A brief history of the interventions of Our Lady of Fatima to bring real peace to all mankind and the ongoing campaign to thwart, silence, falsify and obstruct Her message of peace, hope, joy and salvation.

       The unprecedented terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001, and the credible reports that Islamic terrorists have acquired nuclear bombs as well as biological and chemical weapons, brings immediately to mind Our Lady of Fatima's warning: (see insert about Fatima on pages 266-267) If Russia is not consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart “various nations will be annihilated,” and that only by means of the Consecration of Russia can the world achieve true peace in our time.

       More than eighty-five years after Our Lady of Fatima first appeared, Her request for the Consecration of Russia remains unfulfilled, and Her warning unheeded.

       And yet, as the world moves ever closer to a final apocalyptic event, certain elements in the Vatican seem more determined than ever to consign the Message of Fatima to the past, while persecuting those who continue to proclaim it.

       Only one day after the terrorist attack of September 11th claimed more than 3,000 lives and stunned the entire world — only one day! — the Vatican press office released a statement condemning Father Nicholas Gruner and his Fatima apostolate and declaring that no one should attend the apostolate's conference (scheduled for October 7-13, 2001) on world peace through the Fatima Message!

       Are these Vatican officials more afraid of Fatima than world terrorism? Are they more concerned about a conference on Fatima in Rome than they are about the heresy and scandal which are wounding the Church throughout the world — on their watch? Clearly, these Vatican officials have lost all sense of proportion about the state of the world, and the state of the Church over which they preside.

       Here we present key events in the long history of a great and terrible paradox: the efforts of a few men, acting within the Catholic Church itself, to suppress, revise and thwart the fulfillment of Heaven's plan for true peace in our time.

1929 - 1964

June 13, 1929 - Twelve years after Her original appearances at Fatima, and in fulfillment of Her promise at Fatima on July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appears again to Sister Lucy at Tuy, Spain. Our Lady stands on a cloud beside Her Divine Son Jesus, on the Cross, and says:

       “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make, and to order that in union with him and at the same time, all the bishops of the world make the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to convert it because of this day of prayer and worldwide reparation.”

August 1931 - Our Lord Himself speaks to Sister Lucy. Concerning the Consecration of Russia, He tells her:

       “Make it known to My ministers given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, like him they will follow him into misfortune.”

January 21, 1935 - Sister Lucy writes to her confessor, Father Goncalves, in answer to his questions: “Regarding the matter of Russia, I think that it would please Our Lord very much if you worked to make the Holy Father comply with His wishes ... [You ask] if I think that you should insist with the bishop? I think that it would please Our Lord very much. If you should modify anything? I think that it should be exactly as Our Lord asked it ...”

May 1936 - Our Lord speaks again to Sister Lucy and tells her that the conversion of Russia will occur only when that nation is solemnly and publicly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart by the Pope together with all the bishops. On another occasion, Our Lady tells Sister Lucy that Russia was to be the instrument of world chastisement, unless beforehand the conversion of “that poor nation” was obtained through the Consecration.

October 31 and December 8, 1942 - Pope Pius XII, acting alone, consecrates the world, but not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart. A few weeks later Winston Churchill observes that “the hinges of fate” have turned, and the Allies begin winning most of their battles against Hitler's armies. In the spring of 1943, Our Lord tells Sister Lucy that world peace will not result from this consecration, although the war would be shortened. World War II will continue for another two years.

September 1943 - Sister Lucy is very ill. The Bishop of Fatima fears that she will die and take the Third Secret of Fatima (see insert on pages 266-267) with her to the grave. He suggests that she write it down and put it in a sealed envelope. She replies that such an initiative would be too much for her — but if the bishop would take responsibility by formally commanding her, then she would willingly obey.

October 1943 - After one month of prayer and reflection, the Bishop of Fatima, His Excellency José da Silva, gives Sister Lucy a formal, written order to write down the Third Secret. Sister Lucy tries to obey immediately, but for over two months is mysteriously unable to commit the Third Secret to paper.

January 2, 1944 - Our Lady again appears to Sister Lucy and bids her to write down the third part of the Secret entrusted to her at Fatima in July 1917, which will become known as simply the Third Secret of Fatima. The Virgin requests that the Third Secret be revealed to the world not later than 1960. When later asked why the Third Secret had to be revealed by 1960, Sister Lucy states: “Because the Blessed Virgin wishes it so,” and “It [the Third Secret] will be clearer then.”

January 9, 1944 - Sister Lucy writes to tell the Bishop of Fatima that after months of being unable to do so, and causing the Bishop to wait so long, she was finally able to obey his command that she write down the Third Secret.

June 17, 1944 - Since Sister Lucy will not allow anyone but a bishop to carry the one-page letter containing the words of Our Lady in the Third Secret, up to this date it has not been given to the Bishop of Fatima. On this day a bishop visits near the Convent in Tuy and Sister Lucy entrusts the Secret to him. He in turn gives it to Bishop José da Silva of Fatima on that same day. The Bishop of Fatima is free to read the Secret immediately, but chooses not to.

July 15, 1946 - In answer to a question from Professor William T. Walsh, Sister Lucy points out that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world (as was done by Pope Pius XII in 1942), but only and specifically RUSSIA. “If this is done,” says Sister Lucy, Our Lady promises to “convert Russia and there will be peace.”

July 7, 1952 - Pope Pius XII consecrates Russia specifically, but he is not joined by all the Catholic bishops of the world because he did not ask them to participate, not having been advised that this was necessary. The war in Korea continues, and other wars follow.

September 2, 1952 - Father Schweigl interrogates Sister Lucy about the Third Secret at her convent in Coimbra, Portugal. He had been sent there by Pope Pius XII on a special mission. On his return to the Russicum in Rome, Father Schweigl confides this to one of his colleagues: “I cannot reveal anything of what I learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically — although I must say nothing — would have to be the continuation of the words: In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.”

May 17, 1955 - Cardinal Ottaviani, head of the Vatican's Holy Office, is sent by Pius XII to the Convent in Coimbra to interrogate Sister Lucy concerning the contents of the Secret. Cardinal Ottaviani's interrogation will be followed by an order that the text of the Third Secret be transferred to the Vatican.

March 1957 - Just before its transfer to the Vatican, Bishop John Venancio holds the envelope containing the Third Secret under a strong electric lamp. He carefully notes that the Secret is about 25 lines long and is written on a single sheet of paper with 3/4 centimeter margins on both sides.

April 16, 1957 - The text of the Third Secret, sealed in the original envelope and an outer envelope, is transferred to the Vatican. The text is placed in a safe in the papal apartments, as shown in a photograph in Paris-Match magazine.

The Message of Fatima
Our Only Hope Against Terrorism and War

       The appearance and message of Our Lady of Fatima is a beacon of hope, joy and peace for our troubled world. Our obedience to the message is our only hope for world peace and freedom from terrorism as you will see below.

       God worked the great Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917 as a certain proof that the entire message indeed is guaranteed authentic as coming from Him.

       This prophetic message started during World War I when Pope Benedict XV — after three years of terrible suffering in the greatest war up to then — pleaded in great anguish with the Blessed Virgin in a very public prayer of May 5, 1917 to ask Her to show him and all humanity the way to peace. He knew and acknowledged that human efforts alone were not enough.

       The most gracious Virgin replied eight days later by giving a message at Fatima which is “addressed to every human being”, as Pope John Paul II says.

       She gave this message through three shepherd children, Lucy, Jacinta and Francisco. Our Lady appeared once each month from May 13 to October 13. She returned to Sister Lucy — the sole surviving shepherd — on December 10, 1925 and June 13, 1929 to further explain and complete the requests for world peace (see the 1929 event in the chronology above).

       Also on July 13, 1917 Our Lady confided a secret to Sister Lucy which was to be revealed later to the Pope and to all the faithful. This Secret contains the key to world peace. The Secret is divided into three parts. The first two parts were revealed by Sister Lucy in 1941. The third part was to be released later, as we shall see in this appendix.

       Our Lady promised “If My requests are granted, many souls will be saved and there will be peace”. But She pointed out the folly of ignoring Her message. She said, “If My requests are not granted … the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated.”

       Because God has been publicly insulted by the 1917 Russian revolution — that excluded God from Russia and conspired to fight God and His followers everywhere — God, in the Fatima message, insisted on a public act of reparation for this crime against God. On June 13, 1929 Our Lady of Fatima, in the presence of the Most Blessed Trinity, explained that God asked for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (See June 13, 1929 and then the 1931, 1935 and 1936 events noted in the chronology above.)

       It is this act which God insists upon as an Act of Reparation for the crime of state-imposed atheism, otherwise our sins will reap the consequences of the terrible apostasy, heresy, vices and sins engulfing the world. This act of obedience is our only hope of being delivered from war and terrorism and is our only hope for world peace — not because this act is so difficult but because it is so easy, and thus people will see that the resulting peace is entirely due to God and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

       God insists in the Fatima Message that it is only “by this means” that we will have peace and freedom from terrorism and war because God wants to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in order to save many sinners from going to hell.

December 26, 1957 - Father Fuentes interviews Sister Lucy. She tells him of many nations disappearing from the face of the earth and of many souls going to hell as a result of ignoring Our Lady's Fatima Message.

1958 - Father Fuentes publishes the interview with Sister Lucy with the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Fatima. It is read widely and no one questions its authenticity.

October 9, 1958 - Pope Pius XII dies.

July 2, 1959 - Father Fuentes' interview with Sister Lucy is suddenly denounced as fraudulent in an anonymous report from the bishop's chancery office in Coimbra. To this day, more than forty years later, no official will take responsibility for this report.

February 8, 1960 - Despite Our Lady's express request to Sister Lucy, and repeated promises from the Bishop of Fatima and the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, unknown persons in the Vatican anonymously announce that the Third Secret will not be revealed and will probably “remain, forever, under absolute seal.” The announcement (through A.N.I. news agency) describes the text of the Third Secret as follows:

“It has just been stated, in very reliable Vatican circles, that it is most likely that the letter will never be opened, in which Sister Lucy wrote down the words which Our Lady confided as a secret to the three little shepherds in the Cova da Iria.”

1960 - Sister Lucy is officially forbidden to speak about the Third Secret and can receive no visitors except close relatives and people she has known for a long time. Her own confessor of many years, Father Aparicio, returns from Brazil and is not allowed to see her.

1961 - Despite being defended by the Cardinal Primate of Mexico and his own Archbishop, Pio Lopez, Father Fuentes is dismissed as Postulator of the Cause for Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco on the basis of the anonymous July 2, 1959 Coimbra report.

October 1962 - Just before the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican agrees with Moscow that the Council will not condemn Soviet Russia or communism in general, in exchange for which two Russian Orthodox observers would attend the Council, as desired by Pope John XXIII. This agreement launches the policy of Ostpolitik, which constrains the Vatican from opposing Communism by name as well as prevents it from condemning communist regimes which persecute Catholics. The new Vatican policy is in favor of “dialogue” and negotiations with the communists. This policy departs from the teaching of Popes Pius XII, Pius XI, Saint Pius X, Leo XIII and Blessed Pius IX on the duty of the Church to condemn and openly oppose communism and to refrain from any collaboration with communists, who always exploit such collaboration to advance their war against Christ and His Church.

November 21, 1964 - Pope Paul VI, during the closing ceremonies of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, consecrates the world again. In keeping with Ostpolitik, there is no mention of Russia, lest the communists be offended. World peace remains elusive. The Viet-nam War continues into the 1970's.

1965 - 1983

December 8, 1965 - The Second Vatican Council closes.

1966 - In the aftermath of Vatican II, the Bishop of Fatima, Bishop John Venancio, comes to understand the necessity and urgency of defending the authentic message of Our Lady against the perfidious attacks of the progressivists — all disciples of the modernist Jesuit, Father Dhanis. To defend the Message of Fatima against revisionists, in 1966 the Bishop commissions a learned Claretian priest, Father Joaquin Alonso, to establish a complete critical history of the revelations of Fatima. Ten years later, Father Alonso will complete his work, entitled Fatima Texts and Critical Studies. The massive work presents 5,396 documents, ranging from the beginnings of the Fatima apparitions until 12 November 1974. His manuscripts were “very well prepared,” according to the Abbé René Laurentin, who consults them himself.

November 15, 1966 - New revisions in the Code of Canon Law permit anyone in the Church to publish on Marian apparitions, including those at Fatima, without need of an imprimatur. Out of the one billion Catholics in the world, only Sister Lucy — the very person who received the Message of Fatima — is still forbidden to reveal the Fatima secret, even though Our Lady had expressed Her will that the Secret be revealed to the Church and the world no later than 1960. Sister Lucy remains under an order of silence to this day, unable to speak freely about Fatima without special permission from the Vatican, specifically from Cardinal Ratzinger or the Pope.

1967 - Sister Lucy's Memoirs are published, in which she reveals Our Lady's 1929 request for the Consecration of Russia. A huge public campaign begins with the collection of thousands of signatures asking the Pope to consecrate Russia.

February 11, 1967 - At a press conference, Cardinal Ottaviani, who has read the Third Secret, reveals that the Secret is written on a single sheet of paper.

May 13, 1967 - Sister Lucy meets Pope Paul VI in the open public square of Fatima during his visit there. In the presence of 1,000,000 pilgrims, she pleads to speak with the Pope. She weeps when the Pope rebuffs her and tells her “speak to your bishop.” According to at least one Fatima expert, Sister Lucy pleaded with Pope Paul VI to release the Third Secret, but he refused.

1975 - After 10 years of studying the Fatima archives, Father Alonso declares, in public, that Father Fuentes' published 1957 interview of Sister Lucy was a true and accurate report of her statements concerning the content of the Message of Fatima.

1975 - Father Alonso's 24 volumes of 800 pages each are ready for publication. This monumental work on the Message of Fatima includes at least 5,396 documents. The presses are literally stopped by the new Bishop of Fatima, Monsignor do Amaral, preventing Father Alonso's ten years of research from reaching the public. Two of the twenty-four volumes will eventually be published (in 1992 and 1999, respectively), but only in a heavily edited form.

October 16, 1978 - Pope John Paul II is elected. He reads the Third Secret within days of his election, according to a statement to Associated Press (in May 2000) by his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. The statement by Navarro-Valls will be contradicted by Msgr. Bertone of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who will claim that the Pope never read the Third Secret until July 18, 1981. The two conflicting statements suggest the existence of two distinct texts comprising the Third Secret in toto. The Pope appears to have read the same text of the Secret which was placed in the safe in the papal apartments in 1957.

1980 - In only three years, in an expanded campaign sponsored by Cardinal Josyf Slipyj, public petitions for the Consecration of Russia garner over 3 million signatures, which are received at the Vatican.

May 13, 1981 - Pope John Paul II is shot on the very anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The shots are fired at the same instant the Pope turns to look at a picture of Our Lady of Fatima pinned to a little girl's sweater. The bullets miss their mark. The Pope recognizes that Our Lady of Fatima intervened to save his life.

June 7, 1981 - The Pope consecrates the world, but not Russia, while still recovering from his wounds.

July 18, 1981 - According to Msgr. Bertone (who, as just noted, is contradicted by the Pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, on this point), Pope John Paul II reads the Third Secret for the first time.

December 12, 1981 - Father Alonso dies. But before his death, he was able to publish a number of articles and short books on Fatima. Here are some of the most important conclusions of his research 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 (of the Third Secret) makes concrete references to the crisis of the Faith of the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves.” Father Alonso speaks further of “internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the upper hierarchy,” of “deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church” …

       “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.”

       Significantly, Sister Lucy never corrects these conclusions of Father Alonso, even though she had never hesitated to correct other statements by clerics and various authors concerning Fatima when they were in error. Father Alonso has access to the documents and to Sister Lucy herself. Thus, his testimony is of capital importance.

March 21, 1982 - Sister Lucy meets with the Papal Nuncio, another bishop and Dr. Lacerda and informs them of the requirements for a valid Consecration of Russia according to the request of Our Lady of Fatima. Sister Lucy's full message is not transmitted to the Pope by the Nuncio, who is told by the bishop who accompanied him not to mention the requirement that the world's bishops participate in the Consecration.

May 12, 1982 - On the eve of Pope John Paul II's visit to Fatima, L'Osservatore Romano — the Pope's own newspaper — publishes an article by Father Umberto Maria Pasquale, S.D.B. about one of his conversations with Sister Lucy and her subsequent letter to him on the subject of the Consecration of Russia. In this interview, Father Pasquale reveals to the world that Sister Lucy clearly and emphatically told him that Our Lady of Fatima never asked for the consecration of the world but only the consecration of Russia. Father Pasquale also publishes a photographically-reproduced copy of a handwritten note by Sister Lucy attesting to their conversation on this point.

       Father Pasquale, a well-known Salesian priest, has known Sister Lucy since 1939. Up to 1982 he has received 157 letters from her. Here is his own testimony, as published in L'Osservatore Romano:

       “I wanted to clarify the question of the Consecration of Russia, in having recourse to the source. On August 5, 1978, in the Carmel of Coimbra, I had a lengthy interview with the seer of Fatima, Sister Lucy. At a certain moment I said to her: ‘Sister, I should like to ask you a question. If you cannot answer me, let it be! But if you can answer it, I would be most grateful to you, for you to clear up a point for me which does not appear clear to many people ... Has Our Lady ever spoken to you about the consecration of the world to Her Immaculate Heart?’ - ‘No, Father Umberto! Never! At the Cova da Iria in 1917, Our Lady had promised: I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia ... to prevent the spreading of her errors throughout the world, wars among several nations, persecutions against the Church ... In 1929, at Tuy, as She had promised, Our Lady came back to tell me that the moment had come to ask the Holy Father for the consecration of that country (Russia)’...”

       After this conversation, Father Pasquale, wishing to have a written declaration from Sister Lucy, had addressed this request to her: “Has Our Lady ever spoken to you about the consecration of the world to Her Immaculate Heart?” Father Pasquale then received a written response from Sister Lucy, dated April 13, 1980. A copy is reproduced below.

       Here is the translation of the pertinent
section of Sister Lucy's handwritten note:

“Reverend Father Umberto,

“In replying to your question, I will clarify:
Our Lady of Fatima, in Her request, referred only to the Consecration of Russia” …

“Coimbra 13 IV-1980”
(signed) Sister Lucia

May 12, 1982 - Sister Lucy writes a letter, allegedly “to the Holy Father”. The Vatican document of June 26, 2000 will present a photographic reproduction of this handwritten letter and will claim that it was addressed to Pope John Paul II. However, a close comparison of the handwritten Portuguese text (a portion is photographically reproduced below) with versions provided by the Vatican (English, Italian, and Portuguese) reveals that a crucial phrase, which proves that this letter could not have been written to the Pope, has been omitted from all 3 versions.

       The corresponding text in the English version provided by the Vatican is photographically reproduced below.

       In the following statement taken from Sister Lucy's letter, just referred to, the bolded text has been deliberately omitted from the Vatican's printed versions: “A terceira parte do segredo, que tanto ansiais por conhecer, e uma revelação simbolica ...” which translates to “The third part of the secret, that you are so anxious to know, is a symbolic revelation ...”

       This omitted phrase states that the recipient is “so anxious to know [the Secret]” even though Pope John Paul II had already read the Secret — either in 1978, within days of becoming Pope (according to the papal press secretary, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls) or on July 18, 1981 (according to Msgr. Bertone). Since the Pope had already read the Third Secret by 1981, why would he be “so anxious to know” what it contained in 1982? Furthermore, how could Sister Lucy possibly state that the Pope was so anxious to know the Secret, when he could have obtained the text from the Vatican archives (or the safe in the papal apartment) any time he wished?

       The same letter states: “And if we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are going towards it with great strides.” Why would Sister Lucy tell Pope John Paul II in 1982 that the prophecy of the Third Secret was not yet fulfilled if the prophecy had already been fulfilled with the failed attempt on the Pope's life on May 13, 1981 (as Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone will later claim on June 26, 2000)?

May 13, 1982 - Pope John Paul II consecrates the world, but not Russia, at Fatima. The bishops of the world do not participate.

May 19, 1982 - In L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy Father explains why he did not specifically consecrate Russia, declaring that he had “tried to do everything possible in the concrete circumstances.”

July/August 1982 - The Blue Army's Soul Magazine publishes an alleged interview with Sister Lucy in which she supposedly claims that the Consecration of Russia has been accomplished by the ceremony of May 13, 1982.

1982-83 - In private comments to friends and relatives, Sister Lucy repeatedly denies that the Consecration has been done. When asked to say so publicly in early 1983, Sister Lucy tells Father Joseph de Sainte Marie that she must have “official permission from the Vatican” before she can make such a statement.

March 19, 1983 - At the Holy Father's request, Sister Lucy meets again with the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Portalupi; Dr. Lacerda; and this time also with Father Messias Coelho. During this meeting Sister Lucy confirms that the Consecration of Russia was not done because Russia did not appear clearly as the object of consecration and the world's bishops did not participate. She explains that she could not say so publicly before because she did not have the permission of the Vatican.

May-October 1983 - Father Caillon and Father Gruner publish several articles exposing the July/August 1982 Soul Magazine interview as false.

1984

March 25, 1984 - The Holy Father at Rome, before 250,000 people, again consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Immediately afterwards, the Pope departs from his prepared text and prays “Enlighten especially the peoples of which You Yourself are awaiting our consecration and confiding.” The Pope thus publicly acknowledges that Our Lady of Fatima is still awaiting the Consecration of Russia (see photo of L'Osservatore Romano at top of next page).

March 26, 1984 - The Pope's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reports the words set forth above, exactly as the Holy Father spoke them.

March 27, 1984 - The Italian Catholic bishops' newspaper Avvenire reports that the Holy Father, on March 25 at 4:00 in the afternoon, three hours after he consecrated the world, prays at St. Peter's, asking Our Lady to bless “those peoples for whom You Yourself are awaiting our act of consecration and entrusting,” and thus admits that the Consecration of Russia remains unfulfilled.

May 1984 - Fatima expert Father Messias Coelho, under a pen name, insists that the Consecration still has not been done (Mensagem de Fatima, Issue 158, May 1984). He will consistently maintain this position until the summer of 1989.

September 10, 1984 - Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, the Bishop of Fatima, declares during a question and answer session in the aula magna of the Technical University of Vienna, Austria: “Its (the Third Secret's) content concerns only our faith ... 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”. His remarks are published in the February 1985 issue of Mensagem de Fatima published by Father Messias Coelho.

Reproduction of the March 26, 1984 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, with translation, enlarged, of Pope John Paul II's words. Opponents of the Consecration of Russia have, conveniently, from 1984 until this day, omitted to report that the Pope actually said, in effect, that he had not done the Consecration of Russia as requested by Our Lady of Fatima.

November 11, 1984 - Cardinal Ratzinger gives an interview in Jesus magazine, a publication of the Pauline Sisters. The interview is entitled “Here is Why the Faith is in Crisis,” and is published with the Cardinal's explicit permission. In the interview Cardinal Ratzinger states that the crisis of Faith is affecting the Church around the world. In this context, he reveals that he has read the Third Secret and that the Secret refers to “dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian and therefore of the world.”

       The Cardinal thus confirms Father Alonso's thesis that the Secret pertains to widespread apostasy in the Church. Cardinal Ratzinger says in the same interview that the Secret also refers to “the importance of the Novissimi [the Last Times / the Last Things]” and that “If it is not published, at least for now, it is to avoid confusing religious prophecy with sensationalism ...” The Cardinal further reveals that “the things contained in this ‘Third Secret’ correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions, first of all that of Fatima ...”

       In the portion of the text of the interview shown in the photo below, the Cardinal says that the Third Secret contains “religious prophecy” which cannot be revealed “to prevent [its] being mistaken for a quest for the sensational”. Yet on June 26, 2000, the same Cardinal Ratzinger says that the Third Secret refers only to events which had already happened (culminating in the attempted assassination of the Pope in 1981) and contains no prophecy concerning the future. What has happened to make Cardinal Ratzinger change his prior testimony? Why does he suggest on June 26, 2000 that the Third Secret could be the result of Sister Lucy's imagination alone? Does he really believe in the Message of Fatima? If not, can his personal interpretation of the Message of Fatima be trusted?

1985 - 1988

June 1985 - The November 1984 interview in Jesus magazine is published in a book entitled The Ratzinger Report. Key references in the interview concerning the contents of the Third Secret have been mysteriously deleted from the book. The book is published in English, French, German and Italian and reaches over 1,000,000 copies in print. Although the revelations concerning the Third Secret have been censored, the book admits that the crisis of Faith which Father Alonso tells us is predicted in the Third Secret is already upon us, and that it encompasses the whole world.

PHOTO OF ORIGINAL EXTRACT FROM
“JESUS” MAGAZINE

We give here a photographic reproduction of the key part of Cardinal Ratzinger's interview as it has been approved by His Eminence in the first days of October and published in the November 11, 1984 issue of Jesus magazine, concerning the Third Secret. The original Italian text reported above was photographically reproduced and published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 37, Summer 1991. The English translation appearing below was published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 18, October-December 1985 and in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 37, Summer 1991 (with a circulation of 1,000,000) - it has never been challenged by anyone.

September 1985 - In an interview in Sol de Fatima magazine (a publication of friends of the Spanish Blue Army), Sister Lucy affirms that the Consecration of Russia still has not been done because, yet again, Russia was not the clear object of the 1984 consecration and the world's episcopate did not participate.

1985 - Cardinal Gagnon, in an interview with Father Caillon, acknowledges the Consecration of Russia has still not been done.

1986 - Maria do Fetal publicly quotes Sister Lucy (her cousin) as saying that the Consecration of Russia still has not been done. Maria do Fetal will consistently maintain that Sister Lucy told her this until July 1989.

1986 - 1987 - Father Paul Leonard Kramer writes “The Plot to Silence Our Lady” (June 1986) and a sequel entitled “The (USA) Blue Army Leadership Has Followed a Deliberate Policy of Falsifying the Fatima Message” (April 1987). Both articles expose the bogus 1982 Soul Magazine interview and the USA Blue Army's subsequent disinformation about the Consecration requested by Our Lady.

We give here, therefore, the interview as it has been approved by His Eminence Cardinal Ratzinger in the first days of October.

       One of the four sections of the Congregation (for the Doctrine of the Faith) concerns itself with Marian apparitions;

       “Cardinal Ratzinger, have you read what is called the Third Secret of Fatima: i.e., the one that Sister Lucia had sent to Pope John XXIII and which the latter did not wish to make known and consigned to the Vatican archives?” (In reply, Cardinal Ratzinger said:)

       “Yes, I have read it,” (which frank response provoked a further question:)

       “Why has it not been revealed?” (To this the Cardinal gave the following most instructive reply:) “Because, according to the judgement of the Popes, it adds nothing (literally: ‘nothing different’) to what a Christian must know concerning what derives from Revelation: i.e., a radical call for conversion; the absolute importance of history; the dangers threatening the faith and the life of the Christian, and therefore of the world. And then the importance of the ‘novissimi’ (the last events at the end of time). If it is not made public - at least for the time being - it is in order to prevent religious prophecy from being mistaken for a quest for the sensational (literally: ‘for sensationalism’). But the things contained in this ‘Third Secret’ correspond to what has been announced in Scripture and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions, first of all that of Fatima in what is already known of what its message contains. Conversion and penitence are the essential conditions for ‘salvation’.”

July 20, 1987 - Interviewed quickly outside her convent while voting, Sister Lucy confirms to journalist Enrico Romero that the Consecration of Russia has not been done.

October 25, 1987 - In an audience with a dozen Catholic leaders, Cardinal Mayer publicly acknowledges that the Consecration has not been done according to Our Lady's specific request.

November 26, 1987 - In a private meeting, Cardinal Stickler confirms that the Consecration has not been done because the Pope lacks the support of the bishops. “They do not obey him,” says Cardinal Stickler.

1988 - Cardinal Gagnon attacks Father Gruner for publishing the Caillon report of his 1985 statement that the Consecration has not yet been done. Cardinal Gagnon admits speaking to Father Caillon, and does not deny the truth of his report, but says it was not meant for publication.

1989 - 1990

1989 - More than 350 Roman Catholic bishops respond to a letter from Father Gruner, confirming their willingness to consecrate Russia with the Pope as requested by Our Lady at Fatima.

1989 - Since 1980, by conservative estimates, an additional 1,000,000 signatures have been received by the Vatican on petitions calling for the Pope and the bishops to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

July 1989 - In the presence of three witnesses at the Hotel Solar da Marta in Fatima, Father Messias Coelho reveals that Sister Lucy has just received an anonymous “instruction” from unidentified persons in the Vatican bureaucracy. The “instruction” states that Sister Lucy and her fellow religious must now say that the Consecration of Russia was accomplished in the ceremony of March 25, 1984, even though Russia was never mentioned and the world's bishops did not participate.

       After this development, various witnesses — including, it is claimed, Sister Lucy herself — begin to repudiate their own prior statements that the Consecration has not been done. These witnesses previously clearly stated that Russia could not possibly have been consecrated as requested in the Fatima Message because of the failure to mention Russia and the failure to obtain the participation of the world's bishops. Thus begins a process of “revising” Our Lady's request from the Consecration of Russia to the Consecration of the world. At the same time, powerful forces from within the Vatican apparatus begin to target Father Gruner and his apostolate for suppression.

July 1989 - The Papal Nuncio to Portugal is replaced. In keeping with the anonymous “instruction” from within the Vatican bureaucracy, shortly afterwards Maria do Fetal suddenly reverses herself, contradicting all her prior statements to the effect that her cousin, Sister Lucy, did not think the Consecration had been accomplished; Maria do Fetal now claims that Sister Lucy believes the 1984 consecration of the world satisfied Our Lady of Fatima's request.

July 10, 1989 - Father Gruner respectfully replies to the new Bishop of Avellino's letter dated May 29, 1989 and points out that he has written permission to be in Canada from Bishop Pasquale Venezia, the previous Bishop of Avellino.

       There is no explanation for why the letter has taken a month to reach Father Gruner. The letter reveals that the Cardinal Secretary of State has sent “worried signals” about Father Gruner's work in promoting the Message of Fatima, which work includes especially promoting the proper consecration of Russia as requested by Our Lady of Fatima and requesting the full disclosure of the Third Secret.

       The new bishop appears to be unaware that his predecessor gave Father Gruner permission to live outside the Diocese of Avellino while engaging in his Fatima Apostolate.

July 24, 1989 - Cardinal Innocenti writes to Father Gruner rebuking him for refusing an “invitation” to visit with the Papal Nuncio in Canada. The Nuncio has never issued any order that Father Gruner see him. Cardinal Innocenti threatens Father Gruner with possible suspension unless he is either incardinated in a Canadian diocese or returns to Avellino by September 30, 1989.

August 9, 1989 - An unsolicited offer of incardination is suddenly issued to Father Gruner by Bishop Fulton in Canada, but only on condition that Father Gruner cease his work in promoting the Message of Fatima. This offer to incardinate is apparently due to pressure applied to the Bishop of Avellino by the Cardinal Secretary of State, prompting the Bishop of Avellino to turn the matter over to Bishop Fulton.

August 21, 1989 - Father Gruner replies to Cardinal Innocenti's letter dated July 24, 1989 (which he did not receive until after August 14), pointing out that the Cardinal has no right to interfere since the Bishop of Avellino has given no orders of his own in the matter. Father Gruner points out that he is acting within the law of the Church. Father Gruner then appeals to the Pope against Cardinal Innocenti's abuse of authority. Thereafter, the Cardinal never replies or writes again to Father Gruner. The Cardinal orders everyone in his office never to mention Father Gruner's name to him again.

September 1, 1989 - The Fatima Crusader points out the right of every priest to publish the truth about the Message of Fatima. Accordingly, Father Gruner's 10-page reply to Cardinal Innocenti is published in this issue of The Fatima Crusader.

Late August - Early September 1989 - The so-called “coup d'etat” in Moscow, in which the Communist regime follows a script intended to deceive the West. This plan was partly written in 1958 and published in 1984 by KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, who was at the planning session of 1958. His book New Lies for Old makes 148 predictions concerning the Russian Communists' plan for strategic deception of the West. By 1993, 139 of his predictions will have come true.

       The plan revealed by Golitsyn would be well served by deceiving people who believe in Our Lady of Fatima into thinking that the merely political changes of 1989 are part of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart predicted by Our Lady. In fact the changes in Russia during the period 1989-2001 will demonstrate only a further perversion of Russian society, not Russia's conversion.

       It is no mere coincidence that in 1989, the very year Russia's strategic deception begins, there also begins a coordinated campaign to suppress or revise the Message of Fatima, including moves to silence Father Gruner and his apostolate and the sudden appearance of typewritten letters from Sister Lucy, who does not type, declaring that the Consecration of Russia has been accomplished by ceremonies which did not even mention Russia.

August 1989 - November 1989 - Computer-generated and typewritten notes and letters supposedly signed by Sister Lucy suddenly appear, flatly contradicting all prior statements she has made for more than 60 years about the Consecration. These notes contain factual errors Sister Lucy could not have made (e.g. the false statement that Pope Paul VI consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart during his 1967 visit to Fatima) and phraseology she had never used before. Until now, “Sister Lucy” has never conducted correspondence with typewriters or word processors, and she still continues to write everything else, including her lengthy memoirs, by hand.

January 29, 1990 - At about 8:30 a.m., Maria do Fetal, at Fatima, states to Father Pierre Caillon that she “was inventing” when she earlier reported Sister Lucy's statement that the 1984 consecration of the world was not in conformity with Our Lady's request for the consecration of Russia.

October 11, 1990 - Sister Lucy's own blood sister, Carolina, tells Father Gruner, in Fatima, that little or no trust can be put in any typewritten letter from Sister Lucy, as she does not even know how to type.

October 22, 1990 - In a written report, a highly regarded forensic expert indicates that Sister Lucy's purported signature on a November 1989 computer-generated letter is a forgery. Excerpts from this letter, published by an Italian Catholic magazine in March 1990, are being circulated widely and cited as “proof” that the Consecration has been done. Several wire services carry that story from the Italian magazine and spread the fraudulent claim worldwide.

November 1990 - Father Gruner and The International Fatima Rosary Crusade launch a worldwide campaign to free Sister Lucy from her 30-year ordeal of silence and to encourage the Holy Father to release the Third Secret of Fatima.

1991 - Present

May 13, 1991 - Sister Lucy declines to go to Fatima during the Pope's visit but is commanded to do so under holy obedience. Pope John Paul II visits Fatima for the second time, and has a half-hour meeting with Sister Lucy. After this meeting neither the Pope nor Sister Lucy make any announcement concerning the Consecration of Russia having been done — an announcement that would have been forthcoming had the “letters of Sister Lucy” from 1989-90 been genuine.

       The silence of the Pope and Sister Lucy concerning the Consecration of Russia is most revealing. There is an obvious disagreement between Sister Lucy and a certain part of the Vatican apparatus, which has been trying to suggest that the consecration of Russia is over and done with. Although Sister Lucy is alleged to agree that the Consecration has been accomplished, she continues to be bound by the order to be silent imposed upon her in 1960, and she does not defend herself publicly against this rumor because her enforced silence continues. Father Alonso's 24 volumes of 5,396 original Fatima documents are still banned from publication.

October 8, 1992 - The Fatima Crusader's Peace Conference is held. False and misleading declarations are published in L'Osservatore Romano by Cardinal Sanchez and Archbishop Sepe, suggesting that ecclesiastical permission is required for the Conference when it is clearly not necessary under Church law. Similar falsehoods are published in the Portuguese press on October 7-9. Nevertheless, more than 100 bishops accept the invitation and payment of expenses for their trip to Fatima for the Conference. While 65 bishops ultimately attend, 35 others are “persuaded” not to attend by the anti-Fatima establishment and certain officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

October 10, 1992 - Father Gruner is beaten up by Fatima Shrine workers, one of whom later admits he was acting under orders of the Rector of the Shrine, Msgr. Guerra. Bishop Amaral, the Bishop of Fatima, is retired from office four months later, but Msgr. Guerra remains Rector of the Shrine.

October 11, 1992 - A questionable interview of Sister Lucy is conducted by Father Pacheco, Cardinal Padiyara, Bishop Michaelappa and a chauffeur, Carlos Evaristo. Evaristo later publishes a doctored version of the interview, which he admits was “reconstructed.” Among other falsehoods, the “interview” contains a statement by “Sister Lucy” that Mikhail Gorbachev knelt in front of the Holy Father and asked pardon for his sins. This claim is denounced as a total fabrication by papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. Father Pacheco publishes a repudiation of the bogus “interview.” Fatima scholar Frère François concludes that this “interview” was put together by the Rector of the Shrine in order to stop petitions for the Consecration of Russia. Today, Evaristo's totally discredited interview is no longer mentioned as “proof” of Sister Lucy's alleged affirmation that the Consecration has been done.

1992 - The first heavily edited volume of Father Alonso's critical documents on Fatima is published, leaving 23 other volumes under lock and key.

July 31, 1993 - A prominent bishop in India gives written assurances that he is willing to incardinate Father Gruner, thus apparently ending any effort by the anti-Fatima establishment officials in the Vatican to force Father Gruner's return to Avellino, Italy.

November 3, 1993 - The Bishop of Avellino, Antonio Forte, admits to Father Gruner that he is being prevented from approving Father Gruner's transfer out of the Diocese of Avellino because Cardinal Sanchez and Archbishop Sepe, at the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, will not allow it. Cardinal Sanchez and Archbishop Sepe are working with the Secretariat of State to silence Father Gruner and his apostolate. Their actions violate the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Avellino and have no basis in canon law. No other priest in the entire Catholic Church is being subjected to such interference in transferring from one diocese to another.

January 13, 1994 - Bishop Forte tells Father Gruner that he has nothing against him, and when Father Gruner asks him what he should do, the Bishop tells him to return to Canada.

January 14 - 31, 1994 - Cardinal Sanchez, Archbishop Sepe and Bishop Forte begin making the final moves in “the incardination game” they are playing against Father Gruner. They command him to find another bishop, then obstruct incardination by other bishops, while refusing him excardination from Avellino. The “checkmate” is to declare that since Father Gruner has “failed” to be incardinated elsewhere, he must now return to Avellino or else be suspended from the priesthood.

January 31, 1994 - Bishop Forte sends Father Gruner a letter accusing him of being a vagus (wandering) priest because he has not returned to Avellino from Canada — even though Bishop Forte himself had just told Father Gruner to go back to Canada only 18 days earlier. This incredible behavior is explained in Fatima Priest. It continues today, and is still being appealed in the Vatican tribunals and before the Pope.

October 1994 - The Secretary of State and the Papal Nuncios write to bishops around the world, directing them not to attend the second Fatima Crusader Peace Conference to be held in Mexico. Visas are denied and other obstacles put in the way of more than 100 Catholic bishops who accept invitations to the conference.

1995 - In a personal communication to a Professor Baumgartner in Salzburg, Austria, Cardinal Mario Luigi Ciappi, no less than the personal theologian of John Paul II, reveals that: “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”

July 12, 1995 - The first Open Letter to the Pope is published in a leading daily Roman newspaper, Il Messaggero. It covers 2 full pages, publicly protesting the gross abuse of position, prestige and power by anti-Fatima Vatican bureaucrats during the period 1992-1994. It is signed by two bishops and thousands of priests and lay people. The Pope does not act (or is prevented from acting), although privately word is received that His Holiness did read the Open Letter.

November 1996 - The third Fatima Crusader Peace Conference is held in Rome. Again, all bishops are invited to attend, with all expenses paid. Despite the constant repetition of the same falsehoods circulated by certain members of the anti-Fatima establishment in the Vatican apparatus in 1992 and 1994 — combined with pressure not to attend the conference applied by Cardinal Gantin, various Papal Nuncios and other Vatican bureaucrats — more than 200 bishops, priests and lay people do in fact attend.

November 20, 1996 - Father Gruner's Canonical Complaint against Cardinal Sanchez and Archbishop Sepe and their accomplices is placed in the Pope's own hands, as shown in a photograph reproduced in Fatima Priest and published April 2, 1998 in Il Messaggero.

February 26, 1997 - Coralie Graham, Editor of The Fatima Crusader, sends Cardinal Gantin a registered letter containing seven pertinent questions concerning his illegal actions in trying to prevent bishops and priests from attending the Peace Conference. More than five years later her entirely respectful letter still has not been answered.

April 2, 1998 - The second two-page Open Letter is published. This time the Open Letter garners the signatures of 27 bishops and Archbishops, as well as 1,900 priests and religious and more than 15,000 lay people. It is published in Italian in Il Messaggero. Thousands of posters of the Open Letter are posted around the Vatican during 1998.

       Meanwhile, Father Gruner's canonical case continues to wend its way through the Vatican court system. Details of the “rigged” and absurdly unjust proceedings are provided in Fatima Priest. During the process, Archbishop Grochelewski, now chief judge in the case (after Cardinal Agustoni is forced to recuse himself due to the appearance of prejudice), admits that the case is not about Father Gruner's incardination, but what he says (concerning Fatima). This is the real reason for the numerous unprecedented and illicit actions against Father Gruner, even though it is nowhere admitted in the written acts of the proceedings. A cardinal principle of natural justice is that the accused must be informed of the precise charges against him so that he can defend himself. To put Father Gruner on trial for an alleged “offense” concerning his incardination, when the real issue is what he says about Fatima, flies in the face of this principle.

October 1998 - The various lies, innuendoes and accusations against Father Gruner are summarized in a lengthy accusatory document prepared and issued by the Promoter of Justice, appointed by the Vatican apparatus to prepare a supposedly “impartial” summary of the canonical positions of the parties. Father Gruner is told he may not even have a copy of this “impartial” document unless he takes an oath to keep it secret. This bizarre request is issued by the Tribunal itself. (A copy of the tribunal's demand for secrecy is available to any bishop who requests it.) Father Gruner refuses to take this oath of secrecy. He is forced to review the Promoter's document in the presence of his canon lawyer, who must travel to Canada from Rome and then take the document back to Rome without leaving a copy.

October 10, 1998 - The Promoter's document reveals, for the first time, the existence of some 20 letters secretly circulating against Father Gruner and his apostolate. The letters are replete with misrepresentations and outright falsehoods by certain members of the Congregation for the Clergy, the Secretariat of State and even Cardinal Ratzinger's Congregation, going back to the early 1980s.

December 10, 1998 - Despite the almost impossible obstacles and very limited time allowed for his reply, Father Gruner submits an 80-page canonical response to the Promoter's document, conclusively refuting its every allegation. The Promoter's document is never again mentioned by the Tribunal.

December 1998 - Father Gruner, by registered mail, requests copies of the approximately 20 letters against him from the Congregation for the Clergy and from the tribunal. The letters are never provided. Falsehoods continue to circulate behind Father Gruner's back, greatly hindering his efforts to persuade bishops that the Consecration of Russia must be done in the proper manner in order to avoid the annihilation of nations, of which Our Lady of Fatima warns.

August 1999 - Father Gruner provides a new document to the Bishop of Avellino that demonstrates that Father Gruner is incardinated elsewhere.

September 3, 1999 - The Apostolic Signatura issues a decision, backdated to July 10, 1999. The manifest groundlessness of the decision is demonstrated in “A Law For One Man” (a chapter in Fatima Priest), and by documents attached to Father Gruner's rebuttal, dated October 14, 1999 (also reproduced in Fatima Priest, 2000 A.D. edition), to which the Apostolic Signatura offers no reply. Meanwhile, Father Gruner's third canon lawyer comes under pressure to turn against him. (The misconduct of the first two canonists is detailed in Fatima Priest.) Only 16 canonists are allowed to defend 400,000 Catholic priests in the Signatura, making it easy to pressure these lawyers with threats of the termination of their admission to the Tribunal.

October 12-18, 1999 - The apostolate's Peace Conference in Hamilton, Ontario is subjected to the same pattern of harassment, abuse of authority and calculated untruths which have hindered the apostolate's previous Fatima conferences. Bishops and priests attend, but in reduced numbers. It has become increasingly difficult to reach the priests and bishops because of the Vatican's campaign of blackening the reputation of Father Gruner and his apostolate. Over 300 people attend, most of them lay people.

November 22, 1999 - A second Canonical Complaint by Father Gruner is sent by registered mail to the Pope from the Vatican post office. This complaint names Cardinals Agustoni, Innocenti, and Sanchez, Archbishop Sepe, Archbishop Grochelewski and Bishop Forte.

December 1999 - The second volume of Father Alonso's manuscripts is finally published, but with extremely heavy editing. The other 22 volumes are still unpublished after 25 years, even though they were fully prepared for the press in 1975.

April 20, 2000 - Father Gruner invokes Canon 1506, which requires the Pope to accept both canonical complaints against the named Cardinals and bishops. The complaints are deemed accepted under canon law, once the May 2000 deadline has passed. The Pope does not respond, although he is bound to do so by the law he himself promulgated. Even the Pope is bound by the prevailing law of the Church until such time as he promulgates a new law.

May 13, 2000 - During the ceremonies for the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, Cardinal Sodano announces that the Third Secret of Fatima will be revealed. (The Secretariat of State had previously tried to divert the beatification ceremonies from Fatima to a group beatification ceremony at the Vatican, involving other beati unrelated to Fatima.)

       Cardinal Sodano, however, gives a misleading description of the Third Secret, claiming that it consists of a vision in which “the Pope apparently falls dead”. The actual text of the vision (to be revealed in the following month) states that the Pope is killed. Cardinal Sodano is clearly paving the way for a bogus “interpretation” of the Secret which will claim that the Third Secret culminated with the failed attempt on the Pope's life in 1981, and that all the events prophesied in the Secret, to use his words, “now belong to the past.”

June 5, 2000 - A letter threatening Father Gruner with a totally groundless “excommunication” is signed by Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos. The letter is delivered to Father Gruner's home by a Vatican emissary on June 21 at 10:00 p.m. The emissary lies his way into Father Gruner's living room by claiming he has good news from “the Holy Father.”

June 26, 2000 - At a press conference, the Vatican publishes a text it claims is the entire Third Secret. The text describes a vision in which the Pope (a “bishop in white”) is killed by a band of soldiers who shoot him down while he is kneeling at the foot of a large wooden cross atop a hill, after having traversed a half-ruined city filled with corpses. The execution of the Pope is followed by the execution of many bishops, priests and laity.

       Questions abound. (See article by Andrew Cesanek in The Fatima Crusader, Issue No. 64.) Among these questions is why the published vision contains no words of Our Lady, even though, when it announced suppression of the Secret in 1960, the Vatican itself referred to “the words which Our Lady confided to the children as a secret.” The vision fails to mention the words which clearly follow “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc.” — the phrase Sister Lucy included in her fourth memoir as part of the integral text of the Third Secret of Fatima. The phrase concerning the dogma of the Faith in Portugal is mysteriously demoted to a footnote in the Vatican commentary on the Secret, where it is ignored by both Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone, the co-authors of the commentary.

       Cardinal Ratzinger's portion of the commentary specifically states that he and Msgr. Bertone are following the “interpretation” given by Cardinal Sodano: i.e., that the Message of Fatima, and the Third Secret in particular, relates entirely to events which now belong to the past. Accordingly, Cardinal Ratzinger claims that the Pope's escape from death in 1981 is what is depicted in the vision of the Pope being killed. Even the secular media recognize the falsity of this interpretation.

       The published text of the vision contains none of the elements described by Cardinal Ratzinger in his mysteriously censored 1984 interview in Jesus magazine. The published vision says nothing about “dangers threatening the Faith and the life of the Christian and therefore of the world”, nothing about “the importance of the end times”, nothing about what is contained “in many other Marian apparitions” approved by the Church and nothing about prophecies “announced in Scripture”. Further, while Cardinal Ratzinger said in 1984 that the Third Secret contains “religious prophecy” — a statement he made three years after the attempt on the Pope's life — he will now claim there is no prophecy, but only a description of past events, culminating in the 1981 assassination attempt.

       Further, Cardinal Ratzinger's commentary scandalizes the faithful by claiming that the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is nothing more than love conquering bombs and guns, and that devotion to the Immaculate Heart means nothing more than each person doing God's will and thus acquiring an ‘immaculate heart’ of his or her own. The conversion of Russia to Catholicism and the spreading of devotion to the one unique Immaculate Heart of Mary throughout the world are not even mentioned in Cardinal Ratzinger's commentary.

       The only Fatima “authority” Cardinal Ratzinger cites is Father Edouard Dhanis, S.J., a modernist Jesuit who spent years casting doubt on the prophetic elements of the Message of Fatima concerning Russia. Father Dhanis claimed these elements of the Message were pious inventions of Sister Lucy. Father Dhanis refused to study the official Fatima archives or consult other private documents made available to him in order not to have to withdraw his false thesis. In keeping with Father Dhanis' errors, which reduce Fatima to generic piety with no prophecy of future events, Cardinal Ratzinger's portion of the commentary concludes by asserting that all that remains of the Message of Fatima is prayer and penance.

       The astounding quote by Monsignor Bertone, Cardinal Ratzinger's assistant, in the commentary (photographically reproduced [in part] in the box immediately above, from the Vatican's booklet The Message of Fatima) shows how deeply into error and revisionism Msgr. Bertone and the rest of the anti-Fatima establishment have fallen. Msgr. Bertone says here, in effect, that Our Lady's promise of a period of peace was dependent on the revelation of the Third Secret, when, in fact, Our Lady said that a period of peace will be granted to the world only when Russia has been consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart and thereby converted. If one had not seen Msgr. Bertone's words in print, one would have doubted that any sensible Catholic theologian or Church official could have presented such a gross misrepresentation of the Message of Fatima. In view of the current state of the world, Msgr. Bertone's proclamation of the end of an era “marked by tragic human lust for power and evil” borders on lunacy. What does he think we have today — an era of peace and tranquility?

       Msgr. Bertone's portion of the commentary also claims that any further request for the Consecration of Russia “is without basis.” He cites as his only evidence for this claim an alleged “letter from Sister Lucy” in 1989, addressed to an unidentified party. The “letter from Sister Lucy” demolishes itself by falsely stating that during his visit to Fatima in 1967 Pope Paul VI consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart — an event which never occurred. Sister Lucy could not have made such a blunder since she attended the whole of Pope Paul VI's brief visit to Fatima.

       Incredibly, the only person not to participate in the “revelation” of the Third Secret on June 26, 2000 is Sister Lucy herself. She is still not allowed to speak, even though the public is now being told that the Message of Fatima has been fully revealed and that nothing else remains hidden. Her crucial testimony concerning the Consecration of Russia is not elicited, even though Cardinals Sodano and Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone and other members of the Vatican apparatus were in Fatima only weeks before and could have spoken to her about the matter. The obviously discredited 1989 letter is the only evidence on which these Vatican officials expressly rely for their claim that the Consecration has been done. Curiously, Sister Lucy is not even asked to authenticate this letter.

       At the conclusion of the June 26 press conference, Cardinal Ratzinger mentions Father Gruner by name, claiming that he must be submissive to “the Magisterium” concerning Fatima and the Consecration of Russia. There is no claim, however, that the Pope himself has proclaimed the Consecration to be over and done with. The Pope plays no role in the June 26 press conference or the Ratzinger/Bertone commentary, which is not a document of the Church's Magisterium (the authentic teaching office of the Pope or the Pope together with all the bishops in union with him) and therefore binds no one to believe what it claims. Even Cardinal Ratzinger himself admits that his and Msgr. Bertone's interpretation is not binding.

July 11/12, 2000 - Father Gruner continues to resist the groundless threat of excommunication from Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, publishing his reply to the Cardinal. Father Gruner is the only priest being exposed to such a direct, public threat from a Vatican official. Yet, at the same time, the Vatican turns a blind eye toward innumerable priests who are spreading heresy and engaging in unspeakably scandalous behavior in every nation.

July 14, 2000 - Father Gruner learns that Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos is commanding various Nuncios of the world to continue to plague Father Gruner with false accusations. For example, the Nuncio to the Philippines circulates the lie that Father Gruner is guilty of forging Vatican Secretariat of State documents to imply Vatican endorsement of his apostolate — a manifest absurdity. These lies are refuted by the apostolate's published declaration. (See Fatima Priest.) Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos ignores Father Gruner's repeated requests that he retract the false allegation of forgery. Instead, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos simply revises the accusation to alleged “inappropriate use” of genuine documents, refusing to admit that his original accusation was a lie. All Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos' accusations are refuted in the apostolate's reply but he refuses to retract any and all of his false allegations.

July 15, 2000 - Issue 64 of The Fatima Crusader is published by Father Gruner. This issue demonstrates that the text of the Third Secret released on June 26 is incomplete. (See, especially, the article about the existence of two texts by Andrew Cesanek. Copies are available in Italian, English and Portuguese on the Fatima website, www.fatima.org. See also Chapter 12.)

August 8 - October 16, 2000 - Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos refuses to withdraw his threat of excommunication. In mid-October he says he is referring the matter to “higher authority.” He refuses to identify this “higher authority,” although it is clearly the Vatican Secretary of State.

August 31, 2000 - Father Gruner files with the Holy Father a second reminder concerning his canonical complaint and recourse to the Pope against Cardinals Innocenti, Sanchez and Agustoni, Archbishop Sepe, Archbishop Grochelewski and Bishop Forte, under Canon 1506. The grounds for the complaint are abuse of power and violation of canonical due process. The complaint notes that (unless and until the Pope promulgates a new law) the Pope is bound by the laws he has already promulgated to hear the case.

October 8, 2000 - Yet another consecration of the world, but not Russia, is performed in a Vatican ceremony. This ceremony is called an “entrustment.” Although anti-Fatima propagandists say the Consecration of Russia is impossible, some 1,400 bishops and 76 Cardinals are gathered in the Vatican on this date and can easily mention Russia during the “entrustment.” In fact, a number of bishops think this is exactly what they are going to do. The text of the entrustment is not made public until October 7, the day before the ceremony. The text makes no mention of Russia, but does mention an “entrustment” of the world, “the unemployed,” “youth in search of meaning” and other objects of “entrustment” — anything and anybody but Russia.

November 30, 2000 - Inside the Vatican magazine reveals that a Cardinal described as “one of the Pope's closest advisors” admits that His Holiness has been counseled not to make mention of Russia in any consecration ceremony because this would offend the Russian Orthodox. That Ostpolitik and Vatican diplomacy have prevented the specific Consecration of Russia is here confirmed by a Vatican prelate.

December 20, 2000 - Father Gruner finishes writing a canonical complaint to His Holiness Pope John Paul II against Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos for crimes against Church law and formally requests, in due canonical form, the Cardinal's removal from office. Canons 1405, 1406 and 1452 §1 are invoked, under which the only competent judge in such cases is the Pope, and that the Pope is bound to decide the complaint.

May 16, 2001 - Reflecting the growing skepticism of millions of Catholics, Mother Angelica states on her live televison show on this date that she does not believe the Vatican has revealed the entirety of the Third Secret:

       “As for the Secret, well I happen to be one of those individuals who thinks we didn't get the whole thing. I told ya! I mean, you have the right to your own opinion, don't you, Father? There, you know, that's my opinion. Because I think it's scary. And I don't think the Holy See is going to say something that does not happen, that might happen. And then what does it do if it doesn't happen? I mean the Holy See cannot afford to make prophecies.”

August 30, 2001 - The Fatima Center sends a letter to thousands of the press and world leaders containing the following warning in the light of the Fatima Message:

       “There will come a day, sooner than you think, when bombs will start exploding even in the ‘peaceful’ parts of the world.”

September 11, 2001 - Terrorists hijack two airliners and crash them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse. Another hijacked airliner crashes into the Pentagon. More than 3,000 people are killed in the bloodiest terrorist episode the world has ever seen. This act of war is definitive proof that the Consecration of Russia, which Our Lady promised will bring world peace, has not been done. Yet the anti-Fatima establishment insists that the Message of Fatima was gloriously fulfilled with the consecration of the world in 1984 and that the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is upon us.

September 12, 2001 - Revealing their bizarre obsession with Father Gruner and his Fatima apostolate, only one day after the worst terrorist attack in world history, Vatican officials cause the Vatican press office to publish a “Declaration” to the world alleging that Father Gruner has been “suspended” from the priesthood, and that no one should attend a Fatima-related peace conference being sponsored by the apostolate in Rome from October 7-13, 2001. The “Declaration” states that it has been issued upon “the mandate from a higher authority”. The carefully inserted article in the phrase “a higher authority” clearly indicates that the “authority” in question is not the highest authority in the Church — namely, the Pope. The expression “a higher authority” is Vaticanspeak for the Secretary of State — Cardinal Sodano. In any case, under Church law a “mandate” by a nameless person is null and void.

       The “Declaration” gives no grounds for the “suspension,” there being no grounds beyond the bogus accusation that Father Gruner “failed” to find another bishop to incardinate him and must therefore “return” to Avellino after 23 years. This is the same “failure” which the Vatican bureaucracy had engineered through its unprecedented interference in offers of incardination by a series of friendly bishops over the years, all of whom wished to foster Father Gruner's work.

       The Vatican announcement claims that the conference in Rome does not “enjoy the approval of ecclesiastical authority.” The statement is evidently calculated to mislead, since these Vatican officials are well aware that no approval whatever is required under Church law (canons 212, 215, 278, 299), which guarantees the natural right of clergy and laity to associate and discuss matters of concern in the Church. Incredibly, Vatican officials have never taken such dramatic measures, or indeed any measures at all, to prevent innumerable conferences and other gatherings constantly being held throughout the Church by priests, nuns and lay people who openly dissent from Catholic doctrine. These same Vatican officials seem to view the Message of Fatima as the greatest threat to the Church today.

       That the Vatican should step up its persecution of Father Gruner only hours after thousands of Americans were slaughtered in an unprecedented terrorist attack, demonstrates beyond doubt the utter perversity of the opposition to the Message of Fatima from within certain elements of the Vatican bureaucracy. Neither the spread of heresy nor innumerable sexual scandals among the clergy over the past forty years has ever prompted such action from these same Vatican elements, who are duty-bound to protect the Church from her real enemies. It is a mystery of iniquity that the prime imperative of these Vatican officials, even in the midst of worldwide bloodshed and apostasy, has become suppression of the Message of Fatima — the very means by which bloodshed and apostasy can be averted.

September 13, 2001 - The Fatima Center responds to the “Declaration” published by the Vatican Press Office, noting, among other things, that Father Gruner appears to be the only priest in the living memory of the Church who has been publicly denounced to the world for an “offense” that is not even specified by “a higher authority” who is not even named.

September 21, 2001 - After receiving what she privately admitted was an “ecclesiastical telephone call” from someone in the Vatican bureaucracy, an agent of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome sends a letter advising that the apostolate's contract for their facilities for the October 7-13, 2001 Conference on World Peace will not be kept — and that they refuse to keep their written contract. All this less than three weeks before the Conference begins, and after the apostolate has expended more than $100,000 on advertising and other arrangements. When pressed for an explanation for this breach of contract, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart claims that it suddenly had to schedule a “structural inspection” of its facilities — during the very week the apostolate's conference is to be held!

September 28, 2001 - Father Gruner receives a letter directly from Bishop Dziwisz, the Pope's personal secretary, dated August 24, 2001, which is photographically reproduced along with the English translation on the following page. In the letter, Bishop Dziwisz warmly wishes Father Gruner well with his upcoming conference on Fatima and world peace in Rome and expresses his regrets that he could not attend the conference due to the Synod of Bishops taking place at the same time. Bishop Dziwisz has been Pope John Paul II's personal secretary for some 35 years, and is like a son to the Holy Father. Bishop Dziwisz's expression of support and good wishes to Father Gruner demonstrates that the worthless denunciation of Father Gruner published by “mandate of a higher authority” on September 12, 2001 could not have emanated from the papal household, leaving Cardinal Sodano as the only other “higher authority” who could have instigated the groundless denunciation.

October 25, 2001 - Cardinal Ratzinger admits to a “destabilizing [of] the internal equilibrium of the Roman Curia” due to reports (following the September 11th terrorist attack on New York) of a letter from Sister Lucy to the Pope concerning the Third Secret and dangers to the world and the person of the Pope. Ratzinger does not explicitly deny the existence of this letter. This admission indicates that widespread skepticism over the Vatican's Fatima disclosures apparently extends even into the Curia itself.

December 2001 - Father Gruner gives an interview with the editor of The Fatima Crusader in an article entitled “Don't Shoot the Messenger”. It is summarized by the following statement: “God's law and the law of the Catholic Church (Canon Law) itself states clearly (see Canons 221, 1321, 1323) that no priest in the Catholic Church can be penalized with any ecclesiastical penalty whatsoever, if the priest has not committed a criminal act or transgression of Church Law or precept. Since no such crime or transgression has ever been committed by Father Gruner, it is absolutely clear and certain that Father Gruner is not suspended a divinis . Anyone, even a Cardinal, who says Father Gruner is suspended is either misinformed or malicious.”

Castel Gandolfo, 24 August 2001

       “Reverend Father,

       “In your letter of last July 10 you have invited me to participate in the fifth Conference for World Peace which will take place in Rome from the 7th to the 13th of October.

       “I thank you warmly and up to now I have hopes that this meeting dealing with such an important topic as World Peace will be crowned with great success.

       “I will not be able to be present at the event because at that time the Synod of Bishops will be in progress here in the Vatican.

       “With cordial greetings and the wish that the Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, grant to all every desired good.

Signed By (Bishop) + Stanislaw Dziwisz

December 20, 2001 - In response to mounting public skepticism about the completeness of the Vatican's disclosure of the Third Secret, the Vatican apparatus suddenly publishes a secret “interview” of Sister Lucy, purportedly conducted by Archbishop Bertone more than a month earlier (November 17) at the convent at Coimbra. The “interview” consists of nothing more than Bertone's Italian language report of what Sister Lucy is supposed to have said in Portuguese. According to Bertone, Sister Lucy said that the consecration of the world in 1984 has been “accepted by heaven” (for what purpose she did not say), and that “everything has been published.”

       The “interview”, which Bertone claims went on for two hours, contains only 44 words alleged to be from the mouth of Sister Lucy concerning the matters in controversy (the consecration of Russia and the Third Secret). No transcript or other independent record of the “interview” is provided, making it impossible to determine what exactly Sister Lucy was asked during the closeted two hour interrogation, or the context of the 44 words she is alleged to have uttered during those unrecorded two hours. [The numerous suspicious circumstances of this secret “interview” are analyzed in the article entitled “Let Us Hear the Witness, for Heaven's Sake”, by Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq. in Issue 70 (Spring 2002) of The Fatima Crusader. See also Chapter 14 of this book.]

January 2002 - Despite the Vatican's claim that the entire Third Secret has been released, Sister Lucy remains under orders not to speak in public about the Message of Fatima without permission from Cardinal Ratzinger or the Pope himself. And, as the world spirals downward into violence and the loss of God, the Consecration of Russia remains undone. The annihilation of nations hangs in the balance as the world prepares for war. As this book goes to press in December 2002 and the threat of war looms even greater, Sister Lucy is still bound to silence.

Where Do We Stand?

       Here is where we stand, 85 years after the Message of Fatima was delivered to the three seers by the Mother of God:

       Less familiar to many, however, is the struggle within the Church itself concerning the Fatima Message and its enduring importance in our own times. Despite official approval of the Fatima apparitions, there remains today a small but powerful group within the Church actively working to suppress Our Lady's full Message.

       Yet, millions of souls still look to the Message of Fatima with faith and hope, continuing to believe that the Mother of God did not come to earth in vain. Joining in a great grassroots crusade, over FIVE MILLION people have petitioned the Pope for the Consecration of Russia and full public disclosure of the Third Secret.

       We have presented this chronology in the hope that it will give all Catholics and others of good will the opportunity to judge the facts for themselves. We have not included any unsupported testimony or documents whose authenticity is open to question.

       We earnestly encourage all those seeking the saving light of Our Lady's Fatima Message to join with us in asking our Holy Father the Pope and other Church leaders to free Sister Lucy from her 42-year ordeal of silence and to publicly release Our Lady's Third Fatima Secret in its entirety.

       We prayerfully request your help in bringing this information to the attention of your family, friends and associates. The stakes could not be higher: world peace on the one hand, or the annihilation of various nations on the other; the salvation of millions of souls, or the loss of millions of souls for all eternity.

       As always, God leaves the choice for good or evil in our hands. He will give us the grace to act, but He will not force us to do what is right. To do what is right is our duty as Catholics before God. Let us do what is right, respecting the Heaven-sent Message of Fatima — for the sake of ourselves, our loved ones, America, our homelands and the whole world.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

Father Paul Kramer
B.Ph., S.T.B., M.Div., S.T.L. (Cand.)