The Third Secret is Spoken
by Marianna Bartold
(This article,which was published in the July 2010 issue of Catholic Family News, is both a 'follow-up' and a greatly expanded version of my original blog post of May 27.)
Three simple but remarkable words in Pope Benedict XVI’s recent and surprising commentary on Fatima reveal that there is more to the Third Secret than a startling but inexplicable Vision. A careful examination of the Pope’s response to a question, asked and answered in Italian, show that - not once, but twice – His Holiness made clear that the Third Secret is also spoken. [1]
Flying en route to Portugal on May 11, 2010, Pope Benedict made a crucial revelation to a group of journalists, the press corps of the papal entourage. As is the usual practice, Vatican protocol asks correspondents who will travel with the Pope to submit their questions - days in advance. [2]
Of all the inquiries, the Pope chose to answer only three, all of which were formally presented by Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi. On the same day, the complete question-and-answer session (an exchange made and published in Italian) was quickly transcribed by journalist Gian Guido Vecchi for Corriere della Sera. [3]
As it turned out, the last of these pre-selected questions was actually a three-part inquiry about the Fatima apparitions and the Third Secret, the last of three distinct parts of “the Great Secret” given by the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children on July 13, 1917 - 93 years ago.
In comparing the various English renditions of the on-board press conference, one will find a few inaccuracies or mis-translations. To a certain degree, this is understandable, as any translator would attest. On the other hand, some things lost in translation are too important to lose.
What follows, then, is my literal translation [4] from Italian-to-English of the Fatima/Third Secret question and the incredibly relevant section of the Pope’s response (all following emphasis mine):
[Author’s translation begins, with all emphasis mine]: “Holiness, what significance have we today for the apparitions of Fatima? And when you presented the text of the Third secret (sic), in the Vatican Press Office, in June 2000, it was asked if the Message could be extended [“broadened” or “widened”], beyond the attack on John Paul II, also to the additional [or “other”] sufferings of the popes? And is it possible, in your opinion [or “according to you”], to frame also in that vision the sufferings of the Church of today for the sins of the sexual abuse of minors?”
Pope Benedict XVI’s Response: “Beyond this great vision of the suffering of the pope, which we might in essence attribute to John Paul II, there is indicated the reality of the future of the Church which [will] gradually develop and demonstrate [itself]. Namely [also rendered as either “That is” or “In other words”] it is true that beyond the moment indicated in the vision, it is spoken, it is shown [there is] the necessity of the passion of the Church which, naturally [or “of course”], is reflected in the person of the Pope, but the Pope is in the Church, and therefore it is the sufferings of the Church that are announced…” [End of author’s translation]
As reported earlier in Catholic Family News, the remainder of this substantial section of the Pope’s response to the Third Secret question is as follows, “As for the new things we may find today in this message, it is also that the attacks on the Pope and the Church not always come from the outside, but the sufferings of the Church actually come from within the Church, from the sin that exists in the Church. This has always been known, but today we can see it in a really terrifying way: the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from outside enemies, but it is from sin within the Church. And the Church now has a deep need to relearn penance, accept purification, learn to forgive, but also a need for justice.”
In those preceding words, one discerns a slight echo of Pope St. Pius X in his landmark encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, on the doctrine of the modernists: “…they put into operation their designs for her undoing, not from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate.”
The Third Secret: “It is spoken…”
• First, closer attention must be paid to the pivotal sentence: “Namely, it is true that beyond the moment indicated in the vision, it is spoken (the briefest pause, almost as if the Holy Father caught himself), it is shown…” and later in the same sentence he stated “…it is the sufferings of the Church that are announced.” [7]
In highlighting that one sentence alone, Pope Benedict XVI made a staggering and critical revelation. Ten years ago, [10] the Vatican released a description of the Third Secret Vision, but not the Virgin’s words that pertain to it.
Since that time, less than a handful of influential Vatican prelates insist there is nothing left to reveal of the Third Secret. The controversy simmered until 2005, when it heated up with an illuminating series of events – the history of which can be found in two books, The Fourth Secret of Fatima by Antonio Socci and The Secret Still Hidden by Christopher Ferrara, Esq.
Then, just two months ago in May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI submitted a crucial piece of evidence that there is more to the Third Secret, when he unexpectedly admitted that “beyond…the vision…it [the Third Secret] is spoken.”
• Second, one critical fact cannot be forgotten: Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope to ascend the papal throne, already possessing full knowledge of the Third Secret of Fatima. [11]
In light of the fact that Benedict XVI has had at least 27 years (if not longer) to ponder the full Third Secret, the manner in which the Pope expressed himself on May 11, 2010 indicates either a purposefully discreet admission or a momentary slip.
A brief recap: During a 1984 interview, the current Pope – then Cardinal Ratzinger – disclosed that he had already read the Third Secret. However, he did not say when or under what circumstances the Secret was made known to him. It was also in 1984 that Cardinal Ratzinger, when asked why the Third Secret had still not been revealed, provided an amazing six-point summary of its contents, a topic to which this essay shall later return. [12]
• Third, the specific inquiry about the Third Secret initially asked “if the Message could be extended…to the additional sufferings of the popes.”
Initially, it should be noted that Pope Benedict did not object to the plural word, “popes.” Moreover, the Holy Father’s reply also reveals that the pope of the Third Secret Vision is not necessarily the late Pope John Paul II: “Beyond this great vision of the suffering of the pope, which we might in essence attribute to John Paul II…”
The entire “Great Secret,” in fact, addresses the role of the Holy Father many times. The papacy is absolutely central to complete the Virgin Mary’s requests to and for the Church. While the Secret concerns (meaning “is of concern to”) the Holy Father, it is not only about the Holy Father. These two points are made clear by Our Lady’s words in the Second Fatima Secret, by Heaven’s later and repeated insistence to Sr. Lucia, and – logically – by the hidden text of the Third Secret, which the Virgin wanted revealed to the world no later than 1960.
The “person of the pope,” mentioned by Benedict XVI, means the individual in the office of the papacy, whether past, present, or future. Uncomfortable as it is to admit, the “other sufferings of the popes” is of their own tragic making, due to their purposefully obtuse refusal to obey the explicit commands of God, given by Our Lady of Fatima.
Furthermore, John Paul II was not the only pope to be victimized by a murderous attack. The Holy Father seen in the Third Secret Vision “is killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him.” [13] Surely, Benedict XVI knows “the attack in 1981 [an assassination attempt made against John Paul II] stands with respect to that vision exactly as the other attempts suffered by popes – for example, the attack on Paul VI on November 27, 1970, when he was stabbed in the abdomen by a lunatic in Manila.” [14]
Still, even in hindsight, no Vatican prelate attributed the lethal attempt against Paul VI as a fulfillment of the Third Secret, but only to John Paul II. Now Benedict’s recent words refute that interpretation.
• Fourth, Pope Benedict XVI never clarified that the Third Secret’s indicated “reality of the future of the Church” is conditional, whether for good or for evil.
In accord with Divine Revelation, the Virgin Mary qualified these conditions in the Second Part of “the Great Fatima Secret”: “If what I say to you is done…”, “To prevent this…”, and “If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace” – but, “If not, she [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred. The Holy Father will have much to suffer. Various nations will be annihilated.” [15]
Our Lady’s words, then and later, left no doubt of God’s will. In fact, due to the incomplete 1942 consecration of Russia made by Pope Pius XII, Sr. Lucia “would say more than once, and with deliberate emphasis, ‘What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, She will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.’” [16]
In July 1917, the Mother of God also promised, “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 [era of peace, in another translation] will be granted to the world.” [17]
This is the promise in which all must keep hope.
As credible Fatima scholars agree, the Promise concludes the Second Secret, and the Third Secret begins with Our Lady’s next sentence, “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” – the etc. added by Sr. Lucia, who indicated that more words followed.
• Fifth, Benedict XVI said there is “need for the passion of the Church, which naturally reflects itself on the person of the pope…”
To the contrary, it was precisely to avoid this ongoing passion (beginning with the post-WWI era) that Our Lady came to Fatima, there to warn against many future dangers and give the means to avert them all.
Again, the Virgin at Fatima repeatedly emphasized through her requests and prophecies (especially in the still unexplained but ominous Third Secret Vision) that the present and future are fully dependent upon the Church’s fidelity to Divine Revelation. That fidelity, however, depends on “the person of the pope,” the man whose office is entrusted by God with the duty and obligation to guard the Deposit of Faith and faithfully transmit it to Christ’s flock.
In the words of the great saint, Pope St. Pius X, “One of the primary obligations assigned by Christ to the office divinely committed to Us of feeding the Lord's flock is that of guarding with the greatest vigilance the deposit of the faith delivered to the saints, rejecting the profane novelties of words and the gainsaying of knowledge falsely so called.” [18]
Tragically, waning papal vigilance has marked the past decades of Church history. God, Who knows all things, foresaw the failure of those hierarchs who simply would not wholly fulfill all of Heaven’s directives given at Fatima. Part of Lucia’s mission was to transmit God’s commands to the hierarchy, which they in turn were to fulfill for the benefit of the universal Church and the world.
From the beginning, however, her first superior, Bishop de Silva, repeatedly rejected the responsibility of the Third Secret placed upon him. This bishop was given the authority to read and disseminate the Third Secret, but he obstinately refused. [19]
As a result, various misunderstandings and capitulations rippled throughout the hierarchy in regard to many important facets of Fatima. The consecrations of Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II were incomplete; the other popes (Pius XI, John XXIII, Paul VI) did not even make the attempt. It appears that Benedict XVI also has no intention of commanding and leading the required collegial consecration.
An appropriate observation was made by Antonio Socci, author of The Fourth Secret of Fatima, who wrote, “All of the history of Fatima and of this century resides in this dramatic incapacity of Peter, of the men of the Church, and of humanity to entrust themselves fully to She who is ‘omnipotent by grace' – the incapacity to trust in Her truly and totally, almost as if the possibility of salvation could come from Peter (alone) by his own initiatives, from Vatican politics.”
• Sixth, Benedict XVI subsequently remarked, “…but the Pope is in the Church, and therefore it is the sufferings of the Church that are announced.” These words accomplish two things: 1) they make a second verification that the Third Secret is also spoken, and 2) they express a vital truth of Catholic doctrine regarding the Pope and the Church.
Jesus Christ said to the first pope, “And I say to thee: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” [20]
Since the meaning of individual words is significant, this essay now turns to the connotation of the word “church,” as explained by the Catholic priest and scholar, Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton:
“What Our Lord promised, and what He actually accomplished, was thus the continuation of a social unit which had been in existence since the beginnings of the human race, but a continuation of this unit in a new status and under new conditions. In this new status, the ecclesia was to be established or founded upon St. Peter. In other words, this man and his successors were to be the source of the unity and stability of this ecclesia of the new dispensation. The society of Our Lord’s disciples was the ‘Church’ of the new dispensation. It was and, until the end of time, it will continue to be the assembly of the chosen people, the people of the covenant, the kingdom of God in this world. By reason of its association with Our Lord, it is designated as His Mystical Body.” [21]
With this definition in mind, the entire Church – from the Holy Father to the laity - must recall the great yet terrible “secret of the Catholic City,” as it is taught in the infallible Scriptures:
“Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” [22]
(To be continued with "The Six Themes of the Third Secret of Fatima," published in the August issue of Catholic Family News - and which will also be published on this blog on August 13, 2010.)
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Secrets of the Catholic City is Marianna Bartold's column, published by Catholic Family News (CFN). This article was published under its original title, "Pope Benedict XVI Reveals: The Third Secret is Spoken" in CFN's July 2010 issue. All Rights Reserved World-wide by the author.
Marianna Bartold, founder of Keeping It Catholic, is the author of “The Age of Mary” Study Guides, a series of “digitally delivered” Catholic unit studies for homeschooled teens - as well as adults or anyone who wishes to grow closer “to Jesus through Mary.” Her other works include the upcoming digital Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) Catholic Study Guide. She is the author of the Keeping It Catholic Home Education Guide books (Volumes I and II). Mrs. Bartold was the original homeschool editor of Sursum Corda and the founding publisher of The Catholic Family’s Magnificat! Magazine.
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Notes
1. Marianna Bartold, “Pope Benedict on the Third Secret: ‘It is Spoken,’” Keeping It Catholic – The Blog!, May 27, 2010 at
[http://keepingitcatholic.blogspot.com/2010/05/pope-benedict-on-third-secret-it-is.html]
2. John L. Allen, Jr., “On the Crisis, Benedict Changes the Tone,” May 11, 2010, National Catholic Reporter website at [http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/crisis-benedict-xvi-changes-tone].
3. Gian Guido Vecchi, “Le Parole del papa: ‘Nonostante la famose nuvola siami qui…’”, Corriere della Sera, May 11, 2010.
4. Please note that, in order to make better sense of the exact English-language translation, bracketed words or phrases in my translation indicate either an alternative meaning of the preceding word or phrase, or a necessary grammatical English structure not explicitly expressed in the original Italian.
5. English translation by the author (M. Bartold) from the original Italian article by Gian Guido Vecchi, “Le Parole del papa: <
6. English translation by the author (M. Bartold) from the original Italian article by Gian Guido Vecchi, loc. cit. Pope Benedict’s original response, in Italian, was phrased as follows: “Oltre questa grande visione della sofferenza del Papa, che possiamo in sostanza riferire a Giovanni Paolo II sono indicate realtà del futuro della Chiesa che man mano si sviluppano e si mostrano. Cioè è vero che oltre il momento indicato nella visione, si parla, si vede la necessità di una passione della Chiesa, che naturalmente si riflette nella persona del Papa, ma il Papa sta nella Chiesa e quindi sono sofferenze della Chiesa che si annunciano.”
7. John Vennari, “Pope Resurrects Third Secret,” posted on Catholic Family News website, May 19, 2010, at [http://www.cfnews.org/b16-3rd-sec.htm] and subsequently published in the June hard-copy issue of Catholic Family News. [Emphasis added.]
8. Pope Pius X, “Pascendi Dominici Gregis” (On the Doctrines of the Modernists, September 8, 1907): para. 3.
9. Emphasis added.
10. “The Message of Fatima,” Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 2010.
11. Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was interviewed by Vittorio Messori on August 15, 1984. It was on this date that he admitted he had read the Third Secret, although he never stated when he read it, so he may have known of its contents a number of years before the 1984 interview. The interview was later published in Jesus magazine, November 1984.
12. Cardinal Ratzinger’s synopsis of the Third Secret will be elaborated in Part 2 of this work.
13. “The Message of Fatima,” loc. cit.
14. Antonio Socci, The Fourth Secret of Fatima [Loreto Publications: Fitzwilliam, NH]: p. 33.
15. Frère Michel, The Whole Truth about Fatima, Vol. II: The Secret and the Church [Buffalo, NY: Immaculate Heart Publications]: pp. 281-282.
16. William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima (Image Book published by Doubleday: May 1990, reprinted from the first Image edition published in 1954 by special arrangement with The Macmillan Company.): p. 221.
17. Sister Mary Lucia of the Immaculate Heart, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words: Sister Lucia’s Memoirs [Fatima, Portugal: Postulation Centre, 1976]: p. 165.
18. Pope Pius X, loc. cit., para. 1.
19. The details of these events are fully documented in the monumental works of Frère Michel, The Whole Truth about Fatima, Volumes I, II, and III. One particular example of Bishop de Silva’s refusal is found in Vol. II, The Secret and the Church [Buffalo, NY: Immaculate Heart Publications, Revised Edition 2001]: p. 40.
20. Matt. 16:18. The Holy Bible: Douay-Rheims Version. [Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1899 edition photographically reproduced].
21. Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, “The Meaning of the Name ‘Church,’” The American Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. CXXXI, No. 4, October 1954: p. 272.
22. Ps. 126:1.
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