Put the clues together… Reconstruct the scene…
Editor’s Note: We recently mailed a new flyer to all our donors, entitled The Third Secret of Fatima in Brief, which we encourage you to share with others. For those interested in the topic of the Third Secret, we encourage you to read The Fatima Crusader, Issue 130, Spring 2023.
This article by John Vennari (R.I.P.) was originally published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue #85 (2007), pp. 32-44 and has been slightly edited.
Another Discrepancy:
“Expressions of Portuguese Dialect”
In the same chapter of his book, Socci raises other points that suggest two different texts of the Secret. One of the most striking concerns the reported “dialectical Portuguese expressions” that the Secret contains.
Socci notes that Cardinal Ottaviani had said that when John XXIII opened the envelope [containing the Secret] and read it, he understood it completely even though it was written in Portuguese. Yet Frère Michel of the Holy Trinity, author of The Whole Truth About Fatima, points out that the Pope had engaged a certain Msgr. Tavares to help him understand certain Portuguese expressions. Archbishop Capovilla also testifies that since the text contained expressions of Portuguese dialect, “a priest was called named Msgr. Tavares.”
Socci insists this discrepancy can only be understood if there are two texts of the Secret, one that John XXIII could read without assistance from Msgr. Tavares, and another that required his aid.
Mr. Socci tested this theory by consulting Mariagrazio Russo, an expert in the Portuguese language, who conducted an accurate analysis of the Vision of the Secret released by the Vatican in 2000. Not only did Russo conclude there were many inaccuracies in the official Vatican translation of Sister Lucia’s four-page Portuguese text (which is curious in such an important Vatican document), but she found no regional or “dialectical expression”. This can only mean that what the Vatican revealed is different from the text read by John XXIII containing “dialectical expressions” for which he required a Portuguese assistant.
How Could it Happen?
Mr. Socci constructs a hypothetical account of what happened in 2000 behind Vatican walls. Socci believes that when John Paul II decided to release the Secret, a power-struggle of sorts erupted in the Vatican. He postulates that John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger wanted to release the Secret in its entirety, but Cardinal Sodano, then Vatican Secretary of State, opposed the idea. And opposition from a Vatican Secretary of State is formidable.[1]
A compromise was reached that sadly reveals heroic virtue from none of the main players.
The “Bishop dressed in White” vision, which is the four pages written by Sister Lucia, would be initially revealed by Cardinal Sodano, along with his ludicrous interpretation that the Secret is nothing more than the predicted 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.
At the same time, at the May 13, 2000 beatification ceremony of Jacinta and Francisco, Pope John Paul II would “reveal” the other part – the most “terrifying part” – of the Secret obliquely in his sermon. It was here that John Paul II spoke on the Apocalypse: “Another portent appeared in Heaven; behold, a great red dragon.” (Apoc. 12:3) These words from the first reading of the Mass make us think of the great struggle between good and evil, showing how, when man puts God aside, he cannot achieve happiness, but ends up destroying himself … The Message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the “dragon” whose “tail swept down a third of the stars of Heaven, and dragged them to the earth.” (Apoc. 12:4)[2]
The Fathers of the Church have always interpreted the stars as the clergy, and the stars swept down by the dragon’s tail indicates a great number of churchmen who would be under the influence of the devil. This was Pope John Paul II’s way of explaining that the Third Secret also predicts a great apostasy.
It was an implicit revelation of the Secret. This way, the Vatican, and the Pope himself, could not be accused of lying to direct questions: “Has the Third Secret been entirely revealed?” Answer: “Yes, it all has been fully revealed.”
There are some who may find this hypothesis difficult and far-fetched. Normal people, they might object, just don’t act this way. I, however, find the hypothesis plausible.
Plausibility of Our Historical Reconstruction
First, anyone familiar with Vatican Romanita should have no difficulty accepting the plausibility of such a hypothesis.
The Vatican is a Roman bureaucracy in place since the time of Charlemagne. It can be the most tactful and prudent at its best, or the most evasive and cunning at its worst. Romanita is a brand of power that is master of the understatement. It is adept at slipping out of awkward situations. It neither affirms nor denies. It responds to questions by asking its own questions. It evades with a disarming charm.
As we now live in a period when “the smoke of Satan has entered the Church”, we must painfully admit that the post-Conciliar Vatican, in most cases, has long abandoned the Gospel dictum “let your yes be yes and your no be no”. (Matt. 5:37) This is one of the reasons the hard-hitting traditionalist publication in Italy called itself Si Si No No: literally, “Yes, Yes, No, No,” since getting a straight “yes” or “no” from present-day Vatican officials – finding out what a Vatican official truly thinks – can prove to be an impossible task.
Second, we have the statement by Bishop Williamson [R.I.P., formerly of the Society of Saint Pius X], who relates that a priest acquaintance from Austria told him that Cardinal Ratzinger confided (to the Austrian priest) that he had two things weighing on his conscience. One was his mishandling of the Message of Fatima on June 26, the other was his 1988 mishandling of Archbishop Lefebvre. Cardinal Ratzinger is reported to have said that in the case of Archbishop Lefebvre, “I failed,” and in the case of Fatima, “my hand was forced.” Socci’s hypothesis supports Cardinal Ratzinger’s alleged statement on the forcing of his hand.
Third,[3] we have the testimony from Fr. Ino Dollinger, a personal friend of Benedict XVI, who affirmed to Dr. Maike Hickson that in 2000 Ratzinger told him that the totality of the Third Secret had not been released.
Fourth, during his sermon at Fatima on May 13, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI seems to have expressed public contrition for the deceit perpetrated by the Vatican’s interpretation in 2000. Recall, the official narrative in 2000 was that the entire content of the Secret related to events already fulfilled. However, Benedict stated: “He deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded.” A few days earlier in a planned interview, Pope Benedict had explained that the Secret of Fatima is about “future realities of the Church which are little by little developing and revealing themselves.” He then indicated the Church must necessarily endure a Passion, and that terrible “sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church” and not just from the outside. In fact, in a really terrifying way, “the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from enemies outside, but arises from sin in the Church.”
These admissions from Pope Benedict XVI indicate to the whole world that the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima deal with the great apostasy (crisis) in the Church, as other prelates had previously testified – that the Message is not all in the past but still awaits future fulfillment, and that the Third Secret was not entirely revealed.
Mainstream Reviews
Socci’s book contains many other points too numerous to detail here. He speaks of John XXIII’s and Paul VI’s mild contempt for Sister Lucia; the fact that the hidden part of the Secret predicts a grave crisis of Faith and probably contains negative warnings about Vatican II; and the absurd November 17, 2001 closed-door interview with Sister Lucia by then-Archbishop Bertone in which he claimed that Sister Lucia agreed with everything in the June 26 document, even though the document undermined Fatima so severely that the Los Angeles Times headlined its article on it: “The Vatican’s Top Theologian Gently Debunks a Nun’s Account of Her 1917 Vision That Fueled Decades of Speculation”.
Socci further says that the unpublished text of the Secret most likely contains warnings of immense natural disasters.
As for the Consecration of Russia, Socci concludes that it has yet to be accomplished. This is evidenced by simply looking at the decadent state of Russia. We can only applaud Socci’s common sense. Only the most irreligious and brain-dead commentators could insist that today’s Russia – now rampant with divorce, abortion, cults, and homosexuality – attests to the promised Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
There is much more contained in the book’s 252 pages. As it is published by a major publishing house in Italy, it is likely to enjoy wide circulation and generate much discussion. A Fatima Center contact in Rome tells us the book received mainstream reviews in all the major Italian newspapers (including il Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, Libero and Il Giornale) and it seems to be causing a good bit of turmoil inside the Vatican. As we go to press, the Vatican has issued no comment.
We can only hope the book will be published in English, and other major languages, as soon as possible.
Editor’s Note: This book, The Fourth Secret of Fatima by Antonio Socci, has indeed been published in English by Loreto Publications and we encourage you to read it. The entire Message of Fatima, including an extensive treatment of this book, is the subject of a seven-part course by David Rodríguez. It is available through the St. Vincent Ferrer Foundation and simply titled “Our Lady of Fatima.”
[1] Editor’s Note: A prelate has testified that years later, when Ratzinger was Pope, Benedict XVI indicated that the Secretary of State wields more power than the Pope in today’s Vatican. One wonders if the power struggles suspected by Socci were some of those “hard lessons” learned which made Ratzinger think in these terms and even ask for prayers upon his elevation to the papacy that he would not “flee from the wolves.” It was Cardinal Jean Villot, Secretary of State under Paul VI, who restructured the Vatican Curia so that the office of Secretary of State would wield such power. It is reliably reputed that both he and his successor, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Secretary of State under John Paul II, were members of freemasonry. For more on this topic listen to The Fatima Center’s interview, “Investigation into the Vatican Freemasonry with Fr. Charles Murr.”
[2] Editor’s Note: The reader should also be aware that when pressed regarding the contents of the Third Secret, Sister Lucia herself said it was contained in Sacred Scripture, specifically chapters 8-13 of St. John’s Apocalypse.
[3] Editor’s Note: These third and fourth reasons were not in John Vennari’s initial article, because he wrote it in 2007 before these truths came to light. However, these additional facts are treated in The Fatima Crusader, Issue 130, Spring 2023.