Our Lady of Fatima and her Secret Message, Patron of May 13

Feast Days of Our Lady

Our Lady of Fatima – May 13

Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

From a certain point of view, the contemporary era is one of mysteries. The Second World War, for example, was a war of mysteries. No war has been so shrouded in mysteries than WWII. To cite only two examples:

How can the fall of France to Germany be explained? France had built the supposedly impregnable Maginot Line, which was a kind of Chinese Wall to protect itself from any German invasion. Why didn’t the French people, one of the most intelligent and courageous peoples in the world, protect their borders with Belgium? But they did not, and the Germans invaded France from there. It is even more difficult to explain given that the Germans had already invaded France in WWI in exactly the same way, through Belgium.

Another mystery surrounds the capture of Rudolph Hess on his way to Scotland. Hess was a Deputy Führer and considered the heir to Hitler. At a certain moment, the news reported that he was in a small plane flying over England and Scotland, the plane crashed, he parachuted out, and broke his leg on landing. Since he could not walk, he was captured. What was a man of the importance of Hess doing on such a dangerous flight, unprotected, at a time when England and Germany were at war? A mystery.

Another mystery of our era regards the Fatima message. At Fatima in 1917 Our Lady confided a secret message to Sister Lucy to be revealed to the world at a certain prescribed time. This secret message was linked to a public one, which she gave the three young seers. She confided the secret to Lucy, who was supposed to reveal it or give to others to reveal at a certain moment. It is a prodigiously important mission, to have a message from Our Lady. Our Lady wanted to warn mankind about some very important things. This was the reason for the secret.

Our Lady left one of the seers on earth to be in charge of this secret and either speak out at the proper moment and make it known, or tell someone in authority that the moment to reveal it had arrived. I have never heard of anything like this in the 20 centuries of the History of the Church. A person received a message from Our Lady in 1917, and until today, 1977, 60 years later, the secret has not been revealed.

During these 60 years, the decadence in customs predicted by Our Lady in Fatima has risen to an unimaginable degree. The Communism foreseen by Our Lady took power in Russia and spread throughout the world. And this enigmatic messenger has remained quiet. On one occasion, she did have some words to say. It was when a remarkable display of aureole borealis was visible across Europe in 1938, a year before World War II began. When this occurred, Sister Lucy from her cloister in Spain spoke out and said that this was the sign given by God that a chastisement of mankind was imminent. Then, afterwards, again she was quiet. Time is passing, world events have reached a crucial stage, but she remains silent. It is a mystery hanging over the secret.

What we can realize is that a message with these special conditions must be a very important one, a key-revelation of human history.

Can one at least conjecture the content of this message? Nothing forbids one from doing so. There are certain indications that lead one to conclude that this secret is an addendum to the revelations of Fatima that are already known. Both messages were given on the same occasion, by the same person to the same person. Also, several parts of the known message of Fatima are not entirely clear and seem to require further explanation. Now then, a confidential addendum to a known message normally addresses the same topic. Someone who writes a letter and adds a post-scriptum usually touches on some aspect of the letter’s topic. The unity of the revelation of Our Lady induces one to suppose that this would be the case with regard to the message she gave.

These are the topics addressed in the known message: an enormous sin committed by mankind that becomes increasingly worse; a chastisement being prepared for that sin. She foretold that if mankind would convert, then “Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, Russia shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”

Our Lady confided the secret message to Lucy, right

We can see that Russia plays a decisive role in the message. It brings either the reward or the chastisement for mankind. Therefore, this part leads one to think that the secret also relates in some way to Russia and its errors, that is, Communism. You can see that there is a mystery about Russia. One could suppose the secret would give a word of clarification on it.

The progressivists and revolutionaries do not like to speak about Fatima. Almost no progressivist priest gives a sermon on Fatima. There is a kind of tacit prohibition to speak about it. It seems they suspect that something in the secret would oppose their movement. Do they know the secret?

It is currently said that the secret is given to each new Pope to read. So, the Pope knows it, and also has the right to reveal it to anyone he chooses. To whom would Paul VI possibly have given the secret to read? We can easily conjecture that it would not be to anyone on the right. He probably revealed it to elements of the left. So, one can suppose that Progressivism knows about it and does not want to speak about it.

What we have, then, is this situation: Our Lady wants the secret to be revealed; her enemies want to keep it hidden. Why does Our Lady permit her adversaries to contradict her will? A mere glance from her would suffice, and all the devils would flee in terror. An Angel could appear to Sister Lucy and open the door of her convent like the Angel that opened the door of the prison of St. Peter, and order her: “Leave this place and announce the secret.” Why doesn't Our Lady exercise her power over the Devil? Why doesn’t God send an Angel to liberate Sister Lucy? Here we have another mystery. There is a mysterious design of God whereby He allows the Devil to obscure the light of Fatima.

It is an invitation for the sons and daughters of Our Lady to try to understand the secret by a reasonable analysis. This is what we are doing here.

Let me go a step further. The reason for a secret to be held back with this extraordinary care must be that it is extraordinarily harmful to the enemy. What secret could be so damaging to the enemy? What things, if said in 1917, could be harmful for the Church, and if said today, could cause the defeat of the enemies of the Church? The answer to this question can shed light on the secret’s content.

In 1917 Our Lady could have told Lucy to reveal the secret at that time. But she did not, because this would have damaged the Church. So, in the secret is something that was harmful to the good then, and is harmful to the evil today. What would that be?

A probable answer to this question could be the decadence that has entered the Catholic Hierarchy today as a chastisement of mankind. If this situation would have been revealed in 1917, it would have caused scandal and countless apostasies. But if it were revealed now, it could certainly damage Progressivism.

Imagine if this were the secret:

“My children, in the near future a time will come when a weakened and disoriented Communism will lose its influence over public opinion, but it will be supported and re-installed by the Pope, Cardinals, countless Bishops, priests, and religious men and women. You must resist them! To fight for the Papacy and the Hierarchy is to fight against the bad orientation they are giving the Church.”

This could be the secret.

Isn’t it true that this could produce an extremely healthy reaction among Catholics and in Russia that could change the situation? I certainly think so.

A mystery shrouds the Fatima secret

How will the secret be revealed? Will Sister Lucy be the necessary messenger to reveal the secret? These are other mysteries. Our Lady told Jacinta that Sister Lucy would go to Heaven. I do not know if she has to reveal the secret, or if the secret could be revealed by another source. At any rate, her existence is extremely valuable to prevent a false secret from being presented as the true one. I think the enemies could very well invent a false secret. The only guarantee we have for this not to happen is her witness.

Some time ago during Paul VI’s pontificate, a news item reported that a thief entered the Vatican and stole, among other things, the sealed envelope that contained the secret of Fatima from the special room where it was kept. As far as I know, the report was never denied. So it can be that the secret is no longer with Sister Lucy but somewhere else, with this thief. If this is true, then Our Lady can find a way for this envelope to be found and opened. This could be the atomic bomb of Our Lady. She would be reserving it to drop on the public at a certain moment. We should ask her to use this weapon she has held in reserve for so long.

In one of his famous dreams, St. John Bosco saw the enemy entering the Vatican; the Pope, followed by a multitude of Bishops, priests, religious men and women were leaving the Vatican, immersed in a cloud of smoke that became increasingly dense. The Pope was acting like a mad man in the dense fog of smoke. Then, an Angel appeared and spoke to the Pope, advising him to fight against the invading enemy. The Pope followed the counsel and returned to the Vatican. The smoke disappeared, and the enemy was defeated.

One is induced to ask if this dream has a symbolic sense. Does it represent a Pope who abandons the Catholic cause, and the Church that enters a period of confusion and obscurity?

The question is: Is the secret of Fatima related to such a situation? If it is, then instead of a policy of flight and conciliation, shouldn’t the Vatican adopt a strategy of a strong fight against the enemies of the Church who are within?

You can see how the dream of St. John Bosco and the secret of Fatima may be harmoniously linked.

I end these comments on the mystery of Fatima by suggesting that you pray to Our Lady to find a way to reveal her secret.

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Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The Saint of the Day features highlights from the lives of saints based on comments made by the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Following the example of St. John Bosco who used to make similar talks for the boys of his College, each evening it was Prof. Plinio’s custom to make a short commentary on the lives of the next day’s saint in a meeting for youth in order to encourage them in the practice of virtue and love for the Catholic Church. TIA thought that its readers could profit from these valuable commentaries.

The texts of both the biographical data and the comments come from personal notes taken by Atila S. Guimarães from 1964 to 1995. Given the fact that the source is a personal notebook, it is possible that at times the biographic notes transcribed here will not rigorously follow the original text read by Prof. Plinio. The commentaries have also been adapted and translated for TIA’s site.