to intervene.’’
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith continued saying, “Mary stands next to
the cross of her Son, sharing in the suffering and in the power of salvation.…The publication of this third
part of the secret of Fatima at the beginning of the new millennium proposing once more the center of the
Gospel message, also reminds the Church and the world of the meaning and importance of the Mother of
the Lord in the history of salvation, and thus of the meaning and value of women, all women, in human
history.’’
3.
Archbishop Bertone then spoke. He explained the reasons for which his congregation had been charged
with making the third part of the secret public.
“These reasons,’’ he said, “may be easily deduced: connections of the literary genre ‘apparitions’ and
‘supernatural manifestations’…with the doctrine of the faith and the great public revelation.…The specif-
ic area of expertise of the dicastery that through a special office traces and examines, in collaboration with
diocesan bishops, all real or imagined supernatural phenomena that are indicated to the local Churches."
4.
Following the presentation, Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Bertone answered journalist’s ques-
tions.
Archbishop Bertone made it clear that John Paul II did not read the message until after May 13, 1981—
in other words, after the attempt on his life—and emphatically rejected the hypothesis that he may have
read it before.
For his part, Cardinal Ratzinger highlighted that the decision not to publish the “third secret’’ over the
years was not inspired by reasons of dogma but of prudence. He recognized that the price paid for this was
the possibility of speculation as to the content. Even so, having waited to divulge it until after the beatifi-
cation of the shepherd children Jacinta and Francisco and at the end of a century that had seen the great-
est number of martyrs in history and an almost infinite series of wars and disasters, was a signal of hope
and allowed, in the light of history, to places Lucia’s vision in a global context.
The prefect also made it clear that in order to understand the message’s reference to Russia, it was nec-
essary to bear in mind what he had said about the recipient of the vision’s limited capacity of comprehen-
sion. “In fact, Sr. Lucia said that we (the shepherds) knew nothing of Russia, we did not even know the
word Russia. They understood that something dangerous was meant and, naturally, to the limited capaci-
ties represented by the mind and soul of three shepherd children the Virgin did not refer to Russia as a
country with many Christians, rather (she referred to) an anti-Christian system. This is not a condemna-
tion of Russia, we know the great faith of the Russian people, it is a condemnation of a classical atheist
system that threatened humanity. In reality, other systems, especially Nazism, were radically anti-theist
and threatened both the Church and humanity, there is no exclusive right over that word. As I said, each
word of the vision does not have an exact historical correlation.’’
(Printed with permission L’Osservatore Romano)
30
VIII. Pastoral Letter of Apparations at Akita
(Note: section numbers added.)
Bishop John Shojiro Ito, Ordinary of the Diocese of Niigata, describes the events which take place in his dio-
cese over a period of several years:
Pastoral letter of approval of the Bishop of Niigata on the Subject of the Statue of the Virgin of Akita
I
1.
To all members of the diocese, my blessing and my best wishes on this Feast of Easter. It is now twen-
ty-two years that I have been bishop of the diocese of Niigata, named by His Holiness John XXIII in 1962.
In conformity with the legislation of the Church I have reached the age of retreat and must give up my
function. My thanksgiving goes to each one of you for prayer and cooperation which have permitted me,
despite many difficulties, to fill my task up to the present day.
2
. Before leaving you I must confide to you a preoccupation. It has to do with the series of mysterious
events concerning a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary in the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist.
(The request for ecclesial recognition of this secular institute has been introduced in Rome.) This institute
is found in Yuzawadai, Soegawa, Akita, in this diocese of Niigata (Japan). You are without doubt aware of
these events through magazines, books, television, and so on.
When the first commission of inquiry was named in 1976, I publicly announced that it was necessary
to abstain from all official pilgrimage and all particular veneration of this statue while the inquiry was
underway. From that day I have made no declaration on this subject. Indeed, being a question of impor-
tant events concerning the Church, one cannot treat them lightly. However, to keep silence at the time of
leaving my function as bishop, since I have been at the heart of the events, would be a negligence with
regard to my episcopal duties. For that reason I have decided to make a new declaration in the form of this
pastoral letter.
3.
Since 1973, when the events began, eleven years have passed. As that was the first time I was a wit-
ness of the rather extraordinary events, I went to Rome to the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith in 1975 where I consulted Monsignor Hamer, secretary for the Congregation and whom I already
knew. He explained to me that such a matter belonged above all to the authority of the bishop of the place.
In 1976, I asked the archbishop of Tokyo for the creation of a commission of inquiry. This commission
declared that it was not in a position to prove the supernatural events of Akita. In 1979, I presented to the
Congregation a request for the formation of a second commission of inquiry which permitted us to exam-
ine the facts still more in detail.
In 1979, a letter of the Congregation,unfavorable to the events, came to the nunciature in Tokyo. But
this letter contained some misunderstandings. Esteeming it my duty to restore the exactitude of the facts,
I re-examined it all in 1982 at the time that the events came to an end. Through the intermediary of the
Apostolic Nuncio in Tokyo, I sent the complete dossier, augmented with the new facts, to Rome.
At the time of my trip to Rome in the month of October last year (1983) I was able to meet with three
personalities charged with the matter in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At the end of this
meeting we had decided that the dossier should again be submitted to prolonged examination.
II
4.
The series of events relative to the statue of the Virgin Mary include the flowing of blood from the right
hand of the statue, also a perspiration spreading a sweet perfume, perspiration so abundant that it was
necessary to dry the statue. However, the most remarkable fact, in our opinion, and the most evident, is
the overflowing of an aqueous liquid, similar to human tears, from the eyes of the statue of Our Holy
Mother.
This began on the 4th of January, 1975 (Holy Year) and some tears flowed 101 times, until the 15th of
September, 1981, Feast of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors. I was able myself to witness four lachrymations.
About 500 persons have also been eyewitnesses. I twice tasted this liquid. It was salty and seemed to me
truly human tears. The scientific examination of Professor Sagisaka, specialist in legal medicine in the fac-
ulty of medicine at the University of Akita, has proved that this liquid is indeed identical to human tears.
5.
It is beyond human powers to produce water where there is none, and I believe that to do this the inter-
31
vention of a nonhuman force is necessary. Moreover, it is not the question of pure water, but of a liquid
secreted by a human body. It flowed only from the eyes of the statue, as tears flow, and that more than 100
times over a period of several years and before many numerous witnesses. It has been established that it
could not have been by trickery or human maneuvers.
If these events are not natural one can envisage three causes. They would be due to:
1. Paranormal faculties of the human being;
2. Machinations of the devil;
3. A supernatural intervention.
I do not know well what could be paranormal faculties. However, certain individuals say that Agnes
Katsuko Sasagawa, member of the Handmaids of the Servants of the Eucharist, and who was the one lined
most especially to the events of Akita, might possess paranormal powers permitting her to transfer her
own tears to the statue. For that however, it would be necessary, according to Professor Itaya of the
Technical University of Tokyo (specialist in this field) that the interested person be aware of the fact in
order to cause such paranormal powers to intervene. Now the tears flowed from the statue when Agnes
Sasagawa was sleeping and even when she was not aware of the event, being home with her family 400
kilometers from Akita. I think therefore that the hypothesis of such faculties can be put aside.
6.
There are also persons who suppose that it is a question of a machination of the devil. If that is the
case it ought to lead to evil effects for the faith. Not only have there not been such effects, but quite to the
contrary there have been favorable effects. For example, a husband whose Catholic wife had for a long time
recommended conversion decided to receive Baptism after seeing the tears.
In another case, a former believer, separated from the Church for several decades, returned to the reg-
ular practice of our religion. And again, following a visit to the place, a believer resolved to work in evan-
gelization. Alone she created two bases of evangelization and continues this work to the present day.
7.
Furthermore, there are numerous reports of miraculous cures of sicknesses such as cancer, thanks to
the mediation of the Virgin of Akita. I am going to mention two, the most proving.
One is the sudden cure of a Korean woman. Following cancer of the brain, she was reduced to a veg-
etable state from July 1981. The Virgin of Akita appeared to her and told her to get up. Almost at once she
was able to get up, having entirely recovered her health. This healing took place while priests and Korean
women prayed to the Virgin of Akita for her cure and asked for a miracle in view of the canonization of the
Korean martyrs.
There are X-rays of this person taken during the sickness and after the complete cure. Even nonpro-
fessionals can verify the cure. The authenticity of the X-rays is attested to by Dr. M.D. Tong-Woo-Kim, of
the Hospital of Saint Paul in Seoul who took these X-rays, and also by Fr. Theisen, S.T.D., president of the
ecclesiastical tribunal of the archdiocese of Seoul. All of the records have been sent to Rome. I went myself
to Seoul (Korea) last year and was able to interview the person involved; I could thus assure myself of the
truth of the facts of her miraculous cure. For her part in the person came to Akita to than Our Holy Mother.
The second case is the complete cure of the total deafness from which Agnes Sasagawa suffered. I will
speak in detail of this later.
By such facts propitious to the faith and to physical health, it would seem to exclude that the events of
Akita could be of diabolical origin. There remains therefore only the possibility of a supernatural inter-
vention. It is in any event difficult to hold that it might be not a question of supernatural phenomena.
III
8.
But why have such phenomena taken place? I ask if they are not with regard to the messages coming
from the statue of the Virgin and perceived by the deaf ears of Agnes Sasagawa.
The first message was given to her on the morning of June 6th, 1973, First Friday of the month. A voice
coming from the statue of Mary, always splendid saying:
“My daughter, my novice, you have obeyed me well in abandoning all to follow me. Is the infirmity of
your ears painful? The wound will be healed, be sure. Be patient. It is the last trial. Does the wound cause
you to suffer? Pray in reparation for the sins of men. Each person in this community is my irreplaceable
daughter. Do you say well the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist? Then let us pray it together:
“Oh, Jesus, really present in the most Blesses Sacrament, I offer you my body and soul to become one
in Your Sacred Heart Which is transubstantiated and sacrificed on all the altars of the world, remaining
with us to praise the Father and to pray for the coming of His Kingdom.
32
“I implore You to accept my humble consecration and to use me, as will please You, for the glory of God
and the salvation of souls.
“Dearest Mother, do not permit that I may ever be separated from your Divine Son. Guard me always
as belonging entirely to you. Amen.
Pray very much for the Pope, the Bishops and the priests.”
Agnes Sasagawa lost her hearing when she was working as a catechist in the church of Myokokogen.
Because of this deafness she was for a time in the hospital of Rosai in the city of Joetsu. Dr. Sawada diag-
nosed her total deafness as incurable and issued the documents permitting, for this reason, state subsidy.
No longer being able to work as a catechist, she came to the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist
at Akita, where she began to live a life of prayer.
9.
The second message, like the first time, was given by the voice coming from the statue of the Holy
Virgin:
“My daughter, my novice do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, listen to what I have to say to you.”
“It is very important. You will convey it to your superior.”
“Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console. Him to soften the anger of the
Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the
sinners and ingrates.”
“In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chas-
tisement on all mankind. With my Son, I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the
Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross,
His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him and form a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance,
and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire this also from your community, that it love
poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men.
Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning; put it into practice,
offer (whatever God may send) in reparation for sins. Let each one endeavor, according to capacity and
position, to offer herself entirely to the Lord.”
“Even in secular order prayer is necessary. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gath-
ered. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the
Master.”
10.
The third and last message was given also by the voice coming from the statue of the Holy Virgin on
the 13th of October in the same year:
“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…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 (unrelenting) 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.”
11.
This message is based on the condition if men do not repent and better themselves…I think that it is
a serious warning, although one feels here the maternal love of Our Heavenly Mother in the words “The
sight of the loss of numerous souls makes me sad”. If the promise contained in the first message of 1973
was not realized (“Is your deafness painful to bear? You will soon be healed.”) one would be able to doubt
the veracity of these messages. But this promise was kept nine years after the beginning of the sickness.
Before this happened, a person similar to an angel announced to Agnes Sasagawa (the 25th of March, and
the 1st of May, 1982) “Your deafness causes you to suffer, doesn’t it? The moment of the promised cure
approaches. By the intercession of the Holy and Immaculate Virgin, exactly as the last time, before Him
Who is truly present in the Eucharist, your ears will be definitely cured in order that the work of the Most
High may be accomplished. There will be many sufferings and obstacles coming from outside. You have
33
nothing to fear.”
Effectively on the last Sunday of the month of Mary, the 30th of May 1982, Feast of Pentecost, at the
moment of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament her ears were cured completely and instantly.
That same evening she telephoned me and we conversed normally. On the following 14th of June, I vis-
ited Doctor Arai of the Eye and Ear Division of the Hospital of the Red Cross of Akita who had verified the
complete deafness of Agnes Sasagawa at the moment she arrived in Akita nine years before. I asked his
impression. He was amazed at this complete cure. Doctor Sawada of the Rosai de Joetsu who had been the
first to examine her when she became deaf, has now issued a medical certificate dated June 3rd, 1982,
attesting that following minute examinations of the auditive capacities, he certifies that there is no fur-
ther anomaly in the two ears of Agnes Sasagawa.
I have known Agnes Sasagawa for ten years. She is a woman sound in spirit, frank and without prob-
lems; she has always impressed me as a balanced person. Consequently the messages she says that she
has received did not appear to me to be in any way the result of imagination or hallucination.
As for the content of the messages received, there is nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine or good
morals, and when one thinks of the actual state of the world the warning seems to correspond to it in many
points.
12.
Having set down here my experiences and my reflections with regard to the events relative to the stat-
ue of the Holy Virgin of Akita, I esteem it my duty as Ordinary of the place, to respond to the requests of
the faithful to give pastoral directives on this subject. It is only the bishop of the diocese in question who
has the power of recognizing a fact of this kind. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has given
me directives in this regard.
I have been in constant relation with the Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist since its creation,
and thus I know exactly the situation of this Institute and of its members. In studying the history of the
apparitions of the Virgin Mary up to this day, I am aware that it is always the bishops of the place who
have authorized the veneration of the Virgin Mary when she was manifested herself in their dioceses.
After long prayer and mature reflection, I draw the following conclusions in my position as Bishop of
Niigata:
1. After the inquiries conducted up to the present day, one cannot deny the supernatural character of
a series of inexplicable events relative to the statue of the Virgin which is found in the convent of the
Institute of the Handmaids of the Eucharist of Yuzawadai, Soegawa, Akita (Diocese of Niigata).
Nor does one find in it elements contrary to Catholic faith and good morals.
2. Consequently, I authorize throughout the entire diocese, with which I am charged, the veneration of
the Holy Mother of Akita, while awaiting that the Holy See publishes definitive judgement on this matter.
13.
And I ask that it be remembered that even if the Holy See later publishes a favorable judgement with
regard to the events of Akita, it is a question only of private revelation which is not a point of doctrine.
Christians are bound to believe only content of Divine Revelation (closed after the death of the last Apostle)
which contains all that is necessary for salvation.
Nevertheless, the Church, until now, has equally taken into consideration private revelations insofar as
they fortify the faith. For reference, I cite the following texts of the document on Catholic doctrine:
“The saints and angels having been conformed to the Will of God, receive from Him grace and glory in
abundance and it is just to venerate them because this results in offering praise and thanksgiving to God
Himself. Among the saints the Virgin Mary receives a special veneration. Indeed, she is not only the
Mother of Our Savior Who is God, but also the Mother of us all, and it is as Mother that she intercedes for
us, full of Divine grace more than all the saints and angels.” (Article 72)
34
IX. Act of Entrustment
to Mary
On October 8, 2000, during the Jubilee of Bishops, Pope John Paul II knelt before a statue of Our Lady of
Fatima in St. Peter’s Square and led the following prayer in union with over 1500 of the bishops of the world
and 80 cardinals, to entrust the entire world and the Church to Mary.
“Woman, behold your Son!” (Jn 19:26).
As we near the end of this Jubilee Year,
when you, O Mother, have offered us Jesus anew,
the blessed fruit of your womb most pure,
the Word made flesh, the world’s Redeemer,
we hear more clearly the sweet echo of his words
entrusting us to you, making you our Mother:
“Woman, behold your Son!”
When he entrusted to you the Apostle John,
and with him the children of the Church and all people,
Christ did not diminish but affirmed anew
the role which is his alone as the Savior of the world.
You are the splendor which in no way dims the light of Christ,
for you exist in him and through him.
Everything in you is fiat: you are the Immaculate One,
through you there shines the fullness of grace.
Here, then, are your children, gathered before you
at the dawn of the new millennium.
The Church today, through the voice of the Successor of Peter,
in union with so many Pastors assembled here
from every corner of the world,
seeks refuge in your motherly protection
and trustingly begs your intercession
as she faces the challenges which lie hidden in the future.
In this year of grace, countless people have known
the overflowing joy of the mercy
which the Father has given us in Christ.
In the particular Churches throughout the world,
and still more in this center of Christianity,
the widest array of people have accepted this gift.
Here the enthusiasm of the young rang out,
here the sick have lifted up their prayer.
Here have gathered priests and religious,
artists and journalists,
workers and people of learning,
children and adults,
and all have acknowledged in your beloved Son
the Word of God made flesh in your womb.
O Mother, intercede for us,
that the fruits of this Year will not be lost
and that the seeds of grace will grow
to the full measure of the holiness
to which we are all called.
Today we wish to entrust to you the future that awaits us, and we ask you to be with us on our way.
We are the men and women of an extraordinary time,
exhilarating yet full of contradictions.
35
Humanity now has instruments of unprecedented power:
we can turn this world into a garden,
or reduce it to a pile of rubble.
We have devised the astounding capacity
to intervene in the very well-springs of life:
man can use this power for good, within the bounds of the moral law,
or he can succumb to the short-sighted pride
of a science which accepts no limits,
but tramples on the respect due to every human being.
Today as never before in the past,
humanity stands at a crossroads.
And once again, O Virgin Most Holy,
salvation lies fully and uniquely in Jesus, your Son.
Therefore, O Mother, like the Apostle John,
we wish to take you into our home (cf. Jn 19:27),
that we may learn from you to become like your Son.
“Woman, behold your son!”
Here we stand before you
to entrust to your maternal care
ourselves, the Church, the entire world.
Plead for us with your beloved Son
that he may give us in abundance the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of truth which is the fountain of life.
Receive the Spirit for us and with us,
as happened in the first community gathered round you
in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:14).
May the Spirit open our hearts to justice and love,
and guide people and nations to mutual understanding
and a firm desire for peace.
We entrust to you all people, beginning with the weakest:
the babies yet unborn,
and those born into poverty and suffering,
the young in search of meaning,
the unemployed,
and those suffering hunger and disease.
We entrust to you all troubled families,
the elderly with no one to help them,
and all who are alone and without hope.
O Mother, you know the sufferings
and hopes of the Church and the world:
come to the aid of your children in the daily trials
which life brings to each one,
and grant that, thanks to the efforts of all,
the darkness will not prevail over the light.
To you, Dawn of Salvation, we commit
our journey through the new Millennium,
so that with you as guide
all people may know Christ,
the light of the world and its only Savior,
who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever. Amen.
36
X. Marian Prayers and Devotions
Marian Prayers by
Pope John Paul II
1.
O Mary,
Mother of Mercy,
watch over all people,
that the Cross of Christ
may not be emptied of its power,
that man may not stray
from the path of the good
or become blind to sin,
but may put his hope ever more fully in God
who is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4).
May he carry out the good works
prepared by God beforehand (cf. Eph 2:10)
and so live completely
“for the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:12).
From the encyclical letter The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor)
August 6, 1993
=
2.
Mary, image of the Church, the Bride without spot or wrinkle, which by imitating you “preserves with virginal
purity an integral faith, a firm hope and sincere charity,” sustain consecrated persons on their journey toward the
sole and eternal blessedness.
To you, Virgin of the Visitation, do we entrust them, that they may go forth to meet human needs, to bring help, but
above all to bring Jesus. Teach them to proclaim the mighty things which the Lord accomplishes in the world, that
all peoples may extol the greatness of his name. Support them in their work for the poor, the hungry, those without
hope, the little ones and all who seek your Son with a sincere heart.
To you, our Mother, who desire the spiritual and apostolic renewal of your sons and daughters in a response of love
and complete dedication to Christ, we address our confident prayer. You who did the will of the Father, ever ready
in obedience, courageous in poverty and receptive in fruitful virginity, obtain from your divine Son that all who
have received the gift of following him in the consecrated life may be enabled to bear witness to that gift by their
transfigured lives, as they joyfully make their way with all their brothers and sisters toward our heavenly home-
land and the light which will never grow dim.
We ask you this, that in everyone and in everything glory, adoration and love may be given to the Most High Lord
of all things, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
From the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Consecrated Life (Vita Consecrata)
March 25, 1996
=
3.
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church,
With joy and wonder we seek to make our
own your Magnificat, joining you in your hymn of thankfulness and love.
With you we give thanks to God,
“whose mercy
is from generation to generation,”
for the exalted vocation
and the many forms of mission
entrusted to the lay faithful.
God has called each of them by name
to live his own communion of love
37
and holiness
and to be one
in the great family of God’s children.
He has sent them forth
to shine with the light of Christ
and to communicate the fire of the Spirit
in every part of society
through their life
inspired by the Gospel.
O Virgin of the Magnificat,
fill their hearts
with a gratitude and enthusiasm
for this vocation and mission.
With humility and magnanimity
you were the “handmaid of the Lord”;
give us your unreserved willingness
for service to God
and the salvation of the world.
Open our hearts
to the great anticipation
of the Kingdom of God
and of the proclamation of the Gospel
to the whole of creation.
Your mother’s heart
is ever mindful of the many dangers
and evils which threaten
to overpower men and women
in our time.
At the same time your heart also takes notice
of the many initiatives
undertaken for good,
the great yearning for values,
and the progress achieved
in bringing forth
the abundant fruits of salvation.
O Virgin full of courage,
may your spiritual strength
and trust in God inspire us,
so that we might know
how to overcome all the obstacles
that we encounter
in accomplishing our mission.
Teach us to treat the affairs
of the world
with a real sense of Christian responsibility
and a joyful hope
of the coming of God’s Kingdom, and
of a “new heavens and a new earth.”
You who were gathered in prayer
with the Apostles in the Cenacle,
awaiting the coming
of the Spirit at Pentecost,
implore his renewed outpouring
on all the faithful, men and women alike,
so that they might more fully respond
to their vocation and mission,
as branches engrafted to the true vine,
called to bear much fruit
38
for the life of the world.
O Virgin Mother,
guide and sustain us
so that we might always live
as true sons and daughters
of the Church of your Son.
Enable us to do our part
in helping to establish on earth
the civilization of truth and love,
as God wills it,
for his glory. Amen.
From the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People (Christifideles Laici)
December 30, 1988
=
4.
O Mary,
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause of life:
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilization of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.
From the encyclical letter The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae)
March 25, 1995
=
5.
O Mary,
Mother of Jesus Christ and Mother of priests,
accept this title which we bestow on you
to celebrate your motherhood
and to contemplate with you the priesthood
of your Son and of your sons,
O holy Mother of God.
39
O Mother of Christ,
to the Messiah-priest you gave a body of flesh
through the anointing of the Holy Spirit
for the salvation of the poor and the contrite of heart;
guard priests in your heart and in the Church,
O Mother of the Savior.
O Mother of Faith,
you accompanied to the Temple the Son of Man,
the fulfillment of the promises given to the fathers;
give to the Father for his glory
the priests of your Son,
O Ark of the Covenant.
O Mother of the Church,
in the midst of the disciples in the upper room
you prayed to the Spirit
for the new people and their shepherds;
obtain for the Order of Presbyters
a full measure of gifts,
O Queen of the Apostles.
O Mother of Jesus Christ,
you were with him at the beginning
of his life and mission,
you sought the Master among the crowd,
you stood beside him when he was lifted
up from the earth
consumed as the one eternal sacrifice,
and you had John, your son, near at hand;
accept from the beginning those
who have been called,
protect their growth,
in their life ministry accompany
your sons,
O Mother of Priests. Amen.
From the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation I Will Give You Shepherds (Pastores Dabo Vobis)
March 25, 1992
2. The Magnificat
(cf. Luke 1:46-55)
Saturday Meditation
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior:
Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for behold, henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed;
Because He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name;
And His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him.
He has shown might with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has given help to Israel, His servant, mindful of His mercy, even as He spoke to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his posterity for ever. Amen.
2b. Hail Holy Queen
Daily prayer of the Archconfraternity of
Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine & the AFC
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy; our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor ban-
40
ished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto
us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
2c. The Angelus
(3 times daily)
V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary…
V. Behold the Handmaid of the Lord,
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary…
V. And the Word was made flesh,
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary…
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the
Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
6a-9. The Holy Rosary
Five decades of the Rosary should be prayed daily
For the Church’s teachings on the Rosary, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 971, 2678, and 2708.
How to pray the Rosary:
Pray the Apostles’ Creed (#6a) on the Crucifix. Then offer one Our Father (#6b) on the large bead, and
three Hail Marys (#6c) on each of the three small beads for the Holy Father, the Pope. After the three Hail
Marys, pray the Glory Be (#7a), the Fatima Rosary Prayer (#7b), and the Consecration Prayer (#7c).
Announce the Mystery for the decade (see #7d) and meditate on it while praying. Pray one Our Father
on the large bead. Pray the Hail Mary on each of the ten small beads. On the next large bead, pray the
Glory Be, the Rosary Prayer, and the Consecration Prayer. Then, on the same large bead, announce the
next Mystery and begin again with the Our Father. Continue until you have prayed all five decades.
After the Rosary, pray #8, 8a, 9, 10 & 11a. (Note: Pope Leo XIII asked for a prayer to St. Joseph to be recited at the end of the Rosary.)
Please see pages 582, 616, and 649 for Rosary meditation resources.
6a. Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He
ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He shall
come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the
Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
For an explanation of the term “descended into hell,” see paragraphs 631-637 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For a complete explanation of
the Apostles’ Creed, see paragraphs 198-1065.
6b. Our Father
Our Father, Who art in Heaven; hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as
it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.
For a detailed explanation of the Our Father, see paragraphs 2759–2865 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
41
6c. Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of
thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
To learn about the Church’s teachings on Mary, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 411, 487–511, 721–726, 773, 829, 963–975,
2617–2619, and 2622.
7a. Glory Be
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
For more on the Holy Trinity, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s index, under “Trinity.” Some key paragraphs are: 232-234, 238-246, 253-255,
683 and 687.
7b. Fatima Rosary Prayer
The prayer Our Lady of Fatima requested to
be said after each decade of the Rosary.
O My Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those
who are in most need of Your mercy.
7c. The Apostolate’s Motto and Short Form Consecration Prayer
Said after every decade of the Rosary following 7b
All for the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, all through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of
Mary, all in union with St. Joseph.
After the Rosary, pray #8, 8a, 9, 10 & 11a
8. St. Joseph Prayer after the Rosary
Glorious St. Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me and all the members of my family
and loved ones, a confident, sinless, generous, and patient heart, and perfect resignation to the Divine Will.
Be our guide, father, and model throughout life, that we may merit a death like yours, in the arms of
Jesus and Mary.
Help us, St. Joseph, in our earthly strife, to fulfill our responsibilities and ever to lead a pure and
blameless life.
Heavenly Father, please ask the Holy Spirit, Who resides in the innermost recesses of my soul, to help
me to call to mind all of my sins and faults. Help me to detach myself from these faults and sins so that I
can be a useful instrument in the hands of the Most Holy Family, to achieve Your distinctive plan for my
life.
Let me now pause for a few moments to think of my sins, faults, and omissions.
8a. Examination of
Conscience Prayer
Reflectively read your “key card” and part of the Examination of Conscience in section 53a–53m.
Mother Mary, please obtain for me, my family, and the members and families of The Apostolate the
Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the grace to live the virtues which will help us overcome our primary faults.
Let us be caught up in the Holy Spirit’s love for the Father and the Holy Family.
9. Act of Contrition
Recited daily
O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all of my sins, because I dread
the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they have offended Thee, my God, Who art
all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do
penance, and to amend my life. Amen.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask You to release a Poor Soul
42
of one of our loved ones from Purgatory for each of us who have received Your Son in Holy Communion this
day, and we ask these souls being released to pray continually that our families and the members and fam-
ilies of The Apostolate do Your will.
47. Ave Maris Stella
Hail, bright star of ocean,
God’s own Mother blest,
Ever sinless Virgin,
Gate of heavenly rest.
Taking that sweet Ave
Which from Gabriel came,
Peace confirm within us,
Changing Eva’s name.
Break the captives’ fetters,
Light on blindness pour,
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss emplore.
Show thyself a mother,
May the Word Divine,
Born for us thy Infant,
Hear our prayers through thine.
Virgin all excelling,
Mildest of the mild,
Freed from guilt, preserve us,
Pure and undefiled.
Keep our life all spotless,
Make our way secure,
Till we find in Jesus
Joy forever more.
Through the highest Heaven
To the Almighty Three,
Father, Son and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.
The Holy Father essentially said that the next synod of bishops would be on the Fatima message,
reconciliation and penance. Upon his return from his pilgrimage to Fatima in 1982 he stated:
The message that came from Fatima in 1917, considered in the light of the teaching of faith,
contains the eternal truth of the Gospel, as applied particularly to the needs of our era.
The call to conversion and penance is the first and fundamental word of the Gospel. It never
loses its force, and in our century it takes on a particular dimension in the face of the increasing
awareness of the greater than ever struggle between the forces of good and evil in our human
world. This is also the central point of the Church’s concern, as attested by the voices of the pas-
tors who have indicated “reconciliation and penance” as the most relevant theme, dedicating the
treatment of it to the next session of the Synod of Bishops for this reason.
43
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