The Fatima Prophecies

Our lady of Fatima	Candles for Our Lady of Fatima

The Fatima prophecies have always attracted the attention of many people Catholic and not Catholic alike. Our Lady of Fatima or the Virgin of Fatima appeared to Lucía Santos, Francisco Marto and her sister Jacinta in six different occasions in 1917 at the Cova da Iria (Cove of Irene) with the purpose of revealing three secrets that would change the 20th century.

Lucia, the oldest of the three shepherds talked about these three prophecies in her memoirs but she never revealed the last prophecy to the world. Only to the pope at the time on January 3rd 1944, and on May 13 2000 the prophecy was revealed to the world by the State Secretary Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

The Fatima Prophecies

The first of the prophecies says that Our Lady of Fatima showed Lucia hell where the souls of sinners go. To save them, God wishes were to establish the devotion to the immaculate heart around the World. Many Catholics also believe the vision of hell can be interpreted as World War II.

Our Lady of Fatima Church
Picture by Tet_Sy

In the second of the Fatima prophecies our Lady of Fatima tells Lucia that the First World War will end soon. However, if humanity didn’t stop offending God a second world war worst than the first one was going to happen under Pope Pio XI.

The Virgin of Fatima gave signs to look for and said that God was going to punish the world for all its sins through wars, hunger, and persecution of the church and the pope. To avoid all that she asked for the consecration of Russia to her immaculate heart and the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays of each month.

If her petition were embraced, Russia would convert and there was going to be peace. Otherwise Russia would spread errors throughout the world promoting war and church persecution. Good people would suffer martyrdoms and the pope would suffer very much.

Several nations would be destroyed, but at the end her immaculate heart would triumph. The pope will consecrate Russia to her and this country will convert and some time of peace will happen on earth.

Many Catholics believe this describes the rise and fall of Soviet Communism and the damage it caused to the Catholic faith. In the article “Vatican ends mystery of the third prophecy of Fatima” published in 2000, CNN reported that the third of the Fatima prophecies refers to the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

In the article, Cardinal Sodano talks about the meaning of the third part of the secret of Fatima by saying the prophecy talks about ‘”a bishop clothed in white" who "falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire."’

The Vatican interpreted Lucia’s writing saying it refers to the attempted assassination of pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981 at St. Peter's Square in Rome. John Paul II believes the Virgin Mary saved his life.

Even though we now know all the Fatima prophecies and their apparent meanings, the interest in the prophecies and fervor for Our Lady of Fatima has not ceased. To this day the town of Fatima attracts about 5 million pilgrims each year, and many catholics including those belonging to Hispanic culture are accustomed to pray the rosary to the virgin Mary.