Third Secret of Fatima: Document is "Authentic" -- But is it Compete?

(Rome) In the coming days, the investigation of a handwritten document will be published which is attributed to  Sister Lucia dos Santos. The Third Secret of Fatima, which was was made public as a handwritten document by Pope John Paul II and the then Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the Holy Year 2000 is "authentic" and was written by Lucia dos Santos. She was the oldest of the three shepherd children at Fatima, where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1917. The nun died in 2005. Does the document published in 2,000 treat the full Third Secret? 

The   handwritten document extant in 2000 was investigated by the paleographer Maria José Azevedo Santos of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra. In the document, the seer described the scene  with the "bishop dressed in white" who suffers martyrdom along with many Christians on the summit of a mountain. A prophecy that John Paul II was referring to as the 13 May 1981 assassination attempt perpetrated on him in St. Peter's Square. The Pope wrote about the happy deliverance as the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima.

Paleographer Confirmed Authenticity of the Handwritten Document

Maria José Azevedo Santos gave an interview to  the official publication of the Portuguese pilgrimage site Voz da Fatima which will be released for the next issue on the 13th of January. The Catholic press agency of Portugal has made a preliminary report.

"The Church has no doubt that it is an original document. This is an authentic document, which was written personally by Sister Lucia," said Maria José Azevedo Santos. The scientist had the opportunity to examine the document last September in the archives of the Congregation. The absence of the signature of Sister Lucia takes away nothing of the authenticity of the document. A comparison of this document with the Third Secret with other handwritten texts of the seer and nun leaves no doubt. The scientific conclusion can therefore only be that this document was actually written by Sister Lucia, says the Paleographer.

Critics Don't Doubt the Authenticity, But Completeness

Around the release of the Third Secret in 2000, there have been numerous polemics. However, most critics do not doubt the authenticity of the document, but are of the opinion that it was not published in full, but only a part.

According to the main strand of criticisms, which, however, was also repeatedly rejected by the Vatican, there still  must an additional paper in addition to the published sheet describing the appearance in the words of the Mother of God, with whom she explained the importance of vision to the shepherd children. This also explains the absence of the signature of Sister Lucia, because it's probably located on another sheet at the end of the transcript.

Cardinal Ratzinger: There is No "Official Interpretation" of the Third Secret

As Cardinal Ratzinger explained the contents of the Third Secret in June 2000 at the request of John Paul II to the press, he put value on the finding that there is no "official interpretation" given by the Church suggesting it was Pope Wojtyla himself  as the "bishop dressed in white" who was killed. John Paul II sent the then Secretary of the Congregation of the Faith, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone Curia to Sister Lucia. At that time, the  93 year old  nun had confirmed this interpretation of the Pope's.

Pope Benedict XVI:. Third secret is not yet fulfilled?

A little later, Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Pölten said that Cardinal Ratzinger, did not share the interpretation of John Paul II relating the vision to himself. In fact,  Pope Benedict XVI then expressed himself very cautiously  on his 2010  Portugal trip, and left open the possibility that the prophecy has not been fulfilled, or at least not completely satisfied.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Voz da Fatima

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Fatima and the Third Secret -- Why is Pope Francis Having the 97 Year Old Secretary of John XXIII Come to Rome?

(Rome) Is there a Marian reading of recent church events? Antonio Socci focuses on this question in the news daily Libero (April 14). Pope Benedict XVI., who sees his powers dwindling  and does not feel strong enough to face the challenges of the time announced his resignation on the 11th February, taking place on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes,.

His successor, Francis is elected on March 13 , a date that commemorates the apparitions of Fatima. In the small Portuguese city, the Mother of God appeared between the 13th of May and 13th of October on the 13th of each month before three children. The 13th Day of each month is Fatima Day in  Catholic piety  and thus is a Marian date.

Sister Lucia of the Immaculate Heart,  which was the religious name of one of the children, wrote down the Third Secret of Fatima in 1944 after much reluctance. Only when she was stopped from writing expressly by her bishop, she got the call. The minutes were kept by the Bishop of Leiria, since 1957 and they are located in the archives of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith in Rome. Each newly elected Pope is shown the content of the the Third Secret by the time of his inauguration.  Only in 2000, did Pope John Paul II  order the publication of the secret to counteract speculation about a near end of the world or a third world war.

Much has been puzzled about the Third Secret of Fatima, about "a Bishop dressed in White”, which was written of by the Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three seers: "We had the idea that it was the Holy Father.” 

Pope John Paul II referred to the prophecy when he and the then Secretary of the Congregation, now the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, made to reveal the third secret in the Holy Year in 2000 by the then Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In the belief, which was granted to the shepherd children by Our Lady, they saw that the white-robed Bishop is killed by soldiers. In 1981, a few months after the assassination attempt on John Paul II by the Soviet hired assassin Ali Agca, Cardinal Ratzinger, the previous Prefect of the CDF, Franjo Cardinal Seper, had made a connection between the vision and  the Pope surviving the severe injuries inflicted by the attack . The attack was on May 13th was committed on the day of Fatima. The Pope ascribed his salvation to the Mother of God.

Early on, however, there were doubts whether the publication was complete. Due to past testimony of several top church officials, several lines seem to have continued to be kept secret. However, doubts were also placed on the interpretation. Among others, it was the Austrian Bishop Kurt Krenn of Sankt Pölten, who publicly reported a little later about such doubts of Joseph Ratzinger. The Prefect of the CDF had therefore been of the opinion that the prophecy was not referring to the assassination, but had a far greater dimension. One dimension that concerns the whole Church, as well as the popular intuition showing in the murder of the other bishops, priests and lay Catholics. So the Third Secret concerns future events that have yet to occur.

Recently, the question is raised whether the words referred to the resigned Pope or to his successor, who likes to call himself "Bishop of Rome".

Francis saw how Pope John Paul II had a special devotion to Mary. The Mother of God is Francis' first "escape" from the Vatican on the day after his election, when he went to venerate the icon in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and also prayed at the grave of Pope St. Pius V.  In his first Angelus in St. Peter's Square, he mentioned Fatima.  About two weeks ago  Pope Francis surprisingly called  Archbishop Loris Capovilla.  The now over 97 year old, retired Curial Archbishop was the first secretary of Pope John XXIII from 1958 to 1963.  On Easter Monday, the 1st of April, the phone rang. The Pope was personally at the other end and told Capovilla  he wanted to meet with him. The Monsignor promises soon to come to Rome, where he has not been any more since the beatification of John XXIII on 3 September 2000.

The reason it is said that the old prelate was to be placated, that  the Pope wanted to say thank you for a brochure that Monsignor Capovilla had written for the Year of Faith and Cardinal Comastri had given to the Pope. The Pope’s call merely to say thanks for a brochure was not convincing in the least for a set of Vatikanisten.

Capovilla was the last topic of conversation, because he talked about a memorandum that Benedict XVI. had written for his successor. The Vatican denied the allusion. At the meeting of the two Popes in Castel Gandolfo, in any case, a box full of documents and a large, sealed envelope was seen.

"Why has the Pope contrived to want to see  the former secretary of Pope Roncalli in the first month of his pontificate and at he exclusion of the public? What was so urgent?” asked Antonio Socci.

On the 7th of April the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Jose Policarpo of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, of which he is chairman, announced that Pope Francis had asked the patriarch to consecrate his pontificate of Our Lady of Fatima. The consecration will be on 13 May, taking place on the 96th Anniversary of the apparition.

Is Pope Francis talking with Archbishop Capovilla about the Third Secret of Fatima? He, therefore, is making him come to Rome, as the timing of the announcement made shortly after he consecrated  as his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima suggests? What does the Pope think or know related to the prophecy and the future of the Church? What must we expect?

Text: Martha Weinzl
Picture: Fatima

Translation: Tancred

Link to Katholisches… 

Additional background on Antonio Socci’s work…and Cadinal Capovilla...