Fatima in Twilight
by Bernadette Vesco
Editor’s Note: Catholic Family News is proud to announce its
first publication under its publishing arm, Marmion Publications. Fatima in
Twilight by Mark Fellows is one of the finest books written on
The
period of peace promised by Our Lady of Fatima seems so far from us at present.
Every day we hear of new horrors arising, threatening to provoke more wars,
spill more blood, anguish more families. The only peace we have ever known is
that silence that exists between periods of conflict; that profound silence of
the world holding its breath while waiting for the next blow. It is difficult
to imagine existing otherwise, such degeneracy has become an acquired part of
our consciousness, of our understanding of life itself. After all, isn’t
suffering our punishment for the fall of our first parents?
Yet
what if we were offered a chance at a true peace? What if we were given a
definitive remedy to the degradations of our present state? Certainly, we have
heard the pleas for peace so often that we have become deaf to the true meaning
of the word. Peace. It is a sign we make with our fingers. It is a symbol we
draw. It is a word we use thoughtlessly to calm irritated people. The meaning
has become so debased that we no longer hold any appreciation for it in its
true form. We no longer hear it and recognize that its potential lies not in
democracy, or universal brotherhood, or the United Nations, but in God.
The
20th Century was both cursed and blessed: cursed with unending revolution,
conflict and war; blessed with a remedy. The blessing came in the form of a
promise made by the Mother of God Herself, who in 1917 appeared to three
shepherd children in
The
Fatima Message was sealed by an irrefutable miracle witnessed by believers and
nonbelievers alike. In 1929 in
Thus
the Consecration of Russia is the act of homage upon which our fates lie. It
was asked for in 1929, and now, seventy-four years later it remains to be done.
Surely the world has been realizing the consequences of both our sins against
the Immaculate Heart and the refusal of a line of Popes to make the
consecration. How have the effects shown themselves? If one looks at the major
events of the world and the Church since
Though
Fatima Revisionists contend that the consecration of
The
book begins with an account of the
“Conversion, penance, sacrifice and reparation for sinners,
the mercy and exhausted patience of God, the prominence of the Queen of Heaven
in the designs of Heaven and man, the threat of eternal damnation of millions
of souls, the lifeline of the Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart, all
these sober, serious themes punctuated by unexplained phenomena and climaxed
with a stupendous, undeniable miracle that is a fact of history attested to by
thousands of eyewitnesses, believers and atheists, at Fatima and as far as 30
miles away. Heaven had visited earth and delivered an unmistakably ominous
warning to three rustic peasant children on a Portuguese hillside near the
beginning of the most enlightened, godless, murderous and bloodstained century
in human civilization. Was anyone listening?” (p. 28)
Though
What
exactly are
“The poor wretches the Bolsheviks expressed such
empathy for, and made so many promises to, fled from their benefactors by the
tens of thousands. Those unfortunate enough to be captured by the Red Army either
killed themselves or were slaughtered by the army or the Cheka (forerunner of
the KGB). In one case fifty to one hundred and fifty thousand refugees were
butchered en masse by the Bolsheviks ... (p. 57) By 1923, it is estimated
that 28 bishops, 1,219 priests, 6,000 professors and teachers, 9,000 doctors,
54,000 officers, 260,000 soldiers, 70,000 policemen, 12,950 property owners,
535,250 intellectuals, 193,290 workmen, and 618,000 peasants had been
murdered.” (p. 61)
Lenin’s successor, Josef Stalin, continued his murderous campaign. He is conservatively estimated to have starved close to 15,000,000 peasants between 1929 and 1934.
Not
content with the murderous domination of
The book’s treatment of the Spanish Civil War is truly notable, and cites many individual accounts of the murders committed by the enemy, especially of the religious, and thereby reveals a chapter of history that has been hidden by the secular world. In one case, “Bishop Asensio was castrated, hit in the mouth with a brick (‘Here, take Communion’ he was told), and after somehow surviving a firing squad was left to die on a pile of corpses. ‘Do what you like,’ Asensio told his torturers, ‘I will pray for you in Heaven.’ (p. 77) Fellows rightly notes that it was only by God’s blessing of “Catholic Action” through Pope Pius XI that stability was restored to the two countries, who profited because of their recognition of the sovereignty of Christ in their governments. Other countries were not so fortunate however, as Communism was eventually established in Albania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Korea, China and North Vietnam.
While
World War I was still raging, Our Lady of Fatima predicted, “The war is going
to end, but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out
during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown
light, know that it is the great sign given you by God that He is about to
punish the world for its crimes by means of wars, famine, and persecution of
the Church and of the Holy Father”. As promised, the illumined night sky occurred
on January 15, 1938, and the world entered into its second major bloodbath of
the century. Fatima in Twilight demonstrates that though Hitler is
viewed as the greatest evil during World War II, Stalin was much more vicious, instigating the
war in order to spread Communism throughout
Europe. He declared openly his plan of “exploiting the antagonisms between the
capitalistic states, to precipitate them into an armed conflict. The principal
work of our Communist parties must be to facilitate such a conflict.”
Stalin
aided Germany’s recovery after the First World War, only to use Germany to
incite European democracies against that country once Hitler came to power.
Stalin used whatever means necessary to spread Communism: Stalin and Hitler
signed the Germano-Soviet peace accord, allowing Germany to invade Poland, and
provoking European democracies to declare war on Germany. Fellows points out
that “when the smoke cleared atheistic Communism ruled Christian Eastern
Europe, and the democracies were a shambles. Game, set, and match to the man
the Western press affectionately dubbed ‘Uncle Joe’.” (p. 105) Of
course, Hitler was guilty of his own extreme malevolence, and Fellows does not
discharge his guilt. He says, “the point here is not to minimize Nazi evil, but
to emphasize that Heaven’s depiction of Russia as the scourge of humanity is
factually and historically accurate”.
Fatima and the Church
Fatima
in Twilight also examines the roles of
a line of Pontiffs in the Fatima Message, from Pius XI to John Paul II. Fellows
illustrates, using extensive documentation, each Pope’s action and ultimate
inaction concerning Fatima. It was in 1929, during the reign of Pius XI, that
the Blessed Mother appeared to Sister Lucy at Tuy to ask for the consecration
to be made: “The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in
union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My
Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.”
Though
the Fatima apparitions were approved in 1930, and the Holy Father both knew the
part of the Secret concerning Russia’s errors and was fully aware of the
diabolical state of Bolshevik Russia, he
did not consecrate that nation to the Immaculate Heart. He even had
a glimpse of
Our Lady’s promised peace in Portugal, which was experiencing a Catholic
restoration through its
own consecration to the
Immaculate Heart. However, it remained undone, and as Fellows asserts, “The
consequences of Pius XI’s failure to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart
were the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War”. (p. 71)
It was
during the reign of Pius XII that the first two parts of the Fatima Secret were
made known to the public, and the world was consecrated to the Immaculate
Heart. Fatima in Twilight details this Pope’s strengths and weaknesses
during his pontificate, especially concerning Fatima. Pius XII was responsible
for many noteworthy things, including pronouncing the dogma of the Assumption
and canonizing Saint Pius X, yet he did not fulfill his duty to the will of God
as expressed through Fatima. This Pope possessed the Third Secret though he
probably didn’t read it, witnessed a miracle of the sun himself, and was well
aware of the requests made of him. Consequently, his inaction led to the part
of Church history Fellows identifies as “Twilight”.
The
Twilight of the Church accelerated with the election of John XXIII to the
throne of Peter and the Council he subsequently called. The book chronicles
well the progressive forces alive and growing through the reigns of Pius XI and
Pius XII, until their complete emergence during the Council. Also noted is that
what support Fatima received before the Council was promptly disregarded by the
pontiffs thereafter. The author attributes the subversion of the Fatima
Message, the consistent failure of Conciliar and post-Conciliar Popes to
consecrate Russia by name to the Immaculate Heart and announce the Third Secret
to the “papal vision,” which “appears to be rooted not in tradition or
scripture, but in the future. ... It is likely the Second Vatican Council was
convoked in order to consummate the papal vision, and to establish the new
religion necessary for it to thrive.” (p.
165) Fatima, with its reality of hell,
call to conversion and reparation, and focus on the spiritual, not temporal,
clearly has no place in this vision. Fatima in Twilight examines this
vision as the guiding light of the post-Conciliar Popes, and the cause of the
crisis in the Church since the Council. Sister Lucy herself has repeatedly
spoken of “disoriented souls” in the Church being “fooled by false doctrine”;
and “a great disorientation in so many persons who occupy places of
responsibility ... They are blind men guiding
other blind men.” (p. 251)
The book
also gives a detailed history of the careers of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II
before their elections, as men who have promoted the new, man-centered papal
vision. Paul VI read the Secret, chose not to disclose it, and refused Sister
Lucy a meeting. He also saw the beginnings of the Council’s bitter fruits, yet
instead of turning to the consolation of the Immaculate Heart and God’s plan
for peace, he gave more fuel to a papal vision that was the cause of the destruction.
Mark Fellows also thoroughly examines John Paul II’s role in the present
crisis, his actions and inaction, and his relationship with Fatima. Fellows
demonstrates that though the current pontiff made consecrations of the entire
world in 1982 and 1984, which probably merited some graces, they are incomplete
according to the will of Heaven and have not converted Russia. Fatima in
Twilight cites extensive statistics to corroborate this assertion, proving
that Russia is in fact a decaying nation, from the highest abortion rate in the
world, to its rampant homosexuality and child pornography, to its suppression
and hatred of the Catholic Church and its faithful.
As for the Secret revealed by the Vatican in 2000, Fellows proves that it is incomplete. Though the author believes that the vision of a “Bishop dressed in white” being murdered on a steep mountain amidst many corpses was probably written by Sister Lucy, it is a vision that lacks the conclusion of the Blessed Mother’s words, “In Portugal the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.,” and actually contains no words of Our Lady at all. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s subsequent document, “The Message of Fatima,” is an effort to interpret the vision as the failed 1981 assassination attempt on John Paul II, a contention that hardly makes sense given that the Pope in the vision was murdered and John Paul II was not. The CDF’s “Message of Fatima” claims that the Third Secret has been completely revealed and the Consecration has been fulfilled, therefore making Fatima a thing of the past. The document goes so far as to cite supposed testimony by Sister Lucy claiming that the consecration of Russia has been done and the entire Secret has been revealed, even though this contradicts a consistently held position by Lucy. The CDF’s “Message of Fatima” has left Catholics confused and unsure what the truth is concerning Fatima. Fellows, however, brings the reader to a better understanding by addressing this subject thoroughly. Using logic and a thorough documentation of facts, Fellows ultimately proves that the CDF document contains inconsistencies and contradictions that are out of character for Lucy or are completely unlikely to be confirmed by her, given past testimonies.
For example,
the CDF’s “The Message of Fatima” contains the text of Pope John Paul II’s 1984
consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, after which
Monsignor Bertone states: “Sister Lucy personally confirmed that this solemn
and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished. Hence
any further discussion or request is without basis.” (p. 284)
However, this new testimony is contrary to Lucy’s consistent assertion that the
consecration of Russia has not taken place, and Fellows includes numerous
examples, such as her interview with the Portuguese nuncio a year after the
1982 consecration of the world. “Did Lucy really think John Paul’s consecration
fulfilled Heaven’s request? ‘The consecration of Russia is not done as Our Lady
has demanded it,’ Lucy answered, because Pope John Paul did not specifically
consecrate Russia, and the consecration was not in union with the world
episcopate. ‘We can expect some benefits from the Pope’s consecration,’ Lucy
said, ‘but not the conversion of Russia’.”
In a
1989 visit with Cardinal Law, Lucy again confirmed that the consecration had
not been done. “The Holy Father speculates that it has been done, done in the
best possible way under the circumstances,” Lucy told the Cardinal. “Done on
the narrow road of the collegial consecration that She has demanded and has
been wanting? No, that has not been done.”
(p. 268) Fellows sums up his argument
thus: “It is likely that Lucy’s present opinion on the consecrations of John
Paul II is the same as her opinion in 1991 and 1984: that Heaven is still
awaiting the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart. The statements
attributed to Lucy in the CDF document ‘The Message of Fatima’ really must be
questioned, inasmuch as they fail to correspond to this reality: in matters
concerning Fatima, Lucy does not waver, does not hesitate, and does not change
her mind.” (p. 287)
The Beacon of Fatima
Once,
when asked about the Third Secret, Sister Lucy responded, “It is in the Gospel and
the Apocalypse, read them!” Fatima in Twilight devotes a chapter
entitled “Beyond Assisi: The Papal Vision” to the relationship between Fatima,
the Apocalypse, and the fulfillment of Fatima prophecies. The battle between
the woman and the dragon in Apocalypse 12 is a chilling reminder of what Lucy
calls the devil’s “decisive battle with the Blessed Virgin,” a battle which has
intensified throughout the past century. “As in the Apocalypse, the battle
between the Virgin and the dragon has been joined. The outcome is known, but at
present a mystery of iniquity has led a series of Popes away from not only the
Fatima Message, but from the gospel message that Fatima and the continual
teaching of the Church embodies.” (p.
267)
The battle is raging before our very eyes, and instead of looking away we must choose a side. For Fatima is not an isolated incident of a long forgotten past, but the defining moment in which the world was offered peace over enmity, and the refuge of the Immaculate Heart over the tempests of the Prince of this world. The consistent choice against Fatima has resulted in the predicted spread of Russia’s errors, throughout the world and the Church, as Fellows illustrates in each chapter of this outstanding book. He concludes by stressing the weight of our present peril, but leaves us with the light that, as promised, will illumine the end:
“The Virgin foretold Peter’s repentance, and his
compliance with the demands of Heaven. Until this occurs, however, the Church
and the world will be rocked with the concussive force of divine wrath. One
recalls Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem not knowing the hour of its visitation,
and the dreadful consequences of this willful ignorance. Alas, we echo the
perfidy of the Jews. Sowing the wind of the spirit of the age, we have reaped
the whirlwind. The price will be paid in souls. ... (p. 267)
“... For it is not Fatima that is in twilight. Fatima
is a beacon of faith, hope, and charity, a message as clear and uncompromising
as the Gospel, shining on all souls stumbling in the twilight of the Church and
the world, as both fade to black in the long hours before the dawn.” (p. 334)
This article was reprinted with permission from the September 2003 issue of
Catholic Family News — a Roman Catholic monthly published 12 times a year.
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