On February 8, 1960 (just over a year after the Council had been called), the Vatican issued the following anonymous announcement through the A.N.I. press agency:
Vatican City, February 8, 1960 (A.N.I.) – It is probable that the “Secret of Fatima” will never be made public. In Vatican circles highly worthy of belief, they have just declared to the representative of United Press International that it is most likely the letter will never be opened, in which Sister Lucy wrote down the words which the Virgin Mary addressed to the three shepherds of the Cova da Iria … It is most probable that the “Secret of Fatima” will remain forever under absolute seal.
*******And in the same communiqué we find the first direct attack from Vatican sources on the credibility of the Message of Fatima as a whole:
Although the Church recognizes the Fatima apparitions, She does not pledge Herself to guarantee the veracity of the words which the three shepherds claim to have heard from Our Lady.
*******
Claim to have heard? Could there be any doubt about the veracity of their testimony after the Miracle of the Sun? Could there be any question that they had been given an authentic prophecy from Heaven in view of the complete fulfillment of every prediction in the Message thus far—from the imminent end of World War I, to the spread of Russia’s errors, to World War II and the election of Pope Pius XI?
*******This first public attack on the Message of Fatima from within the Vatican apparatus comes in 1960, as the Vatican begins to pursue a new orientation of the Church that will arise … at the Second Vatican Council. Consider these developments surrounding the February 8, 1960 communiqué:
Code:
• The communiqué publicly questions the veracity of Lucy, Jacinta, and Francisco.
• From 1960 forward, Sister Lucy is silenced on orders of the Vatican apparatus,[5] so she could not defend herself from the implied accusation that her testimony is unreliable.
The documents in the official Fatima archives, which Father Alonso will compile between 1965 and 1976, (more than 5,000 documents in 24 volumes) will be barred from publication, even though these documents confirm that the Fatima prophecies in the first two parts of the Secret (the election of Pope Pius XI, the coming of World War II, the spread of Communism throughout the world, etc.) had been revealed privately by Sister Lucy long before their fulfillment, and that her testimony was utterly accurate and reliable.
(Footnote 5:
Jesuit Father Aparicio was Sister Lucy’s confessor and spiritual director from 1926 to 1938. Then he was sent to Brazil as a missionary and corresponded with Sister Lucy over the years. In 1950 he returned to Portugal for a short while and visited Sister Lucy both in 1950 and in 1951 without difficulty.
Father Aparicio testified that in August 1960, during a month-long visit to Portugal, he was not allowed to speak to Sister Lucy: “I have not been able to speak to Sister Lucy because the Archbishop could not give the permission to meet her. The
conditions of isolation in which she finds herself have been imposed by the Holy See. Consequently, no one may speak to her without a licence from Rome. The Archbishop has only a very limited number of those licences.” (
Fatima: Tragedy and Triumph, Immaculate Heart Publications, 1994, pp. 33-34.)
The situation [did not change until her death on 13 February 2005].
On January 16, 1983 Father Joseph de Sainte-Marie, O.C. wrote to the eminent Catholic layman Hamish Fraser to advise that:
“Moreover, I remind you—she (Sister Lucy) herself reminded me recently in a request that I had addressed to her—that Sister Lucia (Lucy) cannot speak to anyone on the question of the apparitions without the express permission of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or of the Holy Father himself.” (*The Fatima Crusader, *No. 13-14, p. 13)
And on March 19, 1983 Sister Lucy told the Papal Nuncio to Portugal, Most Reverend Sante Portalupi, that she had not been able to comment earlier on the inadequacy of the 1982 consecration ceremony (of the world, not Russia) because the Holy See had not given her permission to speak:** “The Consecration of Russia has not been made as Our Lady demanded. I could not say so (before) because I did not have permission of the Holy See.”** (Ibid. at p. 3, and
The Fatima Crusader, Issue 16, Sept.-Oct. 1984, p. 22ff, reprinting the article by Father Pierre Caillon in * Fidelite Catholique,* first printed in 1983.)
On February 19, 1990, Msgr. A. Duarte de Almeida, chaplain to the Coimbra Carmel, stated the following: “in order to meet Sister Lucy, it is necessary to obtain Cardinal Ratzinger’s permission.” (In David Boyce, “Fatima Inquest - August 1990”,
The Fatima Crusader, Issue 35, Winter 1990-1991, p. 13).
As recently as the purported “interview” of Sister Lucy by Msgr. Bertone on November 17, 2001, Msgr. Bertone admitted (in his communiqué concerning the interview) that it had been conducted with the *consent *of Cardinal Ratzinger. Thus, as recently as 2001 even a high-ranking Vatican prelate needed the Holy See’s permission to speak with Sister Lucy.
I should proof-read more carefully! Yes, I meant 70,000.