The Third Secret Revealed!

Doubtlessly, the Third Secret mainly refers to a spiritual chastisement. Far worse, even more fearsome than famine, wars, persecutions, for it concerns souls, their salvation or their eternal perdition. The late Father Alonso, named in 1966 as official archivist of Fatima by Bishop Venancio, has proved that this is what the Third Secret contains. He wrote about it in one of the volumes of his great critical work, consisting of 14 volumes, which unfortunately, he was forbidden to publish. But he was able, all the same, before his death on December 12, 1981, to make known to us his conclusions in various pamphlets and numerous articles in theological journals.
My personal research has only permitted me to clarify, to complete, to be more specific about his thesis which new documents have come to confirm.
Here is the most important: On September 10, 1984, Bishop Cosme do Amaral, the present Bishop of Leiria, Fatima, in the Aula Magna (large auditorium) of the Technical University of Vienna, declared in the course of a period of questions and answers: "The Third Secret of Fatima speaks neither of atomic bombs nor of nuclear warheads, nor of SS20 missiles. Its content, he has insisted, concerns only our faith. To identify the Secret with catastrophic announcements or with a nuclear holocaust is to distort the meaning of the Message. 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."(15)
For ten years, the Bishop of Fatima kept an absolute silence about the content of the Third Secret. When he opens his mouth in order to make so resolute a public statement, one can be morally certain that he has not said this without having beforehand consulted Sister Lucy. We can be all the more certain of this since in 1981, he had already refuted some false secrets while saying that he had questioned the seer on the subject.
This is to say that the thesis of Fr. Alonso is now publicly confirmed by the Bishop of Fatima: It is the terrible crisis within the Church. It is the loss of faith that the Immaculate Virgin has foretold, precisely for our era, if Her requests were not sufficiently carried out, and it is this drama which we have been witnessing since 1960. The essential having been said, I shall now content myself to mention the principle stages of my proof regarding the true content of the Third Secret.

In the first chapter(16), I set forth the reasons which prove that the Third Secret deals specifically with the loss of faith. It is the principle element of the Secret that we already know. In effect, we know more than only the context of it. Sister Lucy was desirous to indicate to us the first sentence of it, "In Portugal, the dogma of faith will always be preserved, etc." This little sentence which the seer surely and intentionally added when she wrote down the first two parts and the conclusion of the Secret for the second time in her Memoirs, is definitely significant. It provides us very discreetly, with the key to the Third Secret.
Here is the judicious commentary of Father Alonso: "'In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved". This sentence in all clarity implies the critical state of the faith which will befall other nations. That is to say that there will be a crisis of faith, while Portugal will save its faith". "Therefore", Father Alonso writes further, "in the period which precedes the great Triumph of the Heart of Mary, the terrible things which are the object of the third part of the Secret, will occur. Which ones? If, 'In Portugal, the dogmas of faith will always be preserved,' one can deduce from it with perfect clarity that in other parts of the Church these dogmas either are going to become obscure or else even be lost."
Most of the experts have adopted this interpretation: Father Martin dos Reis, Canon Galamba, Bishop Venancio, Father Luis Kondor, Father Messias Dias Coelho. Last November 18th, in the course of a conference that he gave in Paris, Father Laurentin declared himself also in favor of this solution.(17)
Let us add that Cardinal Ratzinger has himself spoken in this sense to Vittorio Messori, while saying that the Third Secret concerned "the dangers threatening the faith and life of Christians". Finally, as we have said, the present Bishop of Fatima is still more explicit. He lets it be understood that it is a crisis of faith, on the scale of several nations and entire continents ... such a defection has a name in Holy Scripture: It is apostacy. It is possible that this word is found in the text of the Secret.

In another chapter(18), I show that there is more: The Third Secret insists surely on the heavy responsibility of consecrated souls, of priests, and even bishops themselves in this unprecedented crisis of faith which has hit the Church for 25 years. I provide several proofs of it, several very clear indications. I must be content here to cite to you Father Alonso: "It is therefore completely probable that the text of the Third Secret makes concrete allusions to the crisis of faith within the Church and to the negligence of the pastors themselves."
He speaks further of "internal struggles in the very bosom of the Church and of grave pastoral negligence by the high hierarchy", of "deficiencies of the upper hierarchy of the Church."
These very serious words, Father Alonso has surely not written and published them so clearly and openly without having carefully considered the whole impact. As official archivist of Fatima, would he have adopted after 10 years of labors and various interviews, various conversations with Sister Lucy, a position so bold on a subject so red hot without being assured at least of the tacit agreement of the seer? The answer does not permit any doubt at all.
This declaration of the deficiencies of the Hierarchy explains the haunting concern of the three seers forcing themselves to pray, to pray much and to sacrifice without ceasing for the Holy Father; the three months of insurmountable anguish that Sister Lucy had to face before daring to write down this text. It explains finally why the Popes since the optimist John XXIII, have hesitated, delayed and ceaselessly put off until later its publication, seeking at all costs to keep it hidden.

In the third chapter(19), I show that Sister Lucy, without doubt, echoed a theme of the Third Secret in certain of her words and letters where she lays stress on the unleashing of the devil in our era. Already in 1957, she was confiding to Father Fuentes, "The Most Holy Virgin has told me that the devil is about to engage in a decisive battle against the Virgin ... and that he knows what most offends God, and what will make him gain the most souls in the shortest possible time. He does everything to gain souls consecrated to God, for in this manner, he will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them."
But it is especially in a series of very little known but very important letters in the years 1969-1970, that she uses some striking expressions to describe the present crisis of the Church. And, let us note it well, through the pen of a soul who is so humble, and so respectful of authority, that such strong expressions are without doubt the echo of the words heard from the very lips of the Immaculate Virgin in Her Final Message concerning the protection of the faith and the welfare of the Church.
"I see by your letter," she writes to a priest, "that you are preoccupied by the disorientation of our time. It is sad, in fact, that so many persons let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is sweeping the world and that they are blinded to the point of being incapable of seeing error! The principle fault is that they have abandoned prayer, they have in this way become estranged from God, and without God, everything is lacking."
The devil is very cunning and looks for our weak points in order to attack us."
If we are not diligent and careful to obtain from God strength, we shall fall, for our age is very wicked and we are weak. Only the strength of God can keep us on our feet."
In a letter to a friend who is zealously involved in the defence of Marian Devotion, Sister Lucy writes:
"Let people say the Rosary every day, Our Lady has repeated that in all of Her apparitions, as if to fortify us in these times of diabolical disorientation, in order that we not let ourselves be deceived by false doctrines ... Unfortunately, in religious matters the people for the most part are ignorant and allow themselves to be led wherever they are taken. Hence, the great responsibility of the one who has the duty of leading them ...
"It is a diabolical disorientation that is invading the world, deceiving souls! It is necessary to stand up to 'the devil'."
On September 16, 1970, she writes to a religious friend: "Our poor Lord, He has saved us with so much love and He is so little understood! So little loved! So badly served! It is painful to see such great confusion, and in so many persons who occupy places of responsibility! ... For us, we must try, as much as it is possible for us, to make reparation through a still more intimate union with the Lord ... It pains me to see what you are saying, but now, that is happening around here also! ... The fact is that the devil has succeeded in bringing in evil under the appearance of good, and the blind are beginning to lead others ... This is like the Lord told us in His Gospel, and souls allow themselves to be taken in. Gladly I sacrifice myself and offer God my life for peace in His Church, for priests and for all consecrated souls, especially for those who are so deceived and misguided!"

For the confidant of the Virgin Mary, evil is not only in our world "in decadence", "plunged into the darkness of error of immorality and pride". Evil is also in the Church itself, where the devil has his "followers" and his "partisans" who are always "forging ahead with intrepid audacity". Facing them, there are so many "timid persons" who do not have the courage to take a stand. And Sister Lucy is not afraid to state that many bishops are among their number. Moreover, it is not only a question of luke-warmness or of pastoral neglect, Sister Lucy lets it be clearly understood that it is the faith itself that is being attacked. She speaks of "false doctrines" and of "diabolical confusion", of "blindness" and this, among the very ones "who have great responsibility" in the Church. She deplores the fact that, so many pastors "let themselves be dominated by the diabolical wave that is invading the world". Could one better describe the crisis of the Church that has opened itself to a world ... of which satan is the prince?
But Sister Lucy insists, "The Virgin knew that these times of diabolical disorientation had to come." All these words of the seer and so many others that we can cite, are explained perfectly, and take on great prominence, if on July 13, 1917, in Her Third Secret, the Virgin specifically foretold this "diabolical disorientation" which would suddenly invade the Church, if Her requests were not obeyed.

To someone who was questioning her on the content of the Third Secret, Sister Lucy one day replied: "It's in the Gospel, and in the Apocalypse, read them." She has also confided to Father Fuentes that the Virgin Mary has made her see clearly that "We are in the last times of the world." This does not mean, one must emphasize, the time of the end of the world and of the last judgement, since the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary must come first. Cardinal Ratzinger himself discreetly alluding to the content of the Secret of Fatima, has mentioned three important elements: "The dangers threatening the faith," "the importance of the last times" and the fact that the prophecies "contained in this Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture." We even know that one day Lucy indicated Chapters 8 and 13 of the Apocalypse.
That is why, in the last two chapters of my book, I take up the great teachings of Our Lord, of St. Paul and St. John so ignored today! - Announcing the troubles, the heresy and finally the great apostasy which will arise in the Church during the "last times". And the objective comparison of the prophecies of Scripture - very particularly those of the Apocalypse - and the great prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, at the dawn of our Century shows indeed very numerous and quite striking parallels.