According to the revelation, a second great war was to start during the reign of Pope Pius XI. But he died on February 10, 1939, several months before World War II began with the German invasion of Poland in September of that year. Father Louis Kondor, editor of Lucia’s writings on Fatima, stated: “To the objection that the Second World War . . . actually started during the Pontificate of Pius XII, she [Lucia] replied that in fact the war began with the occupation of Austria in 1938.” Kondor also stated, “Lucia presumed that the ‘extraordinary’ aurora borealis during the night of 25th to 26th January, 1938, was the sign given by God to announce the imminence of war.” The lady’s promise to come back was fulfilled by an appearance to Lucia in 1925. Lucia took the fall of the communist regimes in East Europe and Russia to be a fulfillment of the lady’s revelations concerning Russia” (Maria Lucia 1998, p. 110).
After revealing the two secrets mentioned above, the lady revealed the famous third secret of Fatima. It was later written down by Lucia on January 3, 1944, and it was then kept secret until June 26, 2000, when it was released in English by the Vatican. Here is the text: “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.” One might take it that the fall of Communism in Russia indicated that the Virgin was pleased, and that therefore her third prediction did not come to pass. Some have suggested that the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II was partial fulfillment of the prediction.
As the apparitions continued, the anticlerical government of Portugal saw the Fatima events as the focal point for a dangerous resurgence of Catholic religious sentiment, with political implications. The government, having concluded that priests had encouraged the children to manufacture the apparitions, assigned a district official, Arthur d’Oliveira Santos, to expose the children as liars. Santos arrived in Fatima on August 11 and questioned them there. Despite his threats, the children refused to confess they were telling lies in collusion with local priests (Rogo 1982, p. 226).
On August 13, as huge crowds gathered for the apparition, Lucia and her cousins were taken away by government officials. Although the children were not present at the appointed time, some unusual things did happen. Rogo (1982, p. 226) said, “The crowd heard a loud detonation and a flash of lightning illuminated the sky at the very time the woman should have appeared. The sun dimmed, and a kaleidoscope of colors bathed the Cova. A white cloud appeared by the oak tree, remained for an instant, and then rose and moved quickly away.”
Meanwhile the children were forcefully interrogated by Santos at Ourem, and then kept in a prison (Maria Lucia 1998, p. 77). The children were threatened with death. In fact, when Santos spoke with each one separately, he told them the others had already been killed and that the one being questioned would also be killed if he or she did not confess to having manufactured the Fatima apparitions. Lucia said (1998, p. 36) that even after this they were all together threatened with being “fried alive.” When the children were in their cell, other prisoners tried to convince them to admit to being liars and thus get out of prison. But desiring to preserve the secrecy the lady asked for, they said they would rather die. Unable to extract confessions from them, Santos soon released them.
Although the children were not able to keep their appointment with the apparition on August 13, the lady again appeared to the children on August 19 as they were herding sheep at a place called Valinhos. There was another appearance at the usual place on September 13. This time, thirty thousand people came. Around noon they saw the sun become dim and they could see stars in the sky. They also saw a globe of white light settle on the tree where the lady normally appeared. Monsignor John Quareman, the vice-general of the town of Leiria, said, “To my surprise, I saw clearly and distinctly a globe of light advancing from east to west, gliding slowly and majestically through the air. . . . My friend looked also, and he had the good fortune to see the same unexpected vision. Suddenly the globe with the wonderful light dropped from sight” (Rogo 1982, p.
227). On this occasion there was also a rain of white flower petals, which mysteriously disappeared before they reached the ground.
Finally, the time came for the October 13 apparition, the last and most important of the series. Government officials were certain that the promised miracle would not occur, and were preparing to take advantage of this to launch a large propaganda campaign to discredit the whole Fatima phenomenon (Rogo 1982, p. 228). Lucia said (1998, p. 177): “We left home quite early, expecting that we would be delayed along the way. Masses of people, about seventy thousand, thronged the roads. The rain fell in torrents.” Among the crowds were church officials, government and military officials, and reporters from Portugal’s leading papers. The government also had troops standing by.
Then Lucia and her cousins reached the tree where the lady usually appeared. Lucia told the crowds of people gathered there to close their umbrellas and start saying the rosary prayers. The rainfall turned to a drizzle. Then came a flash of light, and the lady appeared to the children.