Made public in the jubilee year 2000, the last part of the Fatima secret has sparked numerous disputes. While some contest even the integrity of what was published, suspecting that certain parts of the secret were hidden, others consider that it is over. The prophecy has been fulfilled, everything has ended, and the secret can be placed on the shelf of past histories alongside other private revelations. In many cases, this opinion is based on the consecration of Russia by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984, which is believed to have accomplished the request made by the Holy Virgin Mary.
Unfortunately, however, neither then, nor during the consecration made by Pope Francis on March 25, 2022, were the required conditions rigorously observed. Among others, Father Thomas Crean O.P. has shown why the act of Pope John Paul II did not fulfill the requests of the Virgin Mary.[i] Michael Boharski suggests, probably correctly, that even the consecration made by Pope Francis “may be defective in intent and form” and, in any case, it comes too late.[ii] That being said, I hasten to specify that I will not discuss in this article the issue of the consecration of Russia. That is because what I want to address here is the issue of the interpretation of the conclusion of the third part of Fatima’s secret (i.e., “the third secret”).
The interpretation of Pope John Paul II thus implies the literal fulfillment of the prophecy. The Holy Father himself was the target of an assassination attempt reminiscent of the “group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him” from the final part of the secret. However, certain details may allow us to raise some questions.
The reason the Vatican published the last part of the secret was revealed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano in an address published on May 13, 2000. Essentially, His Eminence shows that Pope John Paul II stated in a meditation with Italian bishops at Gemelli Hospital after the failed assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, “that it was ‘a motherly hand which guided the bullet’s path,’ enabling the ‘dying Pope’ to halt ‘at the threshold of death’.”[iii] Unequivocally, the suggestion implies the fulfillment of the prophecy, which led to the idea of revealing the last part of the secret. Ultimately, nearly twenty years after the assassination attempt against the pontiff, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed then by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, published it. Here is the description of Sister Lúcia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos, OCD, taken directly from the text published on the official website of the Vatican:
“After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!.’ And we saw in an immense light that is God: 'something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father.’ Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.”[iv]
The interpretation of Pope John Paul II thus implies the literal fulfillment of the prophecy. The Holy Father himself was the target of an assassination attempt reminiscent of the “group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him” from the final part of the secret. However, certain details may allow us to raise some questions. For example, if firearms were mentioned, which may seem similar to the attacker’s weapon, what significance do the arrows hold? They indicate weapons of the past that have no meaning today. Moreover, strictly speaking, during the assassination attempt, there were no other victims – “Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.” If such things may seem difficult to reconcile with a strictly literal interpretation of the attempt on Pope John Paul II, another interpretation appears to be deeply correct. It belongs to Father Franz Schmidberger, who was the first Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X – between 1982 and 1994 – after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
However, at the same time, the presence of enemies equipped with bows and arrows seems to indicate another category of adversaries: the spirits of evil, demons, and the ceaseless temptations (the arrows) targeting the souls of Christians.
In a sermon delivered in Fatima in 2017, on the occasion of the centenary of the apparitions of the Holy Virgin Mary, Father Schmidberger briefly and clearly presented a spiritual interpretation of the “historical” part of the third secret. Here is the key passage:
“The Third Secret as published by Rome, mentions a destroyed city with many dead. It is the City of God, the Church, and the dead bodies are the souls that are dead in the supernatural order. The assassination of the pope, the bishops and the priests indicates, without a doubt, the loss of the faith of a large number in the Church.”[v]
Although expressed in succinct phrases, this interpretation proposed by Father Schmidberger reveals to us the real, concrete situation of the Church after the Second Vatican Council. Every detail is relevant. First and foremost, we understand that the city in ruins indicates the general state in today’s world of the struggling Church, associated with the “ruin” of what Pope Pius XI called “the social kingship of Christ” in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925). This ruin has occurred with the broad concurrence of both secular leaders and popes and hierarchs in recent decades.
Can anyone doubt now, in 2024, that things are exactly as the prophecy describes them? Can we doubt that indeed the true faith (i.e., orthodox faith) has been lost by numerous members of the Church? Is this not the main core of the crisis in which we find ourselves presently? Many hierarchs no longer believe in the dogmatic and moral teaching revealed by God and transmitted to us through His Church. The bishops of Germany are just one example of such a widespread situation. However, as Father Schmidberger shows, disbelief means the death of the soul. One heresy alone is sufficient for such a fatal outcome. But today we are surrounded not by one heresy, but by a cloud of heresies. This is what was named by Saint Pope Pius X “modernism,” which, at least for the moment, seems triumphant.
Certainly, Pope John Paul II’s interpretation is not contradicted by the spiritual interpretation given to the Fatima secret by Father Schmidberger. The presence of soldiers armed with modern firearms may indicate physical enemies – whoever they might have been – who planned the assassination attempt against the Holy Father. However, at the same time, the presence of enemies equipped with bows and arrows seems to indicate another category of adversaries: the spirits of evil, demons, and the ceaseless temptations (= the arrows) targeting the souls of Christians. When King David asserts in Psalm 90 that, being protected by divine Truth as by a shield, he does not fear “of the arrow that flieth in the day” (Psalm 90:6), he speaks of demonic attacks, of temptations. For every temptation is an arrow targeting our heart, our supernatural faith. However, even if the assassination attempt in 1981 may indicate the fulfillment of the prophecy from the last part of the Fatima secret, Father Schmidberger’s spiritual interpretation sheds light upon it, making intelligible not only the situation back then but also the situation of the Church at this moment in the year 2024.
At the same time, the solution proposed by Heaven through the Holy Virgin Mary remains the same: conversion and penance based on humble recognition of one’s own mistakes and sins, the prayer of the Holy Rosary (especially when said within the family), consecration to the Immaculate Heart on five consecutive Saturdays. If we also add the reading of the Holy Scriptures and the Roman Catechism, I believe we are on the right path. And never forget the cult of the saints and the invocation of their intercessory prayers, especially those of the martyrs who, like Saint Thomas More, gave their lives for the faith. It is their blood that strengthens us and helps us advance through the valley of death to the Kingdom of Heaven.
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[i] The explanation proposed by Father Thomas Crean O.P. can be read in his article “Fatima and the Consecration of Russia” available here: http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/thomas-crean/conversion-of-russia.htm [Accessed: 03 March 2024].
[ii] Michael Boharski, “The Consecration of Russia: Too Little, Too Late”: https://onepeterfive.com/consecration-russia-too-little-too-late/ [Accessed: 03 March 2024].
[iii] Cardinal Angelo Sodano’s address can be read here: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20000513_sodano-fatima.html [Accessed: 03 March 2024].
[iv] The full message and accompanying texts can be found on the official Vatican website at the following address: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html [Accessed: 03 March 2024].
[v] Delivered in French, the sermon can be listened to here: https://soundcloud.com/fsspx-audiofile/sermon-abbe-schmidberger [Accessed: 03 March 2024]. The English translation can be read on the official website of the SSPX here: https://fsspx.uk/en/sermon-fatima-marys-message-35858 [Accessed: 03 March 2024].
