A Jubilant Return

MAY 13 OF THIS year marks the 89th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary at the small Portuguese city of Fatima. The Marian village has prepared itself to receive great crowds of pilgrims, greater even than last year, because this will be the first time that the bodies of the three visionaries, Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia are reunited since the time of the original apparitions in 1917.
Fatima, however, is not the only city to be celebrating. Rome, too, has made special preparations for May 13, which marks the 1981 attempt on Pope John Paul II's life in St. Peter's. That event has created an enduring bond between our late Pontiff and Fatima. 'One hand fired the shot, another one guided the bullet', John Paul was to say, acknowledging in this way his debt to Our Lady of Fatima.

Brighter than the sun

Sister Lucia's body was transferred on February 19 of this year from the small cemetery of the Carmel at Coimbra to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, where the bodies of Francisco and Jacinta have been lying for years. Despite persistent rain, more than 100,000 people from all over the world braved the elements to witness the reburial of the last of the three Fatima seers.
That area was a wild uninhabited grazing ground in 1917, when the three shepherds saw a 'Lady brighter than the sun', an event that heralded a series of unprecedented spiritual revelations that touched upon the most significant events of the 20th century.
During the second apparition, which took place on June 13, Lucia, who was feeling indescribable joy, suddenly told the mysterious Lady, 'I would like to ask you to take us to Heaven.' To which the luminous Lady replied, 'I shall take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes to use you to make me better known and loved on earth. He also wishes to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart'.
Fracisco and Jacinta did in fact die just after two years. Lucia, instead, remained in the world until February 13, 2005 - another 88 years.
Sr. Lucia knew that a tomb had been prepared for her next to that of Jacinta in the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. However, before her death, she had expressed the wish to remain buried, if only for a while, in the private cemetery of the Monastery of Coimbra to remain close to her fellow Sisters with whom she shared 57 years of earthly life.
During the reburial ceremony, Cardinal José da Cruz Policarpo, Archbishop of Lisbon, said it was probable that Sr. Lucia would also be beatified, but every aspect of her long life would have to be examined, together with her writings, which include thousands of letters.

The Secret of Fatima

In Christianity's 2,000 year-long history, Our Lady has revealed herself in many different times and places. About a thousand of these apparitions are regarded as authentic. However, the most important and impressive seem to be those of Fatima, especially because of their strikingly prophetic content - the part called the 'Secret of Fatima'.
In July 13, 1917, at the beginning of the third apparition in the six-month series, the Virgin manifested to the three small shepherds a vision of hell in all its ghastly reality, and announced that, in order to spare souls from meeting such a terrible fate, 'God wanted to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart'. The Lady also  announced the imminent end of the war then afflicting humanity (the First World War), but promised that a second, much worse one would ensue if the world did not repent, and indicated the exact time when it would break out and the 'signs' that would herald it. The Virgin then began to speak about Russia in connection to the world-wide conflict. 'To prevent the war, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the first Saturdays. If people attend to my requests, Russia will be converted and the world will have peace. If not, she [Russia] will scatter her errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be destroyed'. At this point, the Virgin Mary gave a graphic description of the viciousness of the forthcoming persecutions, and of an attempt on the Holy Father, and concluded, 'in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me; it will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world'.
It is evident that Russia plays an important role in these messages, but the most remarkable aspect is that the prophecies came true with nearly clockwork precision. The Consecration of Russia demanded by Our Lady was not celebrated and, as predicted, the Second World War broke out. After this, Russia began spreading her ideological errors around the world. The machinery of organised atheistic communism unleashed a series of systematic cold-blooded purges against the Church and her members, with hundreds of millions of people deprived of their basic freedoms and even their very lives. Whole nations were swallowed up into what became the Soviet Union, the Holy Father suffered much and, in 1981, almost lost his life after being fired at by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish man who had probably been commissioned by the Communists.

Great and hidden service

However, a positive aspect that came out of the assassination attempt against the Pope was that the Fatima messages suddenly achieved greater credibility - at least in the eyes of the Pope himself. In fact, John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta in May 2000, and began increasingly to consult the last remaining visionary, Sister Lucia.
We know that Karol Wojtyla, after the attempt on his life, conferred with Lucia dos Santos on a number of occasions. The cloistered nun eventually prevailed upon the Holy Father to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as demanded by Our Lady in 1927 - this occurred in March 1984. In the year 2000 John Paul II finally gave permission to publish the third part of the 'Secret'.
Upon Sister Lucia's death, the Pope sent a 'message' to the bishop of Coimbra to be read during the funeral service. In the letter the Pope openly acknowledged the importance and validity of the Fatima messages, and highlighted Sister Lucia's work in favour of the Church, 'The visit of the Virgin Mary, which little Lucia received in Fatima together with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta in 1917, was for her the beginning of a singular mission to which she remained faithful until the end of her days. Sister Lucia leaves us an example of great fidelity to the Lord and of joyful adherence to his divine will'. John Paul II then became more personal, 'I remember with emotion the various meetings I had with her and the bonds of spiritual friendship that, with the passing of time, were intensified. I have always felt supported by the daily gift of her prayer, especially in the harsh moments of trial and suffering. May the Lord reward her amply for the great and hidden service she has done to the Church'.

Unprecedented recognition

The Holy See's final endorsement of the Fatima apparitions came with the publication of the third and final part of the 'Secret', and by the Pope's public admission that he saw himself as the 'bishop dressed in white' referred to in Lucia's account, of whom she wrote, 'we had the impression that it was the Holy Father. Other bishops, priests, men and women religious were going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross'. Her account then continues with an impressive description of the assassination of the 'bishop dressed in white' at the top of the steep mountain.
It is important to bear in mind that the endorsement of this message was an official decision on the part of the Holy See. This recognition was preceded and followed by the publication of two important documents, first the reading in Fatima of the actual text of the third part of the 'Secret' by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State. This televised speech was delivered in front of  a crowd of 2 million people in the presence of the Pope John Paul himself. Then, in the following month, a second document was issued in which the message was given an official interpretation. This was done during a press conference by the then Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Cardial Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
Never, in the course of its 2,000 year history, had the Holy See committed itself so much to any 'private revelation', which Cardinal Sodano went to the point of calling 'the greatest in recent times'.

Unending speculation

Some Mariologists claim that the secrets of Fatima have not been wholly revealed, others believe that Lucia dos Santos had disclosed other secrets to John Paul II, which the Pope, however, chose to keep hidden.
Who armed the assassin's hand? Why did John Paul go out of his way to meet the demands of the Virgin Mary? What threats were pending on the world? How were they avoided?
Like all the great mysteries, those of Fatima may never be wholly revealed. Full light may be shed on them only 'at the end of the world', when we shall enter into the 'Kingdom' promised to us by Christ, but Fatima remains a hallmark along our path to that glorious moment.
The three visionaries, Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia, whose bodies will now remain at rest side by side at the Basilica of the Apparitions at Cova da Iria until the day of the Resurrection, are beacons of hope and light for us, like Pope John Paul II, who believed and loved them with great passion and conviction.