Numerous articles have been written on the Fatima apparitions, yet the message of these famous appearances by the Blessed Mother have been largely ignored. Too often, the Fatima message is even viewed as a religious hoax. Therefore, this article presents, from a non-religious perspective, an independent evaluation.
Europe in the 1900s experienced revolution, war, and growing secularism, resulting in the downfall of monarchies, persecution of the Church, and arrests of Christians. Political leaders with a religious mindset were considered medieval and removed, giving way to those embracing progress and science.
In Portugal, the politics of the day was dominated by Freemasons intent on building a godless republic, founded on Masonic ideals. These players enacted anti-Catholic laws under the banner of “Separation of Church and State.” In this oppressive climate, religious activities were not tolerated, and were extremely dangerous to practice.
Although adults would have been aware of the consequences of running afoul of the secular regime, young children living in out-of-the-way mountainous communities like Fatima would not. Most Fatima residents were peasants who raised animals and farmed to survive. Since there were no schools in Fatima, children attended the parish church for religious instruction. Between 1914 and 1918 Portugal reported a 70 percent illiteracy rate, suggesting higher levels in remote regions.
In 1917, three illiterate peasants, Lucia dos Santos (age 10) and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto (ages 7 and 9), claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary. During these apparitions, they were given requests, secrets, and the promise of a miracle for all to see. Lucia was a very pious and honest young girl, obedient to her parents. Francisco is described as passive and submissive, whereas Jacinta was strong-willed, with a mind of her own. The children were inseparable and loved to sing and dance together.
On May 13, the children claimed to have been visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, who over the next six months would provide information regarding her visit. Utilizing Lucia’s testimony and other eyewitness accounts, significant aspects of the apparitions are presented:
- The Virgin Mary requested the children return to the apparition site each month and pray the rosary. She also revealed that Francisco and Jacinta would be taken to heaven soon, but Lucia would stay behind to spread devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
- She revealed secrets:
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- a vision of hell, where souls of sinners are tormented.
- the end of World War I—but another greater war would occur if people didn’t stop offending God.
- a vision of a pope being shot.
- She requested a chapel be built in her honor and that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.
Lucia states that they all saw the Virgin Mary, but only she spoke to Mary. Jacinta heard all the conversations. The children provided the same description of Mary. Although only Lucia spoke with Mary, no signs of animosity or desire for attention was reported among the children, nor any sadness over their impending death.
Lucia describes “a Lady dressed all in white . . . more brilliant than the sun, shedding rays of light.” The Lady spoke: “Fear not! I will not harm you.” Lucia asked, “Where are you from? . . . What do you want of me?” The Lady responded that she was from heaven. Lucia asked if they would go to heaven and was told yes, but Francisco, “must say many rosaries.” Lucia also inquired about two girls who had recently died and was told, “Maria . . . is in heaven,” but “Amelia . . . is still in purgatory.”
The Lady continued: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings . . . as an act of reparation for the sins . . . by which he is offended” and for the “conversion of sinners”?
Criticized by family and friends over past visions, Lucia decided to keep this last offer a secret. Although her cousins agreed, Jacinta’s mother testified that as soon as Jacinta saw her, she exclaimed, “I saw the Lady!”
Lucia told her parents and close family about Francesco’s impending death, which testimony was confirmed by the parish priest and local authorities. Local press also recorded testimony foretelling Jacinta’s early death. Lucia would go on to become a religious sister in 1921 (and then a Carmelite in 1948). She lived until 2005.
The children accepted suffering and joyfully awaited death. They gave up singing, dancing, and even their lunches for the conversion of sinners. On multiple occasions, Jacinta’s mother and others tried to tempt Jacinta to reveal the Blessed Mother’s secrets in exchange for jewelry. Jacinta refused, once saying, “Take them away! I won’t tell a thing . . . .even if you gave me the whole world.”
A priest speaking with Lucia said the devil was tricking her, causing Lucia to decide against attending the July apparition. However, that morning, Lucia felt a strong desire to go and present people’s petitions, to which our Lady responded, “Some I will cure and others not. As to the crippled boy, I will not cure him or take him out of his poverty, but he must say the rosary every day with his family.” The Lady reminded the children of their special vocation, saying, “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say . . . ‘O my Jesus, it is for love of thee, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer this sacrifice.”
Then our Lady showed them hell. Lucia deliberately refused to describe the vision, but she told the parish priest that it was frightening. Jacinta spoke vaguely of “fire” and “souls,” but Lucia stopped her, since the Lady told them not to reveal what they had seen.
In 1941, under obedience to her bishop, Lucia penned a description of hell.
We saw a sea of fire. Immersed in that fire were devils and souls with human form, transparent . . . embers floating in the fire . . . amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that horrified . . . us with terror. We could distinguish the devils by their horrible and repulsive figures . . . transparent as the black coals in a fire.
The Lady explained to the children that God willed to establish throughout the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart. “If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved. . . . The war will end. But if they do not stop offending God . . . war will break out in the reign of Pius XI.”
Since September 1939 marked the start of WWII, during the reign of Pius XII, the prophecy was considered fabricated, but Lucia correlated the prophecy with the annexation of Austria (March 1938). Additionally, our Lady mentioned “a night illumined by an unknown light”—a signal that “God . . . is going to punish the world by means of war.” Lucia reported this to her superiors shortly after the aurora borealis appeared on January 26, 1938.
Lucia orally reported the First Saturday request in December 1925, noting that the intention was for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She later referred to a June 13, 1929 vision, in which our Lady said, “God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart.” Russia was mentioned in the 1917 apparition, but the command to consecrate it was not given then. In 1929, Lucia informed her superiors explicitly that Russia must be consecrated by the pope in union with all bishops.
Although the children were mocked by family and neighbors, and even kidnapped and threatened by the authorities, they never made any sort of retraction or offered an alternate explanation. Willingness to suffer for others and accept death—not to mention the ability to plan, execute, and maintain such an elaborate story—is not typical of adults, let alone three young and uneducated children under intense interrogation. Further, the sophisticated nature of the messages and the strong agreement among the children’s testimonies lend credibility to what they said.
Under fear of government persecution, the local Catholic hierarchy adopted a cautious response until a careful investigation of the apparitions was completed. In 1922, the local bishop formally categorized the apparitions as private revelations. However, he emphasized the spiritual urgency of the Virgin Mary’s messages along with her divine warnings against moral decay, atheism (particularly communism), and world conflicts. As for Russia, in 1984, Pope John Paul II made an act of consecration in St. Peter’s Square, in which he prayed, “In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations which particularly need to be entrusted and consecrated.” Paul Kengor writes, “All, of course, included Russia first and foremost.”
What alternative explanations might exist for the apparitions at Fatima? “Memory malleability,” cognitive science researchers might suggest, but our Lady’s messages were reported prior to actual events, so memory could not play a role. There is the psychological factor of “expectation,” but the children had no presumptions when our Lady appeared to them. They certainly could not have anticipated the traumatic vision of hell. The religious environment in Fatima was devout and simple. The required level of theological maturity needed for a hoax was well beyond the locals’ comprehension, nor was any evidence of a hoax ever reported. And the concordance of the children’s discrete testimonies rules out any suggestion of dreams or hallucinations.
Finally, psychologists might appeal to the power of suggestion. But given the villagers’ level of religious understanding this is not a realistic conclusion, either.
Given the prophetic nature of our Lady’s messages, the historical eyewitness accounts, and the lives the children lived in response, I do not hesitate to believe. At the very least, we all can agree with the urgent need for a daily rosary.