IS THE END NEAR?

No, says Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has read the Third Secret
of Fatima.
But then, what is the secret? And what does it have to do with
Russia?
BY INSIDE THE VATICAN STAFF
Two hundred thousand pilgrims from around the world, and in
particular many from Poland <and Russia>, gathered in Fatima,
Portugal, on October 13 to celebrate Mass on the 79th anniversary
of the last apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to three shepherd
children there (October 13, 1917).
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, was present to deliver a homily. He left
many in the crowd disappointed, however. They had expected a
sensational revelation about the so-called "Third Secret of
Fatima," but none was forthcoming. (Sister Lucia, the shepherd
girl to whom the secret was revealed, long ago said the Church
could make the contents known any time after the year 1960, but
Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II have all
refrained from revealing it publicly.)
But two days earlier, Ratzinger- one of the very few in the world
who has read the text of what are considered the predictions made
to Lucia and two other shepherd children-had spoken publicly of
the "Third Secret." In an October 11 interview with the Portuguese
Catholic <Radio Renascenca>, Ratzinger was asked if the contents
of the "Third Secret" predicted the imminent end of the world.
He began his reply by denying that the Third Secret had anything
to do with the Apocalypse or the end of the world.
Ratzinger then said speculation about the supposed "Third Secret"
is not part of a healthy devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Ratzinger has told <Inside the Vatican> on several occasions that
he is concerned about an <exaggerated> emphasis in the Church on
apparitions and related mystical phenomena. He is worried that
people may "run after" such phenomena, when the Church already
possesses sacraments of enormous richness, meaning and power. In
the Eucharist, for instance, Christ is truly present; there is no
need to "run after" any apparition when one can meet Him at daily
Mass. This is part of the reason why the Church always seeks to
discern the "fruits" of apparitions and other mystical phenomena:
Do they draw people toward the practice of their faith, toward a
deeper love of God and neighbor? If not, then there can be a
suspicion that the mystical phenomena are counter-productive, even
dangerous.
And yet... the Church must never "quench the Spirit," never place
<a priori> limitations on the actions of the living God-or of His
Mother, Our Lady. And, at Fatima, viewing all the evidence
available, the Church has judged it is not wrong-though also not
required-to believe that Our Lady
did appear, did bring a message, did desire that message to be

transmitted and heeded.

"If the Church does not make known the text of the 'secret,' it is
to oppose sensationalism, the desire for unheard of things,"
Ratzinger said. "It is to reduce Marian devotion to its essential
nature," he continued, because "the Virgin did not appear to
children, and little people, and simple people unknown to the rest
of the world, in order to cause a sensation, but to recall the
world, by means of simple people, to simplicity, that is, to the
essential: to conversion, to prayer, to the sacraments."
Ratzinger then added, in what seemed very close to a revelation of
the contents of the "Third Secret": "To all those who are curious,
I would say that they should be certain that the Virgin does not
engage in sensationalism; she does not create fear. She does not
present apocalyptic visions, but guides people to her Son. And in
this we have the essential (of the secret)."
However, as Vatican expert Orazio Petrosillo noted in <Il
Messaggero> on October 14, this is not the same thing as saying
there is nothing "catastrophic" in the "Third Secret" (see below).
Ratzinger also spoke of Ali Agca, the Turkish assassin who tried
to kill the Pope on May 13,1981 (anniversary of the first
apparition at Fatima) and who is increasingly seen in Rome as the
(obviously unwitting) agent of a divine plan.
"This Ali Agca," Ratzinger said, in response to a question about
the relationship of the Pope to Fatima, "was an absolutely precise
marksman. He once said, 'When I fire, the matter is finished.'
Therefore, he carried out this attempt with the utmost precision
and if the Pope survived, it really was a miracle. The date, May
13, Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, is in itself significant."
Ratzinger added that what worries him today is "the halfheartedness of the faith in many parts of the world and especially
in Europe." He said: "Instead of being happy that we know the true
God, that we have been spoken to by the Lord, that we know how to
live, we regard Christianity, rather, as a burden. Many, for this
reason, would like to create their own Church for themselves, like
a private club, and they forget the Church."
THE SECRETS OF FATIMA
Despite Ratzinger's remarks, the mystery of Fatima and its secrets
remains.
At Fatima in 1917, Our Lady left such a remarkable sign of her
presence in the extraordinary "Miracle of the Sun" that even
nonbelievers-including secular journalists who had come to the
scene to scoff-were convinced and converted. She also left three
"secrets."
(1) The "First Secret" had to do with the lives of the three young
children she was appearing to: Francesco and Giacinta, the two
youngest, would die young, while Lucia, who in due time became a
Carmelite nun, would have the mission of spreading the Fatima
message. (Some overlook this private "secret" and begin their
count of the secrets of Fatima with the Madonna's apparent
prediction of the Second World War. The Madonna, speaking on July

13, 1917, three years into World War I and more than a year from
the war's end, told the children: "If what I will tell you is
carried out, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The
war is coming to an end. But if they do not cease offending the
Lord, in the reign of Pius XI will begin another, worse war..."
Two decades later, in 1939, World War II broke out. This is
considered by some to be the "First Secret" of Fatima, already
revealed in history. Some, however, link this prediction with the
"Second Secret" described below.)
(2) The "Second Secret" had to do with terrible wars and with the
punishment of mankind for sin. The Madonna predicted that God
would punish sin through a chastisement of the world unless the
world repented. "To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the
consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart," the Madonna said.
"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there
will be peace. Otherwise, Russia will spread her errors throughout
the world, fomenting wars and persecutions against the Church;
many good people will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much
to suffer, many nations will be annihilated."
The "Second Secret" ends this way: "<In the end, my Immaculate
Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me,
and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted
to the world...>"
In the Italian press in October, the "Second Secret" was presented
as already fulfilled in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and
the dissolution of the Soviet Empire.
(3) The "Third Secret" does not really emerge until 1943. In that
year, Sister Lucia fell ill. The bishop of Leria, where she was,
asked her to write down the revelation she had received.
A year later, Sister Lucia sent the text to the bishop, who put it
in an envelope, charging that upon his death it should be handed
over to the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Cerejera. (He had so
little interest in the secret, it is reported, that he never
opened the envelope.)
In 1957, the envelope arrived in the Vatican via the Apostolic
Nuncio to Lisbon, and it came to the desk of the Prefect of the
Holy Office. It is said that Pius XII, though he had a great
devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, never came to know the contents of
the letter.
It is known, however, that the head of the Holy Office, Cardinal
Alfredo Ottaviani, carried the letter to John XXIII after his
election in 1958. John had the text translated from the
Portuguese, read it, and put the message back in the envelope.
Ottaviani later said that John "sent the letter into one of those
archives which is like a bottomless well into which documents are
dropped and never seen again."
But Archbishop Loris Capovilla, Pope John's private secretary, has
said that John, on the contrary, kept the letter in a box on his
desk until he died.
Pope Paul VI was cautious about Fatima. He visited the site in

1967, the 50th anniversary of the apparitions. But he always spoke

of "devotion to the Madonna of Fatima," not of "apparitions." In
Portugal that year, Sister Lucia asked to meet with Paul in
secret, but he refused.
It is known that John Paul II has read and meditated on the text,
and has shown the letter to Ratzinger. But neither man has ever
spoken publicly about the contents -except once.
According to a report from more than 15 years ago, John Paul spoke
about the "Third Secret" to a group in Fulda, Germany, on a visit
there on November 17,1980. His words were tape-recorded.
What emerges is a picture rather more disturbing than the one
painted by Ratzinger last month.
In that private gathering, the Pope spoke of a "troubling"
message, of predictions of "oceans flooding entire continents,
people annihilated suddenly, by the millions, from one instant to
the next."
"We must be well prepared," the Pope said, "for great trials in
the near future, which can even require the sacrifice of our
lives." And he explained why he had not made the message public:
"If a message announces that millions of people are going to die,
one doesn't really wish to have it made public. Many want to know
it only out of curiosity, but they forget that knowledge brings
responsibility."
John Paul then reached into his pocket and, in front of the
astonished onlookers, pulled out his Rosary. "Here is the medicine
against this evil!" he exclaimed. "Pray, pray, and don't ask any
more questions. Leave everything else up to the Madonna!"
Still, John Paul has also expressed himself in a calmer way with
regard to the "Third Secret." In May 1991 he visited Fatima, and
during a homily, told his listeners: "This is not an old world
that is coming to an end, but a new one that is beginning."
Perhaps the Fatima secret is a catastrophic one, but in the manner
of the biblical prophets, in which terrible punishments are
predicted but the prophet ends always with expressions of hope and
liberation. Perhaps this is the way Wojtyla and Ratzinger are now
reading the "Third Secret": as a message containing terrors, but
also a final catharsis and new hope.
This article was taken from the November 1996 issue of "Inside the
Vatican." Subscriptions: Inside the Vatican, Martin de Porres Lay
Dominican Community, 3050 Gap Knob Road, New Hope, KY 40052, 1800-789-9494, Fax: 502-325-3091.
Copyright (c) 1997 EWTN Online Services.
------------------------------------------------------Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110

Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Web: http://www.ewtn.com
Email address: sysop@ewtn.com
-------------------------------------------------------