Editor’s Note: The First Part reviews some basic elements in the Message of Fatima and emphasizes that we do not recommend Robert Sungenis’ new book. Why? Because it erroneously claims Russia has already been consecrated as requested by Our Lady of Fatima.
Father Thomas McGlynn
What is not disputable is that there was an astounding miracle of the sun that was predicted months in advance to occur at noon on October 13, 1917. Approximately 70,000 people gathered to see it. Even some atheists were there to ridicule the visionaries and believers, so certain were they that the miracle would not happen. To the amazement of all, however, it did.
Several eyewitness accounts of the miracle are recorded in the book Vision of Fatima, by Fr. Thomas McGlynn, O.P. (Sophia Institute Press, 2017). Father McGlynn created the statue which appears on the outside of the basilica of Fatima. It is a representation of how Our Lady appeared to the children on June 13, 1917, based on a series of interviews of Sister Lucia in 1947. Reading just this one book should be enough to convince you that Robert Sungenis cannot be correct in saying that the promises of Fatima have been fulfilled.
“Establish Devotion in the World to My Immaculate Heart”
In that June 13 apparition of Our Lady, She requested that the “Fatima prayer” be added to the recitation of the Rosary:[1] “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need.” According to the superior of Sister Lucia, it was her understanding that “those most in need” were those in imminent danger of damnation. That would make sense considering that the word “hell” immediately precedes “lead all souls” in that prayer. Our Lady also told Lucia at that time: “He [Jesus] wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to My Immaculate Heart.”
Notice that the wish of Our Lord was to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary “in the world” and not just “in the Church.” As He had desired to save the entire world (1 Tim. 2:4) and one can only be saved in His Name (Acts 4:12), so He had chosen to come into the world only through Mary, and thus She is the Mediatrix of All Graces. His wish, then, was that the entire world recognize that it has salvation in Jesus through Mary.
The Rosary and the Immaculate Conception
This was further confirmed in questions put to Sister Lucia by Fr. McGlynn. When asking Sister Lucia about Our Lady’s request that men “not offend Our Lord anymore,” Fr. McGlynn asked: “Did Our Lady address this to you three children or to the whole world?” Sister Lucia replied: “I believe it was for the whole world.” Again, when asking her about praying the Rosary, he asked if every Catholic was supposed to pray the Rosary. Sister Lucia replied that when Our Lady said “Pray the Rosary always” it was addressed to everyone in general.
Note that not only has the world not taken up the practice of praying the Rosary, but neither the Eastern Orthodox nor the Russian Orthodox faithfully practice this devotion. Further, the Orthodox do not recognize that Mary was immaculately conceived without sin.[2] It is inexplicable how someone could think that having Russia merely revert back to its schismatic Orthodox pre-marxist practices would fulfill Our Lady’s request to pray the Rosary always and Our Lord’s request to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary when they do not even pray the Rosary or believe in the Immaculate Conception!
When asked about the Consecration of Russia, Sister Lucia was emphatic in saying that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world, but of Russia. Father McGlynn knew that Pope Pius XII had indeed consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31, 1942, and asked Sister Lucia if Our Lady’s request had been complied with. She said: “As Our Lady made it, no. … Whether Our Lady accepted the consecration made in 1942 as fulfilling Her wish, I don’t know.” But Heaven could not permit such doubt about so crucial a question to persist for long. Therefore, in May of 1952, Our Lady Herself appeared yet again to Sister Lucia to repeat and clarify Her Fatima request: “Make it known to the Holy Father that I still await the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. Without this Consecration Russia cannot be converted, nor can the world have peace.”
Sister Lucia also said that she thought that if the Consecration of Russia had been made according to the promise of Our Lady, World War II would have been prevented. When asked about the details of the Consecration, she said that in 1929: “Our Lady commanded that the Holy Father consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and that he command all the bishops to do it also in union with him at the same time.”
The Miracle of the Sun
Fr. McGlynn was also able to question Sister Lucia and others who witnessed the Miracle of the Sun. There is an entire chapter in his book on the miracle. He admitted that the best reason for believing in Fatima is the Miracle of the Sun. One interesting point is that Sister Lucia did not know what the nature of the miracle would be until it happened.
One of the most mysterious aspects of the miracle was that, although it was of short duration, the ground and the clothes of the people that had been drenched by a heavy rain just prior to the miracle were suddenly dry afterwards. The amount of heat required to do that on a natural basis would have incinerated everything, so this defies any natural explanation.
But what most impressed Fr. McGlynn about the miracle was that the witnesses experienced it in different ways. Sister Lucia herself did not even remember saying what many people heard her say when it happened: “Look at the sun.” She also did not see the solar phenomena, only the visions of St. Joseph, the Christ Child, Our Lord, Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
Other witnesses saw the sun move; some saw it move in a straight line, others saw it zig-zagging, still others saw it spinning. Some saw colors, others did not. Some saw clouds in front of the sun, others did not. One witness even said that she did not see the sun at all, only clouds. Some people miles away saw the miracle even though they did not expect it. There can be no reasonable, natural explanation of a single event that appeared differently to various witnesses, so this is another verification of the astounding, supernatural character of the miracle.
Has the Immaculate Heart of Mary Triumphed?
Even though a spectacular solar miracle occurred on October 13, 1917, which was promised months in advance in order to confirm the veracity of the Message, it was basically ignored by the Popes until Pius XII decided to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31, 1942, and then consecrate Russia specifically on July 7, 1952. Neither consecration was done in union with all the other bishops, as the surviving Fatima visionary Lucia said was required by Our Lady.
Admittedly, World War II went much better for the Allies after the 1942 consecration, and the USSR tended to soften their hardline positions after the 1952 consecration. But was that it? Was there nothing more to be done? Was merely the failure of the superpowers to wage nuclear war the period of peace? What about everything that happened in the Church and the world in the 1960’s, the effects of which we are still feeling today? Far from being deterred by questions of this kind, Robert Sungenis, in Fatima Fulfilled But Still Foreboding, finds a confirmation for his view in the “fact that no cataclysmic punishment came to earth in 1960.”
Yet, even liberals within the Church say that John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 1984, and by extension Russia. He even requested other bishops to join him. The USSR and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, which many people attributed to that consecration, even though it took them five years to realize that it had been done – or so they thought. But Robert Sungenis assures us that he has now figured out what really happened: “I now see from heaven’s interpretations that a more local and time-constrained understanding of the historical data is needed. It will reveal what we missed and it will help close the book on this rather confusing period.”
Basically, starting on June 13, 1929, Our Lady requested through Sister Lucia that Russia be consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart. In August 1931, Our Lord complained to Sister Lucia that it had not yet been done. It appears that God was trying to prevent World War II. Pius XII finally consecrated the world in 1942, which marked the beginning of the end of that war; and then he consecrated Russia specifically in 1952, which prevented the world from being annihilated by a nuclear holocaust.
There is a famous 1957 interview of Sister Lucia by Fr. Fuentes which is mentioned in Sungenis’ book. It was the last time that she was allowed to speak freely. No further consecrations are requested by Lucia at that time, only prayer and penance to avert a chastisement. In that interview, Lucia says the following:
“Father, the Blessed Virgin is very sad because no one heeds Her message; neither the good nor the bad. … Believe me, Father, God is going to punish the world and very soon. The chastisement of Heaven is imminent. In less than two years, 1960 will be here and the chastisement of Heaven will come and it will be very great. … Many nations will disappear from the face of the earth, and Russia will be the instrument of chastisement unless all of us, by prayer and sacrifice, obtain the conversion of that poor nation.”
If in 1957 Lucia could say that “no one heeds Her message,” it is very difficult to understand how anyone could think that the Immaculate Heart had triumphed. Even fewer Catholics are paying attention to the Fatima Message now, especially since most of them think everything has been accomplished. Anyway, 1960 came and went without any nations disappearing from the face of the Earth. So, obviously, enough prayer and sacrifices were made to avoid that, right? On top of that, many Orthodox churches have been built in Russia since 1989, so it must have converted, no?
[1] In Her apparitions at Fatima, Our Lady always used the Portuguese word Terço – meaning “one-third” –in the expression “Say the Rosary always” to indicate the five-decade set of beads.
[2] As many Catholics know, Our Lady also promised a special grace of salvation to those who fulfill the First Saturday Reparatory Devotion on five consecutive months. When Sister Lucia asked ‘why five,’ Our Lord explained it was for five major offenses against Our Lady – one of which is the denial of Her Immaculate Conception!
CONTINUATION OF THE ARTICLE:
Read Part I introducing the error to guard against.
Read Part III addressing the spread of the Errors of Russia.
Read Part IV addressing the Message of Our Lady at La Salette.
Read Part V addressing the Three Days of Darkness.
Read Part VI addressing Catholic Prophecy that is linked to the Message of Fatima.