Fatima Message
Q: I would like to know what the secret was that the Blessed Virgin Mary gave to Lucy at Fatima. It was supposed to be revealed to the world in 1960.
I feel if the Blessed Virgin didn’t want us to know she would not have told Lucy in the first place. No matter what the secret is, it won’t have any effect on my life, but I’m sure it would help a lot of unbelievers.
A: Sister Lucy, a cloistered Carmelite nun, wrote the third part of her apparitions in 1944 and gave them in a sealed envelope to the bishop of Leira, the Portuguese diocese where Fatima is located. The message was to be opened in 1960 or after her death—whichever came first.
Before the bishop died in 1957, the envelope was given to the Sacred Congregation for the Holy Office (since 1965 known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). Pope John XXIII opened it in 1960 and showed it to one person, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, head of that congregation.
The letter was resealed and, to the best of my knowledge, has not been read again. Cardinal Ottaviani later said that all the stories circulating about the contents of the letter were fantasies.
Whatever the contents are, they cannot be central to our faith because they are a private revelation, no matter how widely they are publicized.
I very much doubt that publishing that letter would cause many nonbelievers to become believers. It is surely better to use the Scriptures, the tradition and teachings of the Church, the sacraments and the good example offered by the saints over the centuries as guides to our decisions.
Unfortunately, Christians can become so interested in something like the Fatima secret that they neglect God’s public revelation given through the Scriptures. If you keep close to the Scriptures and the sacraments, you will not go wrong.
I feel if the Blessed Virgin didn’t want us to know she would not have told Lucy in the first place. No matter what the secret is, it won’t have any effect on my life, but I’m sure it would help a lot of unbelievers.
A: Sister Lucy, a cloistered Carmelite nun, wrote the third part of her apparitions in 1944 and gave them in a sealed envelope to the bishop of Leira, the Portuguese diocese where Fatima is located. The message was to be opened in 1960 or after her death—whichever came first.
Before the bishop died in 1957, the envelope was given to the Sacred Congregation for the Holy Office (since 1965 known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). Pope John XXIII opened it in 1960 and showed it to one person, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, head of that congregation.
The letter was resealed and, to the best of my knowledge, has not been read again. Cardinal Ottaviani later said that all the stories circulating about the contents of the letter were fantasies.
Whatever the contents are, they cannot be central to our faith because they are a private revelation, no matter how widely they are publicized.
I very much doubt that publishing that letter would cause many nonbelievers to become believers. It is surely better to use the Scriptures, the tradition and teachings of the Church, the sacraments and the good example offered by the saints over the centuries as guides to our decisions.
Unfortunately, Christians can become so interested in something like the Fatima secret that they neglect God’s public revelation given through the Scriptures. If you keep close to the Scriptures and the sacraments, you will not go wrong.
posted by See Tho Zhang Jacob at
11:05 PM
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