Pope Benedict in Fatima, Portugal

Pope Benedict XVI

Today, Pope Benedict XVI visited Fatima Portugal. And I saw a video of him visiting the Chapel of the Apparitions of Fatima.

The Pontiff has made various statements in the past about the messages that the apparitions may have told the children. Considering his past, I was slightly surprised that he choose to visit there. But, the reality is that many Catholics believe that apparitions claiming to be Mary will appear in the latter days for all to see (and this may well be), and so because of this my surprise was only slight.

The Vatican claims that the following is the complete text of the “third secret” of Fatima that Lucia wrote down in 1944 (I saw the original text in what has claimed to be her own writing at a Vatican website, which of course was in Portuguese). According to Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), “we come finally to the third part of the “secret” of Fatima which for the first time is being published in its entirety”:

“J.M.J.

The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.

I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.

“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 splendor 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.

Tuy 3-1-1944.”

(Source: JosephCard. Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html)

Some claim that the full story of Fatima was not revealed (or at least not understood) as it pointed to the rise of an Antipope:

Father O’Connor quotes from Holy Scripture, the stunning prophecies of St. Vincent Ferrer, Pope St. Pius X, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John Eudes, Sr. Lucy of Fatima, Pope Pius XII and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Father explains how God will and is punishing the world for sin, and that the Fathers of the Church all wrote that the False Prophet would be a Catholic Bishop who will become an invalid anti-pope while the real Pope dies a cruel death in exile. http://www.catholictreasures.com/cartdescrip/20104.html 10/12/07

Twice now Kathleen Keating has been interviewed on Art Bell. Recently deceased Father Malachi Martin was a guest on Art Bell numerous occasions. Ms. Keating revealed that she had spoken with Malachi Martin and shared the same information during their interviews. BOTH revealed on air that (this is paraphrased) “the Fatima secret was the worst thing you could ever imagine and then go way beyond that”…

Kathleen Keating, author of “The Final Warning” http://www.finalwarningthebook.com/ was Art’s guest, I think on February 20th and again on April 12th of this year. Her interviews were riveting as were Malachi Martin’s. Both of these people, especially Kathleen, were up front that the famed secret stated the next Pope will be the False Prophet or the AntiPope as Catholics refer to him (Did The Vatican Reveal The FULL Fatima Prophecy? From Stan and Holly Deyo http://www.millennium-ark.net 5-14-00. http://www.rense.com/general/fullfatima.htm 10/10/07).

Malachi Martin, in his last interview on the Art Bell Show, spoke of an Anti-Pope. There was a caller calling in from Australia, and he said that a Jesuit had revealed to him that in the Third Secret it is revealed that there will be, as it were, a pope who was entirely in the control of the devil. Malachi answered, “that sounds like the verbatim words of the Secret.” (The Imminent Chastisement for Not Fulfilling Our Lady’s Request given at the Ambassadors of Jesus and Mary Seminar in Glendale, California, September 24, 2004 by Priest Paul Kramer, B.Ph., S.T.B., M.Div., S.T.L. (Cand.) http://www.fatima.org/crusader/cr80/cr80pg32.asp 10/10/07).

It should be noted that according to the Keating interview, the false prophet would be the current pontiff–but in one of her writings that I have seen, she indicates that it would be the next pontiff. I do not believe that the current pontiff will be the false prophet, but it is remotely possible.

On October 13, 1917, the apparition again allegedly appeared and caused various signs that tens of thousands claimed to witness (Flynn, pp. 137-138).

While I personally do not accept that Mary herself appeared in Fatima, I do not doubt that some apparition appeared. And, I believe that the final pope will have a lot of demon-influence, and hence could be considered as an antipope–but I base this upon a variety of scriptures, however, and not any apparition claiming to be Mary.

Some believe that the following apparition, which appeared on October 13, 1973 to “Sister Agnes Sasagawa at Akita, Japan”, gave a message that was related to the message of Fatima:

As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity…The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops…the Church will be full of those that accept compromises…Pray very much the prayers of the rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which will approach. Those who place their confidence in me shall be saved (Flynn, p. 148).

And again, while I do not believe that it is possible that Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared, the truth is that some of what is contained in some of the messages allegedly from the apparitions will come to pass.

It probably should be noted that according to some (who apparently do not accept Cardinal Ratzinger’s statements and/or interpretations as complete), “we now know through the message of Our Lady of the Roses is the heart of the Third Secret and the tragic consequences of our grave omission: namely, that satan himself would enter into the highest realms of the hierarchy in Rome in 1972” (http://www.smwa.org/Documents/Bayside_and_Fatima/Document_Heart_of_Third_Secret.htm) and “”…The Third Secret, My child, is that satan would enter into My Son’s Church.” – Our Lady, May 13, 1978” (http://www.tldm.org/directives/d130.htm).

Allegedly, “Mother Godinho” sent the following in a letter to Pope Pius XII in 1954:

I am the godmother of Jacinta Marto, the seer of Fatima, who made me privy to the following secret, which I have kept religiously for many years, but now as I feel death approaching, I wish to communicate it to Your Holiness. Under oath I guarantee that what I say expresses purely and simply what I heard from her, and which forms my secret. Here is the essential part. “Mother, tell the Holy Father that the world is troubled and Our Lady can no longer hold back the arm of Her beloved Son, Who is very offended by the sins committed in the world. If, however, the world decides to do penance, She would come to its aid again, but if not, chastisement would infallibly fall upon it, for its lack of obedience to the Holy Father.”

Jacinta then asked me to tell the Holy Father and His Excellency, the Bishop of Leiria, that the house I occupy at Fatima ought to be called, “the House of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima”, and that the sisters of this order, after their approval, were to take the name of “Claretian Sisters of Mother Mary da Costa,” and that they would keep united to the Vatican to prepare for the year 1972, because the sins of impurity, vanity, and excessive luxury would bring great chastisements to the world, which would cause great suffering to the Holy Father. “Poor Holy Father!” she would say. (Mother Maria of the Purification Godinho to Pope Pius XII, April 25, 1954. http://www.tldm.org/news/godinho.htm viewed 03/27/10)

Whether or not the Fatima apparition said anything like that (or if Lucia was aware of any of this) it is not clear. It should be noted that many private “Catholic” prophecies teach that changes and one or more “antipopes” are expected in Rome (see article on Catholic prophecies). Notice, also, the following from 1972:

Pope Paul VI spoke on June 29 at St. Peter’s Basilica and said: “By means of some fissure, the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God…(Ligourian, Volume 60, 1972, p. 70)

Because of the above statement, some believe that this confirmed that the third message of Fatima had to do with sin/Satan entering/taking over the Church of Rome beginning in 1972.

Because of reports like this mentioning 1972, some Catholics believe that the previous pope and current pontiff have not been truly faithful to the Church of Rome. I, however, do believe that the current Pope Benedict XVI is commited to the Roman Catholic faith as he understands it–but the one who replaces him may not be if my understanding of biblical and other prophecies are correct–the next pope is likely to be an antipope/antichrist (see 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect).

For more information on Fatima and other mystic Catholic claims, please check out the following:

Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What happened at Fatima? What might they mean for the rise of the ecumenical religion of Antichrist? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How do the Orthodox view Mary? How might Mary view her adorers?
Do Certain Catholic Prophecies About Antichrist Warn Against Jesus? Will the final “Anti-Christ” be Jewish, insist on Saturday, be opposed to the trinity, and bring in the millennium? Certain Catholic writings indicate this, while others take a different view, but what does the Bible show?
Catholic Prophecies: Do They Mirror, Highlight, or Contradict Biblical Prophecies? People of all faiths may be surprised to see what various Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophets have been predicting as many of their predictions will be looked to in the 21st century.
End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? Are there Mayan calendar predictions for change in 2012? Changes were centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans. Do Mayan/Hindu/Hopi/Buddhist/New Age/Nostradamus prophecies have any value here? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012? How might Barack Obama be involved in 2012?