Third Secret of Fatima

July 4, 2000

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

So the Third Secret of Fatima was made public after all, by the Vatican, one week ago. Or was it? Amidst all the confusion generated by the Vatican's distraction maneuver of June 26, we will need experts on Fatima (of which I am not one) to disentangle the Truth. And the Society of St. Pius X will before long give its best judgment on the matter, which I do not mean here to pre-empt. However, it seems to me that a few essential guidelines can be laid down already, especially if one knows the third volume of Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity's excellent work "The Whole Truth about Fatima" (Immaculate Heart Publications, 1986, Box 1028, Buffalo, NY 14205, USA).

First and foremost, it seems to me that there is one very clear and simple proof that what the Vatican released on June 26 as being the text of "the Third Secret" is not at all that text of the Third Secret which was sealed in an envelope by Sister Lucy in 1944, was opened by Pope John XXIII in 1959, was eagerly awaited by Catholics all over the world in 1960, but was kept disappointingly hidden by the Vatican at that time and ever since. Here is that proof:

The Third Secret as sealed in an envelope by Sister Lucy and handed over by her to the Church authorities on June 17, 1944, was written on a single sheet of paper. Sister Lucy, who wrote it, said so. Msgr. Venancio, who carried it, said so. Cardinal Ottaviani, who read it, said so (W.T.F., III pp. 481 and 651). On the contrary the June 26 text, as reprinted by the Vatican in Lucy's own handwriting, spreads over four pages.

Therefore the text which on June 26 the Vatican did all it could to make us think is the text of the Third Secret, is at any rate not the text of the crucial Third Secret which Lucy sealed in an envelope and which all true Catholics are waiting for. The real Third Secret is still hidden. What else was to be expected from this Vatican?

Then what is the June 26 text? Let the Fatima experts decide. If it was written down by Sister Lucy on four pages of a notebook handed over with the sealed envelope on June 17, 1944 (W.T.F., III, p. 49), then maybe it can be called part of the Third Secret in a broad sense, but that is certainly not what people usually mean by the expression " the Third Secret", which here also we will use exclusively for the one-page text sealed in the envelope.

Having then clarified our terms, let us give further reasons why the June 26 text is not only different from, but also, at least apparently and for now, rather less interesting than the Third Secret.

Firstly, we know that when Sister Lucy made known in 1942 the first two parts of the Secret, she held back what she called the third part because she said she had not received permission to reveal it (W.T.F., III, p. 35). Even after her diocesan bishop ordered her to write it down, she could not put pen to paper for two months because of something like a diabolical interference. It took an apparition of Our Lady to overcome all the obstacles (pp. 45-48). But what comparable difficulty could Lucy have had in penning the June 26 text of multiple martyrdoms?

Secondly, we know that the Third Secret was framed between two sentences revealed by Lucy in her fourth version of the Second Secret: first comes "In Portugal will be kept always the dogma of the Faith...", then comes the Third Secret, then comes "... in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph". This means that the Third Secret consists in a prophecy uttered by the Mother of God. But the June 26 text consists, like the first part of the Secret, in a vision revealed by Lucy.

Thirdly, the Third Secret sealed in an envelope by Lucy in 1944 and opened only by Pope John XXIII in 1959, was, as everybody knew, to be made public at the latest in 1960. This was at the request of the Mother of God (W.T.F., III, pp. 469-479) because, said Lucy, by 1960 the prophecy would be clearer. Yet the Vatican authorities, from Pope John XXIII onwards, have kept the text a close secret. But what ever in the June 26 text needed to be so closely hidden for the last 40 years?

Fourthly, over the same 40 years a certain number of high-up churchmen like Cardinals Ottaviani and Ratzinger have notwithstanding been allowed to read the Third Secret. When questioned about it afterwards, their guarded words all nevertheless pointed in the same direction, namely, the Third Secret concerns the Faith. Which makes sense. For how could Lucy have had no problem penning the second part of the Secret with its threat as grave as that of Russia spreading its errors throughout the world, and yet almost have been broken by the penning of the third part of Secret, unless the Third Secret were much graver still? And how could it be that much graver unless, instead of concerning Russia and the world, it concerned the Faith and the Church? But the June 26 text does not concern the Faith. It concerns only an Angel, penance, climbing a hill, martyrdoms, etc..

On the other hand if the Third Secret contains a prophecy of Our Lady that the Catholic churchmen around 1960 will gravely endanger the Faith, does that not perfectly explain, firstly why the pious Sister Lucy could hardly bring herself to write it down, secondly why it fits in between, on the contrary, Portugal keeping the dogma of the Faith and the Immaculate heart in the end triumphing, thirdly why the Vatican churchmen especially in 1960 sought to silence the Third Secret directly condemning the revolutionary Council they were on the brink of launching, and fourthly why the Third Secret directly concerns the Faith?

Thus what we know for certain about the hidden Third Secret does correspond to a dramatic warning from Our Lady to the Conciliar churchmen and their followers, it does not correspond to the June 26 text. It certainly looks as though on June 26, once again, the Vatican authorities kept hidden, as they have done for the last 40 years, the message of Our Lady directly condemning the One World religion of their man-centred Newchurch. Is it wishful thinking to hope that this June 26 evasive action or distraction maneuver will serve merely to rouse Catholics to demand even more the release of the Third Secret? The Mother of God is far mightier than the Devil, but she does need our prayers with which to go before her Son to obtain such a grace.

Meanwhile here are two other versions of the hidden Third Secret, neither of them authoritative but both of them interesting. The first is the reconstruction of the Third Secret's contents by Brother Michael of the Holy Trinity, at the end of his third volume's patient detective work on all the available clues and evidence (W.T.F., III, p. 841):

"While in Portugal the dogma of the Faith will still be kept, in many nations, perhaps throughout the world, the Faith will be lost. The Church's shepherds will fail gravely in their duties of state. Through their fault, consecrated souls will in large numbers let themselves be seduced by pernicious errors spread everywhere. The time will have come for the decisive battle between the Virgin and the Devil. A wave of diabolical disorientation will sweep over the world. Satan will reach up to the topmost height of the Church. He will blind the shepherds' minds and harden their hearts, because God will have left them to their own devices as a punishment for their refusal to obey the requests of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It will be the great apostasy announced for "the last times", the "False lamb", the "False Prophet" handing the Church over to "the Beast", according to the prophecy of the Apocalypse".

And here is another version of the Third Secret, as supposedly heard by a French priest in Germany in 1994, in the middle of listening to a CD of religious music. At one point the music faded into the background, and he heard a normal (not inner) voice say quite clearly, " The Church will bleed from all her wounds." Then he heard the following:

"A wicked Council will be planned and prepared which will change the face of the Church. Many souls will lose the Faith, confusion will reign everywhere. The sheep will seek in vain for their shepherds. A schism will rend my Son's tunic. It will be the end of the times, announced in Scripture and recalled by me in many places. The abomination of abominations will reach its peak and call down the chastisement announced at La Salette. The arm of my Son that I can no longer hold back, will come down on this world which will have to expiate its crimes. All that one will hear of is wars and revolutions. The elements of nature will be shaken and will strike anguish into the best (most courageous) of men. The Church will bleed from all her wounds. Blessed those who persevere and seek refuge in my Heart, for in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph..."

After which, all that the priest heard was, "That is the Third Secret of Fatima". The identity of this priest is known, but he prefers to remain unnamed. He is apparently Traditional, without belonging to the Society of St. Pius X or the Fraternity of St. Peter. He is always in a cassock. He is not sedevacantist. He passes for being worthy of belief.

Of course what he says that he heard carries with it no proof that it is the authentic text of the Third Secret. Note however that it corresponds in full to Lucy's anguish, to the Second Secret frame, to the Vatican churchmen's silence and to the centrality of the Faith, as listed above. Note also that it is a text perfectly clear, like the first and second parts of the Fatima Secret, but unlike the text of June 26. Finally, this priest's version of the Third Secret corresponds fully with the real situation of Church and world around us for the last 40 years.

Dear friends, let us pray and do penance. As Our Lady prophetically told the three children of Fatima, our duty of state is, today, penance enough. Just to live like a Catholic maintaining the state of grace in a world decomposing around us becomes daily more heroic. In patience we shall possess our souls, and if we persevere to the end, we shall be saved. Make if at all possible the five first Saturdays---in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Most sincerely yours in Christ,