What We Know About the Third Secret

These are the Last Times. Lucy herself has said so.

This is the Great Apostasy of the Apocalypse. This is implicit from a number of sources.

In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved. per Lucy

There will be a New Mass. Pope Pius XII no less.

A Council is Warned against

The Third Secret supports Traditionalists vs Vatican II. .

There will be grave Spiritual and Material Chastisements. Lucy

The Third Secret concerns a heavenly punishment

There will be a Wave of Diabolical Disorientation and demonic possession

Russia is dominant in the Third Secret

Russia will be God’s chosen instrument of Chastisement

One part of the Third Secret has to do with the Pope

It has twenty-five lines.

It is a Prophecy. It concerns Future Realities says Pope Benedict

It will be very sad, says Sister Lucy.

The prophecy would begin to be fulfilled in 1960

It should have been revealed in 1960 says Cardinal Ottaviani.

It concerns Chapter 8 in Apocalypse, the Trumpets of the Seventh Seal

Fire will fall from the Sky

Signum Magnum

It’s terrible said John Paul I when he was Cardinal Luciani.

Catastrophic Change

Collapse of Society, Economic Depression

The Left will slaughter the Right

It is bad news says Cardinal Oddi

It might cause anxiety and panic

Suffering as mankind has never seen, says Pope Pius XII

If Russia knew the contents, it would be encouraged to go to war

The Dragon will sweep a third of the stars from heaven

It would fill the confessionals on Saturday night.

It contains "abstruse locutions".

The Third Secret will be revealed during a great war.

Russia will be consecrated when a sufficient number are complying with the Message of Fatima

"Now, let’s go back to the top and cover each topic with more information." Cap took a sip of tea and readied her pen and tablet. She settled into serious note taking mode.

"First, these are the Last Times. The Explosive Fuentes Interview. Fr Augustine Fuentes was postulator for the cause of the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta. In that capacity, he interviewed Sr Lucy in 1957. Upon his return to Mexico, he gave a conference to group of nuns. His remarks were later published. It stirred up a hornet’s nest. There were elements about which Sister Lucy spoke strongly which were in neither the first or the second secret. It could be deduced that she was speaking about the third secret.

Three Reasons. Sister Lucy said this about the Last Times. "Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last times of the world but She made me understand this for three reasons.

First Reason, the Final Battle. "The first reason is because She told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence, from now on, we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.

Second Reason, the Last Remedies. "The second reason is that She said to my cousins as well as to myself that God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify that there will be no others.

Third Reason, the Sin Against the Holy Spirit. "The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, God always, before he is about to chastise the world, exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with a certain trepidation.

Sin Against the Holy Spirit

Sister Lucy said "It is with a certain trepidation because if you despise and repulse this ultimate means, we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists of rejecting with full knowledge and consent, the salvation which he offers. Let us remember that Jesus Christ is a very good son and that He does not permit that we offend and despise His Most Holy Mother." the Fuentes interview.

John Paul II on the Last Times

"We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American Society or wide circles of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. It is a trial which the Church must take up."

This is the Great Apostasy of the Apocalypse

"In the Third Secret, it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top."

Cardinal Ciappi served as personal theologian to popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II. Note the end of the sentence, "at the top".

Cardinal Silvio Oddi said "It has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against the apostasy in the Church."

It is difficult to imagine that they may be living through the Great Apostasy. It is helpful to remember the Arian crisis of the 4th Century. Except for a few good bishops, such as St. Athanasius, virtually the entire Catholic hierarchy had been seduced or confused by the heresy that Christ was not truly and fully divine. During that time, it was the simple members of the laity who kept the faith. The Pope was in exile during much of this crisis and could do nothing to stop the spread of the heresy.

"In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc..."

"In her third memoir, which she completed in August 1941, Sister Lucy stated that the Secret of Fatima is divided into three distinct parts, after which she recorded, for the first time, the first two parts of the Secret.

"In her fourth memoir, which was written from October-December 1941, Sister Lucy added a new sentence. "In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc." Lucy purposely inserted it to indicate to us what the final part of the Secret is about.

"Father Alonso, the official Fatima archivist had this to say on the Third Secret:

'In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret. What are they? 'If 'in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,’ ... it can be clearly deduced from this that in other parts of the Church these dogmas are going to become obscure or even lost altogether.

'Thus, it is quite possible that in this intermediate period which is in question (after 1960 and before the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary), the text makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves. Knowledgeable Church authorities have confirmed Father Alonso’s conclusions about the Third Secret, that it concerns an unprecedented loss of faith, an apostasy, from which Portugal will be preserved.

Worse than War

In 1984 the Bishop of Fatima said, "the loss of Faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation; and it is true that Faith is continuously diminishing in Europe."

In his 1976 book, The Secret of Fatima: Fact and Legend, Father Alonso added to his hypothesis that the Third Secret concerns the crisis of Faith within the Church, the belief that it also speaks of the negligence of the pastors, especially within the upper hierarchy. "It is therefore completely probable," he said, "that the text (of the Third Secret) makes concrete references to the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves." He also speaks of "internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the upper hierarchy," and "deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church."

Father Alonso also said:
7 '... Does the unpublished text speak of concrete circumstances? It is very possible that it speaks not only of a real crisis of the faith in the Church during this in-between period, but like the secret of La Salette for example, there are more concrete references to the internal struggles of Catholics or to the fall of priests and religious. Perhaps it even refers to the failures of the upper hierarchy of the Church. For that matter, none of this is foreign to other communications Sister Lucy has had on this subject. At La Salette, the Madonna said "Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist."

There will be a New Mass

Msgr Eugene Pacelli, the future Pius XII, said "I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to little Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. ..." In his capacity as Secretary of State, he had either seen the message or been told of its contents. He was greatly upset at the prospect of the "suicide" of altering the traditions of the church. He kept the Third Secret in a drawer at his bedside. In an article in the Fatima Crusader, Fr Paul Kramer says that Cardinal Ratzinger told a good friend that in the Third Secret Our Lady warned against changing the Mass. Father Kramer said "So we have Cardinal Ratzinger himself stating to a close personal friend that these warnings were given by Our Lady in the Third Secret of Fatima not to change the Mass in precisely the manner that Pope Paul VI changed the Mass."

A Council is Warned against

Kramer says that Cardinal Ratzinger also told a good friend that the Third Secret warned against a Council.

Father Kramer said "Our Lady also warned that there would be an evil Council in the Church that would cause great scandal. And of course, it was the documents from Vatican II — the Constitution on the Liturgy — which gave the impetus for Pope Paul VI to reform the liturgy in such a disastrous manner that has caused such a loss of faith and confusion in the Church." Cardinal Oddi spoke with Sister Lucy in 1985. Afterward, he said that "In my opinion, what is written is that in 1960, the Pope would have convoked a council from which, contrary to his intentions, there would arise many difficulties in the Church." He deduced from Lucy’s words that the Secret "preannounced some grave error."

The Third Secret supports Traditionalists vs Vatican II

"The church is divided into two hostile camps: Traditional Conservatism, which upholds the doctrine of the Faith; and Liberal Progressivism, which promotes modernist, Mason-inspired post-conciliar reform. Fr. Alonso, who was the official archivist and perius of Fatima for sixteen years, disclosed that the Secret of Fatima is an indictment against the post-conciliar reform, and it is for the reason that is has not been revealed to the world. It is the period of the so called "post-conciliar reforms" which has ushered in what Father Louis Bouyer refers to in his aptly titled book The Decomposition of Catholicism.

"The late Fr. Joaquín María Alonso, C.M.F, who held doctoral degrees in Philosophy and Theology from the Gregorian University, and who did not belong to any "traditional movement", wrote "An untimely revelation of the text would have aggravated further the two tendencies that continue to split the Church: a traditionalism that would have been helped by these apparitions that, in such a scandalous way, would have stopped the progress of the conciliar Church... Pope Paul VI thought it fitting and prudent to delay the revelation of the text for better times. Pope John XXIII declared that the text did not refer to his pontificate... and the following popes did not consider that the moment was right to remove the veil of the mystery, in circumstances where the Church has not yet surmounted the frightful impact of the twenty years of the post-council, during which the crisis of the Faith has settled at all levels." cf. De Nuevo el Secreto de Fatima, p.93, Ephemerides mariologicae, 1982, fasc. L; cf. also The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. III, p. 712

A Wave of Diabolical Disorientation

From the Third Secret. Sister Lucy made several references to Diabolical Disorientation during the 70’s. It is apparent from her letters that she believed that a diabolical wave was sweeping the planet. That one so humble as Sr Lucy has spoken so strongly suggests that she is not speaking on her own authority but about the part of the Our Lady’s message which has not yet been revealed.

The argument could be made that after 1960, the world came to be possessed by the devil. Possessed, as in needing an exorcism. This has been a punishment visited upon the world and the Church for having disobeyed His Will.

Diabolical Disorientation. In 1970 Sister Lucy wrote to a friend "People must recite the rosary every day. Our Lady repeated this in all her apparitions, as if to arm us in advance these times of diabolical disorientation, so that we would not let ourselves be fooled by false doctrines." Diabolical Disorientation Invading the World. Speaking of those who reject the mediation of Mary, Sister Lucy says "This is a diabolical disorientation which is invading the world and misleading souls. "

Devil has Infiltrated Evil. "It is painful to see such a great disorientation in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility...It is because the devil has infiltrated evil under cover of good, and the blind are beginning to guide others, as the Lord tell us in His Gospel, and souls are letting themselves be deceived."

She is softening the blow by say "under cover of good" but it is quite clear that Lucy is saying that the devil has infiltrated the church.

Decadence Disorientation. "The decadence which exists in the world is without any doubt the consequence of the lack of the spirit of prayer. Foreseeing this disorientation, the Blessed Virgin recommends recitation of the Rosary with such insistence... The devil has unchained his struggle against it.

Diabolical Wave. In a letter to her nephew a Salesian priest in 1971, Sr Lucy wrote "I see by your letter that you are preoccupied by the disorientation of our time. It is indeed sad that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave sweeping over the world... Their principal fault is that they have abandoned prayer. Spiritual and Material Chastisements.

There will be spiritual chastisements.

In the Fuentes interview, Sister Lucy speaks about material chastisements. She says "My mission is not to indicate to the world the material punishments which are certain to come if the world does not pray and do penance beforehand. No, my mission is to indicate to everyone the imminent danger we are in of losing our souls for all eternity if we remain obstinate in sin."

Russia is dominant in the Third Secret.

Here is where things get political. Cardinal Ottaviani said in 1957, "If there was one dominant element to the Third Secret, it is Russia." One of the lessons of Mary’s apparitions at Fatima is that war is a punishment for sin.

Russia will be God’s chosen instrument of Chastisement.

In the Fuentes interview of 1957, Sister Lucy said that "Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation."

One part of the Third Secret has to do with the Pope

Father Schweigl, professor of the Gregorian, was sent by Pius XXII to interview Sister Lucy. Upon return, he told a fellow Jesuit that the Third Secret had two parts. One had to do with the Pope and the other was the logical extension of the phrase "In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved..." One may assume that the part that has to do with the Pope is the Vision of the Third Secret which was released by the Vatican in 2000.

It has twenty-five lines.

In March, 1957, Bishop da Silva asked his Auxiliary Bishop Venancio to deliver the third secret to the Apostolic Nuncio to Lisbon. Bishop Venancio requested da Silva to finally read the Secret and to make a copy of it before sending the manuscript to Rome, but the bishop refused. Bishop Venancio held the envelop up to the light. He could see the letter inside on which was written the secret. He said it was not very long, probably 20 to 25 lines. We are indebted to his curiosity because he established once and for all that the Secret is a letter and gives us a good idea about it’s size.

It is a Prophecy. It concerns Future Realities.

Cardinal Ratzinger said in the Messori interview that the Third Secret was not published to avoid "prevent religious prophecy from being mistaken for a quest for the sensational". In so doing, he says that the Third Secret is a prophecy. Future Realities. On the flight home from his May 2010 trip to Fatima, Pope Benedict used the expression "Future Realities" to describe the contents of the Third Secret. "During the Pope's flight to Portugal to make his just completed papal visit to the Fatima Shrine, papal spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi read to His Holiness three questions that represented a "synthesis" of the questions to which the press pool sought answers. It is critical to note that questions for the plane trip are submitted several days in advance, so that the Pope has ample time to consider his remarks, and in fact chooses the questions he will answer. Thus, the Pope went out of his way to bring up the Third Secret of Fatima."

Pope Benedict said that the Third Secret had to do with "future realities of the Church which are little by little developing and revealing themselves."

So, a part of the Secret predicts events which are still to happen.

It will be very sad.

Sister Lucy told Father Fuentes: "Father, how much time is there before 1960 arrives? It will be very sad for everyone, not one person will rejoice at all if beforehand the world does not pray and do penance."

This implies that the third part of the secret reveals in 1960 that something has already happened or will soon happen. If the unhappy event were still avoidable, the language would be more of a warning.

Suppose that the secret announces that the devil has infiltrated the church and was dragging nearly everyone to hell. That would be sad. Not one person would rejoice. It would also fill the cathedrals and fill the confessionals on saturday night, as Malachi Martin said. "if beforehand the world does not pray and do penance."

If this is true, then the opportunity to avoiding the calamity has past. The door of opportunity has closed. The world had till 1960 to pray and do penance. The prayer and penance that the Madonna specifically requested was the Rosary, the First Saturdays of Reparation and the Consecration of Russia. The world did not say the rosary in sufficient numbers. The world and the Church did not adopt the First Saturday devotions in sufficient numbers. The Church did not Consecrate Russia because a sufficient number were not complying with the requests of Fatima.

The Prophecy would begin to be fulfilled in 1960

Socci says "Frere Michel points out, a prophecy that starts to be realized obviously becomes "much clearer" (mias claro). The prophecy, therefore, started to be realized at least by 1960. It is therefore a prophecy that tells us about our time.

It should have been revealed in 1960.

Cardinal Ottaviani said "The Madonna wanted it to be published already in 1960".

Sister Lucy also said the Our Lady wanted it revealed in 1960.

It concerns Chapter 8 in Apocalypse

Sister Lucy said about the contents of the third secret, "It’s in the Gospel and in the Apocalypse, read them."

At another time, she referred specifically to Chapter 8.

Chapter 8 is about the Seven Trumpets.

The Golden Censor. An angel who stood before the altar of God with a golden censor "took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake." Jesus himself spoke of fire from the sky. "I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?"

It is possible that this is the fire that Jesus wants to see fall upon the earth? That this cleansing will lead to Restoration of the Social Kingship of Christ.

A Hail of Fire.

The First Trumpet. A hail of Fire scorches "all green things." "And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the earth."

It scorched a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all green things.

Famine.

The hail of Fire scorches "all green things". Therefore, there will be a year without crops. Famine is also mentioned in the second part of the secret. Jacinta had a vision of highways full of hungry people.

A Mountain shall fall from the Sky

The Second Trumpet. When the second angel sounded his trumpet, something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Tidal Waves and Flooding.

If a Huge Mountain were to Strike an Ocean, it would cause enormous tidal waves. At Fulda Germany in 1981 John Paul II was asked about the third secret. He said "If there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish . . . there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message."

A Nuclear War or Radioactive Star.

The Third Trumpet. When the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. Wormwood is the translation of the Ukrainian word Chernobyl. Chernobyl is the site of the broken nuclear reactor which poisoned millions of acres with radiation.

As mentioned above, in the Fuentes interview of 1957, Sister Lucy said that Russia will be heaven’s chosen instrument of chastisement. The sentence before that was "Tell them Father that many times the Most Holy Virgin told my cousins Francisco and Jacinta, as well as myself, that many nations will disappear from the face of the earth. She said that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation."

Who will be punished? The whole world. That these two sentences lie side by side suggests that Russia will be responsible for the disappearance of many nations. Most probably in a nuclear war.

The War to come.

In 1945 Sister Lucy let it be known that Jacinta’s vision of a suffering pope, war and hunger belonged to the future.

Sister Lucy recalled Jacinta’s vision. "Another time, (Lucy writes) we went to the cave called Lapa do Cabeco. As soon as we got there, we prostrated on the ground, saying the prayers the Angel had taught us.

"After some time, Jacinta stood up and called to me: "Can’t you see all those highways and roads and fields full of people, who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat? And the Holy Father in a church praying before the Immaculate Heart of Mary? And so many people praying with him?"

"Some days later, she asked me: "Can I say that I saw the Holy Father and all those people?" "No. Don’t you see that that’s the part of the Secret? If you do, they’ll find out right away.: "All right! Then I’ll say nothing at all." Another time, Lucy said that "One day I went to Jacinta’s house to stay a little while with her. I found her on the bed, very pensive. "Jacinta, what are you thinking of?" Jacinta replied, "About the war which will come. So many people will die. And almost all of them will go to hell." "We must pray a lot to save souls from Hell. So many go there. So many. ... So many people fall into hell. So many are in Hell."

"The Third Secret will be revealed during a great war."

There will be a war and during that war, the Secret will be revealed.

Great Strides

In the Second Secret, Our Lady had said that "God...is about to punish the world for it’s crimes by means of war, hunger, and persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father... Russia will spread it errors throughout the world, fomenting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated."

These events still await us. The war, hunger, and the suffering pope are in our future. Sister Lucy said "we are going towards it with great strides."

Signum Magnum

A Great Sign will appear in the sky. A Woman clothed with the Sun, with the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. Malachi Martin read the third secret while he was an assistant of Cardinal Bea in 1960. He said that John Paul II knew that the one world order "would not be built, at least not as men have configured it. He is waiting, rather, for an event that will fission human history, splitting the immediate past from the oncoming future. It will be an event on public view in the skies, in the oceans, and on the continental landmasses of this planet. It will particularly involve our human sun, which every day lights up and shines upon the valleys, the mountains and the plains of this earth for our eyes. But on the day of this event, it will not appear merely as the master star of our so-called solar system. Rather, it will be seen as the circumambient glory of the Woman whom the apostle describes as "clothed with the sun" and giving birth to "a child who will rule the nations with a scepter of iron."

It’s Terrible, say Cardinal Albion Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I

On the sixtieth anniversary of the Apparitions at Fatima, Cardinal Luciani spoke with Sister Lucy at her request for two hours. Afterwards, he looked pale. People began noticing an unusual pensiveness in his manner. While visiting with his family, on two successive nights he left the dinner table without explanation and retreated to his room with his breviary. His sister in law asked the next day if the food has caused him any discomfort. He responded that "I was just thinking of what Sister Lucy told me at Coimbra." Then he added, "The Secret. It’s terrible." Terrible, Father Alonso.

'In the period preceding the great triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, terrible things are to happen. These form the content of the third part of the Secret."

Terrible, Sister Sasagawa

In Akita Japan, Sister Agnes Sasagawa was told by the weeping Madonna that "If men do not repent . . . 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.

Terrible, Sister Lucy

"Believe me Father, God is going to chastise the world and it will be in a terrible manner. The celestial Chastisement is imminent."

Catastrophic Change

The Third Secret "predicts that a catastrophic change will shortly shatter any plans or designs that men may have established. This is the era of the Fatima for men have abandoned religion. God does not intend to let human affairs go on for a long time in that fashion, because this is His world - he created it for his glory, he made it possible for all men to attain the Heaven of his glory, by sending his only son, Jesus Christ, to expiate the punishment due men for their sins. "says Malachi Martin.

Collapse of Society, Economic Depression.

On May 13, 1982, one year after the assassination attempt, John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Fatima to thank Our Lady for her protection. He said that the Madonna was "preoccupied by the threats of Apostasy and of moral degradation which bring with them the collapse of society."

The Holy Father had thoroughly studied the Third Secret and its surrounding documents during his recovery. When he spoke of the Madonna being preoccupied with apostasy, moral degradation and societal collapse, he spoke of the Third Secret.

In 1984, Cardinal Ratzinger was interviewed by Vittorio Messori. The interview has become something of a classic. Cardinal Ratzinger, who is a master of understatement, confirmed that the final part of the Secret speaks of "dangers threatening the faith and life of Christians, and therefore the world." Like John Paul II, he suggests that trouble in the Church will spill out into the world. Most moderns suppose that the Church has become irrelevant. Ratzinger, who knows what is coming, is saying that the Church is the central actor in the drama which is now unfolding.

The Left will slaughter the Right.

The Third Secret is a letter in which Sister Lucy has written the words with which Our Lady explains the Vision of the Third Secret. In the Vision, the bishop in white is killed by a group of soldiers firing bullets and arrows. The soldiers are Russian. The arrows are from their allies. "Bishops, Priests, Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions" are killed one after another.

Prophecies are not proof, but may give clarity. "In the 20th century there will be wars and fury that will last a long time.... There shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left." Bishop Christianos Agreda - Twelfth Century

"A great deal of blood of just and innocent people as well as saintly priests will be poured out. The Church shall suffer very much and hatred will be at its very peak".

Mother Elena Aiello

Renewed in blood. At Fulda, John Paul II said "We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ ... With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary."

It is bad news.

Cardinal Silvio Oddi said that he believed that the Third Secret contained an unpleasant message. He knew John XXIII well. He had worked at his side when Cardinal Roncalli was at the nunciature in Paris. He said he would not be surprised if the Secret had something to do with Vatican II, dark times in the Church, and troubling apostasies. He believed that signs that such a prophecy had been fulfilled were not lacking.

He said that Cardinal Roncalli by temperament was inclined to communicate joyful news. If it had been good news, John XXIII would have released it. Oddi said "when I asked ... why ... he had not made public the last part of the message of Fatima, he responded with a weary sigh. He then said: "Don't bring that subject up with me, please..."

It might cause anxiety and panic

Inside the Vatican reported that Father Luigi Bianchi met Sister Lucy at her convent. After speaking with her, he "speculated on the possibility that the Vatican did not reveal the full secret to avoid creating panic and anxiety in the population, not to scare them."

Suffering such as mankind has never seen

In 1945, only a short time after the end of World War II, Pope Pius XII stated in his Christmas message to the Cardinals: "The world is on the verge of a frightful abyss . . . Men must prepare themselves for suffering such as mankind has never seen."

Pius XII knew the contents of the Third Secret through his contacts with Sister Lucy.

On another occasion, he said that our generation is worse than the time of Noah. In 1951, he said: "The world today is worse than before the flood."

If Russia knew the contents, it would be encouraged to go to war

The October 1981 issue of the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980 at Fulda. John Paul was asked why the third Secret had not been revealed.

Pope John Paul II replied: "Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves." The Pope is saying in guarded language that the Secret reveals that Russia would be successful in its aggressive endeavors. As mentioned above, Russia is dominant in the Third Secret.

The Dragon will sweep a third of the stars from heaven.

In 2000 at Fatima, John Paul II gave a sermon at the beatification of Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco in which he referred to the Apocalypse. He said "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 from Heaven and dragged them to the earth.’ Apoc 12:4." Fr Kramer reasons that since this is found nowhere else in the Fatima message, it must be in the Third Secret. He believes that John Paul II was saying that one third of the clergy were working for the devil.

The Haydock commentary on the Apocalypse also has the same idea.

Sister Lucy used the same language. "The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell."

It would fill the confessionals on Saturday night.

To touch again on Malachi Martin. He is a valuable witness because he had seen the secret. He said "It would terrify people, would fill confessionals on a Saturday night, would fill the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the churches with believers on their knees, beating the breasts.

"It could be a shock...It could strike people in different ways. Some, if they came to know that this was really the Third Secret of Fatima, would be extremely angry." These words leave one to think of the preannouncement of a catastrophe, but when the interviewer recalled the horrible planetary cataclysms contained in the document from Neues Europa and asked if the Secret is that traumatic, the response by Martin is: "Worse." To the disconcerted journalist the ecclesiastic repeated: "Much worse. Look i am proceeding very cautiously. The central element of the Third Secret is terrifying and is not contained in that (in the passage you have read me.)"

The interviewer then asked: "Are you telling me that what is contained in the Third Secret is more terrible that what i have just read?" "Oh yes. It is. Because what you have just read is, essentially the extermination by natural powers... It is as if nature is revolting against the human race. It is substantially what happens by means of these terrible catastrophes and chastisements. And this is not the essence of the Third Secret, not that which is more terrifying."

Confronted by the astonished exclamation of the interviewer Martin explained: "Yes. It goes beyond the imagination." Reveal it? "It should be revealed," "they were going to uncover it, "but "there is the problem of shock, of scandal." What is worse than the destruction of our world and of most of humanity? Only one thing, spiritual catastrophe. The widespread loss of the eternal life of souls. As mentioned elsewhere in this document in the section titled The War To Come, Jacinta said "About the war which will come. So many people will die. And almost all of them will go to hell."

On September 10, 1984 the Bishop of Fatima, Alberto Cosme do Amaral, spoke of the Third Secret during a question and answer session at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria. "The loss of faith of a continent is worse than the annihilation of a nation. And it is true that faith is continually diminishing in Europe."

It contains "abstruse locutions."

John XXIII called upon Monsignor Tavares to interpret one or two phrases which were not easily understood. Socci says that the phrases were not abstruse, but explosive. They warned John XXIII not to take the church in the direction he wished to take it. He did not want to believe that these words had been spoken by the Virgin. So, he buried them. So, did Paul VI. John Paul I said he was going to do the Consecration of Russia which would likely have involved reading the Third Secret and for this he may have been killed. John Paul II said it was too late to make the Secret public.

"The Third Secret will be revealed during a great war."

According to Sister Lucy, Russia will be consecrated" when a sufficient number are complying with the Message of Fatima." If it is revealed during a great war, it may be that hardship and loss have awakened many to the need for penance and reparation.