Benedict XVI Confirms “Third Secret of Fatima” Released in Full, Says Vatican

[gilliam]

VATICAN CITY — Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has said he never told anyone the publication of the “Third Secret of Fatima” in the year 2000 was incomplete, and has confirmed the document was published in its totality, the Vatican announced today.

According to a statement released on Saturday by the Holy See Press Office, regarding various recent articles on the “Third Secret of Fatima”:

“Several articles have appeared recently, including declarations attributed to Professor Ingo Dollinger according to which Cardinal Ratzinger, after the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima (which took place in June 2000), had confided to him that the publication was not complete.”

The Vatican Press Office statement continues: “In this regard, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI declares ‘never to have spoken with Professor Dollinger about Fatima’, clearly affirming that the remarks attributed to Professor Dollinger on the matter ‘are pure inventions, absolutely untrue’, and he confirms decisively that ‘the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima is complete’.”

• See more at: aleteia.org/2016/05/21/benedict-xvi-confirms-third-secret-of-fatima-released-in-full-says-vatican/#sthash.4jLTw3TR.dpuf

 

[deaconjohnO]

Wow, that is very interesting that the Vatican felt compelled to release such a statement so quickly.

 

[RPRPsych]

Good for Pope Emeritus Benedict.

This will certainly queer the pitch of those folks who want to construct a “Catholic Rapture” out of their Fatima conspiracy theories. Huzzah!

 

[patrick457]

Good for Pope Emeritus Benedict.

This will certainly queer the pitch of those folks who want to construct a “Catholic Rapture” out of their Fatima conspiracy theories. Huzzah!

Deniers will deny, conspiracy theorists will continue, even if Our Lady herself were to appear again and confirm that the secret was released. I mean, last time I checked, I’ve seen people who claim that the ‘Sr. Lucia’ we’ve all been seeing was really an impostor planted to hide the real secret - the real one was supposedly confined somewhere in God-knows-where.

Anyways, good news.

 

[Mintaka]

I feel sorry for Pope Benedict. He seems to have always supported the release of the Third Secret, as soon as he was clued in on it by Pope St. John Paul II when he was still a cardinal. So it gets released, and people go all conspiracy and say that it’s not all released. And then he repeats when he’s pope that it was already all released, and you get more conspiracy theory. And now even in his retirement, he’s having to say “it’s all released” again. How many more times? Seventy times seven?

Anyway, just for folks’ reference, here’s the English translation of the Third Secret, from over at EWTN. There’s plenty of apocalyptic stuff in it already, so I don’t know what more people could want.

 

[RPRPsych]

Deniers will deny, conspiracy theorists will continue, even if Our Lady herself were to appear again and confirm that the secret was released. I mean, last time I checked, I’ve seen people who claim that the ‘Sr. Lucia’ we’ve all been seeing was really an impostor planted to hide the real secret - the real one was supposedly confined somewhere in God-knows-where.

Anyways, good news.

Don’t I know - I wrote a novel-length story (fan fiction, so I’m not posting a link here) about a fictional version of that tinfoil theory. The story was quite somber, but I had fun writing it.

 

[commenter]

I feel sorry for Pope Benedict. He seems to have always supported the release of the Third Secret, as soon as he was clued in on it by Pope St. John Paul II when he was still a cardinal. So it gets released, and people go all conspiracy and say that it’s not all released. And then he repeats when he’s pope that it was already all released, and you get more conspiracy theory. And now even in his retirement, he’s having to say “it’s all released” again. How many more times? Seventy times seven?

Anyway, just for folks’ reference, here’s the English translation of the Third Secret, from over at EWTN. There’s plenty of apocalyptic stuff in it already, so I don’t know what more people could want.

Fatima was approved by the Church at a time when most Catholics had a fairly good understanding of public revelation, the doctrine of the Church. So many might benefit from this private revelation, and they were. For decades, the good of this devotion outweighed the occasional distractions. In recent decades, Catholics are far less informed of public revelation, and secular distractions are 100 times worse, magnified by the media.

Would Fatima be approved today? not sure; I would be reluctant for the Church to approve any private revelation now, at least until our doctrinal foundations are restored.

 

[RPRPsych]

Fatima was approved by the Church at a time when most Catholics had a fairly good understanding of public revelation, the doctrine of the Church. So many might benefit from this private revelation, and they were. For decades, the good of this devotion outweighed the occasional distractions. In recent decades, Catholics are far less informed of public revelation, and secular distractions are 100 times worse, magnified by the media.

Would Fatima be approved today? not sure; I would be reluctant for the Church to approve any private revelation now, at least until our doctrinal foundations are restored.

Very good points! In this age of information overload, but little understanding of doctrine beyond a surface, proof-text level (present company excepted! ), private revelations have to be approached with great caution. Look at the way people are led astray by “seers” like Vassula Ryden and Veronica Lueken. Heck, look at all the fuss surrounding The Place That Shall Not Be Named. I fully agree with you that we need to be stronger on the basics before we start trying to study more advanced matters.

Also: in the days of Fatima, Lourdes, etc., the devotions were primarily about faith, prayer and repentance; even though Fatima’s message had historical relevance, there was no “Fatima Apocalypse” cult running around in 1917 or even in 1939. It is in our secular-influenced, Protestant-tinged, sensation-seeking world, today, that private revelations such as Fatima, La Salette and Akita have become political and eschatological footballs, to the detriment of the Faith and (it has to be said) even the possible ruin of souls.

 

[GEddie]

Wow, that is very interesting that the Vatican felt compelled to release such a statement so quickly.

Hardly.

This particular doubt has been out for years. The Vatican has had a **long **time to respond.

 

[XndrK]

Good for Pope Emeritus Benedict.

This will certainly queer the pitch of those folks who want to construct a “Catholic Rapture” out of their Fatima conspiracy theories. Huzzah!

“Queer the pitch”? Is that a Britishism?

 

[commenter]

Hardly.

This particular doubt has been out for years. The Vatican has had a **long **time to respond.

The Vatican did respond, when they released the contents of the third secret. They responded since then. They likely have to respond to “doubts” on a regular basis. I am sure this “particular” doubt will be recycled every 6 months, from now on, each time with slight changes. All the “new” doubts will be couched in language that supposedly we now have new information that there were additional provisions in the secret that were withheld, with a whole army of supposed experts offering new insights.

(BTW, how does someone get to be an “expert” on a private revelation, without access to Mary?)

 

[zab]

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html
Vatican document that includes photocopied letter of Sr. Lucia describing the Third Secret of Fatima

 

[McCartney]

Deniers will deny, conspiracy theorists will continue, even if Our Lady herself were to appear again and confirm that the secret was released. I mean, last time I checked, I’ve seen people who claim that the ‘Sr. Lucia’ we’ve all been seeing was really an impostor planted to hide the real secret - the real one was supposedly confined somewhere in God-knows-where.

Anyways, good news.

I’ve heard that one about Sr. Lucia. There’s a whole lot of rubbish on the internet. The latest is that Catholics do not worship Jesus Christ but they worship the Pope.

 

[pnewton]

There was a thread here last week on this, based on gossip and rumor, though if you look at the chain, it is seems unavoidable that at least one person in the link was a bald-faced liar. This needs to be remembered the next “Fatima crusade” that arises. Some people will lie to promote the idea that they are the only true special ones and the Church is involved in a conspiracy and cover-up. We need to remember who the Father of Lies is.

 

[RPRPsych]

“Queer the pitch”? Is that a Britishism?

Yes, for “make conditions unfavourable” (approximately). Sorry if it sounded weird…

 

[OraLabora]

Fatima was approved by the Church at a time when most Catholics had a fairly good understanding of public revelation.

I’m not so sure. My mother, with a grade 10 education was very simple in her faith and such concepts were beyond her grasp. And she wasn’t alone.

 

[commenter]

I’m not so sure. My mother, with a grade 10 education was very simple in her faith and such concepts were beyond her grasp. And she wasn’t alone.

Your mother, and mine (perhaps both now in Heaven) if they had a typical Catholic upbringing, probably had the religious information they needed, in terms of basic knowledge of Catholic doctrine. The process, from the time of St. Pius X until the late 60s, was to cover the outline of belief in very basic terms for very young children, then revisit the outline a few more times after that - even through college. This was all reinforced by occasional doctrinal sermons, even after you left school. The level of disinformation was far less than it is now. So my mother, and later myself, say, around 1960, were able to handle the private revelations, fitting them into the basic understanding of public revelation we already had.

Today’s young people are drowning in disinformation, countless mini magisteriums on the Right and Left. College grads today are more confused than good people 2 generations ago who only had 10 years of schooling.

 

[Holly3278]

I am glad that the Vatican issued this statement from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I get tired of seeing people not trusting the Vatican when it comes to issues like this.

That said, I did somehow end up on the mailing list of a seemingly dissident organization concerning Fatima several years ago. I subscribed to their mailing list not knowing that they don’t agree with what the Vatican says about it. Basically they believe that the consecration of Russia to the Blessed Virgin Mary never actually took place as it was supposed to. They might also have other views that contradict those the Vatican tells us is actually true. I am not sure. I requested them to remove me from my mailing list sometime ago but I continue to get mail from them and it’s been over a year since I requested that they remove me from their mailing list.

 

[GEddie]

I just dislike the attempt to sow distrust between the people and the Hierarchy. Everybody should forget Fatima-related conspiracies and do penance!

IMNAAHO and ICXC NIKA

 

[JimG]

The original information from the Fatima visionaries was that the 3rd secret could not be released on 1960. In 1960 I was the editor of a Catholic college newspaper. I was patiently awaiting publication of the 3rd secret, so we could cover it. But nothing was forthcoming. It was a long wait.