00:02Spring 1917. Europe is about to enter the fourth summer of the Great War and in Russia
00:08The October Revolution is upon us. In this context, on May 13th, in a locality of
00:15Portugal called Cova d'Aeria, a couple of kilometers from Fatima, Lucia, a shepherdess of
00:21ten years old, and the little cousins, Francesco and Giacinta, aged nine and seven, say they saw the
00:28Madonna. The vision would have invited them to do penance and recite the rosary and would have
00:34gave them an appointment in the same place every 13th of the month, announcing a great miracle for
00:41October. Word spreads and an ever-growing crowd accompanies the children every month,
00:47until, on October 13th, 50,000 people, gathered at the cave, claimed to have witnessed the miracle
00:55of the dancing sun. The news ends up in the newspapers and within a few years Fatima becomes a destination
01:01of mass pilgrimages on a par with Lourdes.
01:12Of the three little visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta died of the Spanish flu in 1919, while Lucia was
01:20removed from Fatima and began monastic life. In the more than 80 years she spent in the convent,
01:27apparitions continue and complete the messages of the visions of 1917, in particular that
01:34of July 13th, when the Madonna is said to have entrusted the shepherds with a great secret, divided into three
01:41parts. The content of the first two was fully revealed by Sister Lucia in 1942, while the
01:49The third arrived in a sealed envelope in the Vatican only in 1944. Here is an extract of the so-called
01:57second secret.
02:01The war is about to end, but if they do not stop offending God during the pontificate of
02:07Pius XI, another one will begin, even worse. To prevent it, I will come to ask for the consecration.
02:15of Russia to my immaculate heart and the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they are heard
02:21If I answer these questions, Russia will convert and have peace. If not, it will spread its errors.
02:29throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church.
02:35With references to the new war and to Russia, the messages of Fatima have a clear
02:40political content. The Church's attitude towards them is cautious and varies.
02:45From pontiff to pontiff. In 1930 the Vatican declared the apparitions to be supernatural in nature.
02:52of Fatima and authorizes its cult. But Pope Pius XI does not respond to Sister Lucia's appeals.
02:59who through his bishop asks him to consecrate Russia to the heart of Jesus and to
03:04Mary. Her successor Pius XII instead linked the prophecy to the new world conflict.
03:12in progress and in 1942 consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and makes public the first
03:20two secrets. Pius XII himself in 1950 brought the path of Catholic Marian worship to completion.
03:28proclaiming Mary's Assumption into Heaven as a dogma. Direct consecration
03:35But Russia's announcement is not forthcoming. For the Holy See, it would represent a serious interference.
03:41in the internal affairs of another country, therefore, a serious diplomatic problem. The two subsequent popes
03:48John XXIII and Paul VI, the pontiffs of the Second Vatican Council, choose the path of reserve
03:54on the visions of Fatima while the third secret remains sealed in the Vatican archives. Paul VI
04:02However, he responds to pressure from a part of the Catholic world passionate about Fatima by visiting
04:07the sanctuary in 1967.
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