Welcome to my brain!
 
Perhaps it’s not the most intellectual introduction ever, but the opening sentence of this article is, perhaps, the most accurate opening sentence that I could possibly come up with. What you will find within this piece is exactly what the title implies: My own personal thoughts on Our Lady of Fatima.

If the phrase “Third Secret of Fatima” is meaningless to you, then almost nothing I can type in this section will prove fruitful. If you have found your way here by accident, I strongly suggest doing a quick google search of the phrase, along with Our Lady of Fatima in general. It’s a quite fascinating subject, one that has inspired a century of speculation, wonder, and intrigue.

If you’re passingly familiar, allow me to recap the story in brief: In 1917, three children were tending to their sheep when the Virgin Mary appeared to them. Over the course of six appearances, she entrusted three “secrets” to the children. The first two secrets were released (see below), while the third secret was kept… Well, secret. Mary told the children, a girl named Lucy, that the secret should be revealed in 1960. Subsequently, the visions ceased. Two of the children passed away, while the events foretold in the first two secrets came to pass. When 1960 came around, however, the third secret was retained by the Vatican, who refused to release it to the world.

The next time that anyone who wasn’t the Pope would see the secret came in the year 2000, when Pope John Paul II revealed the text of the secret, while revealing that its contents had already been fulfilled! In his words, he stated that the text referred to an incident where a gunman had attempted to assassinate him. This didn’t sit particularly well with a lot of Catholics, who believed (and still do believe) that the prophesy did NOT, in fact, pertain to John Paul II*. These Catholics believe that the prophesy is still unfulfilled… And given its contents, that’s a rather worrisome thought, indeed.

*Essentially, each of the first two secrets contained both a vision and an explanation from Our Lady. With the third secret, only the vision is present, without the corresponding explanation. Therefore, the assumption is that the explanation was left out, with the assassination attempt being placed in that particular role.

***

From this point forward, while I realize that this may be slightly disorienting for some, I am going to proceed as if you, the reader, are familiar with the story of Fatima, with only brief interruptions to recap important events. The reason for this is simple: I myself am not a primary source for this event. In that same vein, I do not find myself qualified enough to simply provide links to a handful of sources for you to double-check, as most people on the internet have a tendency to be rather opinionated one way or another when it comes to the Third Secret. If you are not familiar, please, leave this article and go make yourself familiar. I suggest Wikipedia to start, with the Taylor Marshal and Return to Tradition youtube channels as excellent avenues for more in-depth analyses.

Finally, with one last bit of clarification to make before I start: I will not only be referring to Fatima in the text of this article. There have been countless (seriously, I myself am still finding more and more) visions received by saints over the last two hundred years or so that coincide with Fatima quite nicely. Many of these visions have been either suppressed (in the case of Akita) or simply forgotten as the years go on. With that said, all the visions whose text I reference will be included before the primary body of the article.

I will finally conclude this lengthy introduction with a bit of a disclaimer, not referencing who I am or my credentials, but instead my lack of any such titles. I am no scholar. I have no theology degrees (or any degrees, for that matter). My IQ is nothing that would inspire books or movies. I do not spend my entire day in prayer as a devoted monastic, nor do I find myself gifted with the friendship of people within the Vatican who have secret insider information. What I am is a self-published fantasy author who spends far too much time analyzing his favorite stories from pop culture… And who has used those impeccable powers of deduction to pick apart the most mysterious text of our generation. With that said, I invite you to pray a Hail Mary as you delve into the depths of my mind as I examine, in what I think will be a somewhat new light: The Third Secret of Fatima.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Various Visions: 

The Third Secret of Fatima: October 18, 1917
"After the two parts which I have already explained, 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 splendour 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, Religious men and women 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, Religious men and women, 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."
 
The Vision of Pope Leo XIII: October 13, 1884
The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: "I can destroy your Church."
The gentle voice of Our Lord: "You can? Then go ahead and do so."
Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power."
Our Lord: "How much time? How much power?
Satan: "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service."
Our Lord: "You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will."
 
Important notes
It is often assumed, by many traditionally-minded Catholics, that this vision refers to Vatican II. After all, 1960 (which is when the council was announced) is 76 years after this vision was recorded.
 

The Vision of Pope Pius X: 1909, 1914
"What I have seen is terrifying!  Will I be the one, or will it be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!" 
 
"I have seen one of my successors, of the same name who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death”.
 
Important Notes:
Many assume that this vision refers to a future Pope Pius (insert number here), potentially the 13th or onward. However, it is important to realize that Pope Pius’s baptismal name was Joseph… A name shared with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

 
Our Lady of Akita:
The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres... churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.

The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sorrow. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.
As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.
 
Important Notes:
Many people believe that the first portion of the prophesy listed here refers to the current state of the Church. Following Vatican II, churches and altars had most of their icons and other religious symbolism removed, which is essentially the definition of “sacking.” Since that point, religious vocations have plummeted, leaving only a small handful of monks, priests, and nuns still active (pressing consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord).
 

Revelation 6: 9-10
[9] And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. [10] And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?


My examination
 
To begin with this analysis, I would like to start with a handful of guiding principles that culminate in a thesis. These will provide the foundation upon which I will base my thoughts, the lens through which I will conduct this investigation.

Principle 1: Prophesy is not meant to only be understood in the past tense.

Principle 2: Private Revelation is, and always has been, critical when understanding key events in Christianity.

Principle 3: The Lord knew that the Third Secret would be suppressed.

Thesis: Therefore, the Third Secret was written in such a manner that it would be able to be understood even without the explanation from Our Lady.
 

In defense of Principle 1:
In my studies of various Catholic end-times prophesies, a common thread seems to emerge: The acceptance that we are unable to know what will happen, and that none of it will make sense until after the prophesies have been fulfilled. This view is probably the most Protestant thing that I’ve seen sneak its way into the Catholic Church. A simple look through the Bible reveals that prophesy is nearly ALWAYS intended to be understood ahead of time, often to prepare for plagues or famine (see Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams), or to warn of chastisements (see Nathan’s condemnations of David). In all these cases, they were explicitly foretelling of things to come, and could either be heeded or ignored at the listener’s peril.

Perhaps the most striking example of prophesy in the Bible surrounds the birth and life of Jesus himself. There are dozens of explicit prophesies throughout the Old Testament pointing to Jesus, from direct prophesies to psalms. The list grows even longer when looking at “types” of Christ in the Old Testament. Importantly for this article, these prophesies were so specific that Jesus //was recognized immediately upon birth//. The Wise Men knew what was happening the moment that the star appeared in the sky, and upon traveling to meet with Herod, Herod’s own scribes were able to confirm the event.
Perhaps only a few people noticed at the time that it happened, but my point remains: The prophesies about Jesus weren’t only revealed and explained on the Road to Emmaus. Many of them were understood and realized from the moment that Jesus appeared in this world. Prophesy in Christianity isn’t meant to only be understood after the fact: At the absolute slowest, it seems to be meant to be understood as events begin to unfold.

With one final addendum to this defense, I will actually turn to the second secret of Fatima. As seen above, a great sign was promised if the Second World War was to start. Well, almost exactly one month before Hitler’s armies annexed Austria, an aurora borealis appeared over the northern hemisphere, lighting up the night sky. Sister Lucia promptly informed her superiors that this was the sign promised… And the war broke out.
And thus, I conclude the defense of principle 1.
 

In defense of Principle 2:
First, I must give a small bit of explanation on this one. Public revelation is anything that has Divine Authority as a matter of faith (i.e. the Bible. The Church declared that the era of public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle). Private revelation, on the other hand, is not a matter of faith but is believed with human faith. These mostly involve Marian apparitions, but also involve other visions and prophesies throughout the history of the Catholic Church.

Many Catholics are wary of delving into the murky waters of private revelation, simply because of the ease with which such revelation can be forged. Indeed, many such revelations have been faked over the years, mostly falsified Marian apparitions. In one instance, a number of monks were actually burned at the stake after playing a prank on a fellow monk in which they convinced him that he was receiving visions. Moreover, there is, perhaps, a sentiment that the entire concept of private revelation is a bit of a new invention. After all, all the prophets in the Old Testament wrote books and contributed to the public cannon of the Bible (though they obviously didn’t know it at the time). If God’s going to speak to you, personally, he’s going to do it in an extraordinarily public way. Right?

Well… No. A simple read through the historical books of the Old Testament will reveal that private revelation was an enormous part of ancient Israelite life. Wandering prophets regularly interacted with the major players in Israel’s history. Saul, the first king of Israel, had a number of experiences with a group of prophets. God is regularly portrayed as speaking to people on a personal level, people who may not have necessarily been the people who ultimately wrote the books of the Bible. This can be seen perhaps most explicitly in the case of Samuel, who heard the voice of God calling out to him in the night. When he confronted the high priest, Eli, about the ordeal, Eli wasn’t shocked at all by the fact that God himself was speaking with the boy. In fact, he treated it as a nearly-everyday occurrence, and simply instructed Samuel on how to respond.

Moving forward, we finally come to account of the birth of Christ, which contains some of the most public and obvious examples of private revelation. As already mentioned above, the Wise Men were given a unique perspective that allowed them to discover the birth of Christ through signs of the times. The shepherds, of course, were visited by angels, while Simeon had previously been given a revelation that he would live to see the Christ Child. A case could likely be made that there were special circumstances in place due to, you know, the birth of the Messiah, but I see this as a simple continuation of events that had been in place for millennia. Following the life of Christ on Earth, while the Apostles were obviously given great power in their own ministry, other prophets are mentioned throughout the book of acts, and the gift of prophesy is specifically listed in multiple letters (Romans, twice in Corinthians, and Ephesians). Private revelation is something that has always been, and always will be, a key component of how God works his Will in the world.
 

In defense of Principle 3:
The whole component of “prophesy” wouldn’t exist without God’s ability to know the future. While there are times when God will present humanity with a choice (i.e. in the second secret: Consecrate Russia or things will go poorly), it’s a sure bet that he knows which choice we will ultimately make. God’s sovereignty working in tandem with human free will is one of the great mysteries of the faith, but one that we must accept nonetheless. I believe that, once again, this can be seen in the second secret of Fatima. Mary tells the children, quite explicitly, what the results of both choices will be. She also includes a small addendum explaining how the mess will be solved should humans, you know, muck everything up. With such specific instructions on the third secret (don’t reveal until this date), I must assume that the Lord had a similar plan in place for this prophesy as well.

 
The Conclusion:
If, indeed, the Lord intended Fatima’s message to be heard long before the events began to unfold, then he must have known that it would be suppressed, and must have provided a way to understand the prophesy ahead of time. This is my conclusion, and one that I feel is a strong basis with which to draw my following conclusions. I will, however, add a few more disclaimers.

As can be seen with the reveal and fulfillment of the second secret, while the great sign was indeed viewed and known about ahead of time, the exact nature of the war to follow was certainly not known. More importantly, by the time that Sister Lucia was able to confirm that the prophesy was in the act of being fulfilled… Well, it was in the ACT of being fulfilled. This, while not one of my founding principles, I think is important as well. If my conclusion is correct, I strongly suspect that we will not be able to understand the prophesy until events have been set in motion, giving us only a short time to prepare. As such, I am going to examine this prophesy in the light of recent events (mostly). If, indeed, this prophesy won’t be understandable until a later date, then there is very little that I can actually do at this time to solve the puzzle anyway, and nothing that I write will prove fruitful. However, if events that we see in the world today DO point to key aspects of the prophesy, then perhaps we are staring down the barrel of the prophesy’s fulfillment. Given a 50-50 shot at putting together something legible, I am going to interpret the secret in light of today’s events. Perhaps this is correct, perhaps not, and this is why I label it as an assumption. Whenever the secret DOES wind up being fulfilled, I suspect that my three founding principles will hold true. The assumption that it pertains to current events? I suspect that this will not be fully known until a few more pieces of the puzzle either click together or fail to do so altogether.
 
And, with that, I will FINALLY delve into my actual thoughts surrounding the third secret of Fatima…
 
 
The first portion of the secret:
For this portion, covering the opening until the end of the words “Penance,” I’m afraid that I must be rather boring, and simply defer to experts who have done far more research on this than myself. And, all things considered… It seems rather straightforward anyway.

The best interpretation of this, in my opinion, is simply that penance is being required of Earth. Wrath and fire are only being held back by Mary’s intervention. Thus, we should continue to ask for her intercession in holding back God’s wrath. Most Fatima scholars I can find will take this interpretation, almost without fail.

 
The Bishop in White:
Before I delve into this, I first must make a random and completely useless sidenote: I absolutely LOVE the musical Les Misérables. In it, Cosette sings a song about a Lady in white. Thus, every time I hear the phrase “Bishop in white,” I start humming Cosette’s song in my head.

Anyhow…

There is literally endless speculation on the phrase “Bishop in white.” If you’re not familiar with this debate, allow me a brief explanation. In the Catholic Church, every “rank,” so to speak, has their own set of clothing that they wear. Important to note here is that bishops wear black cassocks (the clothes you see them wearing in public when not celebrating mass) lined with red. Only the Pope himself is allowed to wear a white cassock. Now, while the Pope IS a bishop, and thus would be a bishop in white, why not simply make that distinction? Why specify a bishop in white, especially when the phrase “Holy Father” is indeed used later in this text?

There are two primary theories when dealing with this question:

1. The Bishop in white is Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
2. The Bishop in white is a future Pope (likely Pius XIII)

These debates have consumed many thousands of websites, and I will not recap the debate in its entirety here. However… I would certainly like to make the case for the Bishop in White pointing towards Benedict XVI, or, at the least, a future pontiff in his exact same scenario.

The logic for why many people believe that the Bishop in White is Benedict XVI has been mostly laid out above. Only the Pope may wear white, ordinary bishops cannot. HOWEVER… Benedict XVI would certainly seem to be an exception here. Since his resignation, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is no longer the Holy Father, but has continued to wear white. And thus: A Bishop in White. Case closed, right?

Well… I’m not so sure. As I said, this IS certainly my own conclusion, but I think that there’s more evidence than simply the odd phrasing. Allow me to continue.

“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'”

This is the quote. Now, as I said, I do believe that this likely applies to Benedict, but I think that the ENTIRE section points in that direction, not the single phrase “bishop in white.” Immediately following the controversial statement is the follow-up: We had the impression that it was the Holy Father.” The children didn’t KNOW that it was the Pope, they simply suspected. Something certainly must have seemed unusual about whatever they experienced in order for them to not be completely certain. And that brings me to:

What exactly DID they see? They saw a bishop in white, but the manner in which they saw him certainly doesn’t seem typical. In their vision of this man, he didn’t appear to them as simply a person. He appeared to them as though he was an image in a mirror. Well, what do images need in order to exist? A person standing in FRONT of the mirror. And thus, the implication of this certainly seems to me to indicate that there is a second person involved, though not visible in this vision. And, if the bishop in white is only possibly the pope, once more, the implication certainly seems to be that the person not visible is the actual pope.

This is what really cinches it for me: As with everything else, why bother putting it in the prophesy unless it’s important? If my assumptions above are correct, then the logical argument thus follows:

If: The bishop in white is not the Pope, and

If: There exists another individual who exists as the full Pope,

Then: The bishop in white must be a former pope who resigned, was forced out, or was in some other manner deprived of the papacy.

**It is important to note that the validity of the final hypothesis depends greatly on the first two statements being true. I will go through an alternate hypothesis below, and what THAT might mean instead of the conclusions I draw here.**

Following that logic, Benedict XVI certainly seems to fit the bill perfectly. If this is indeed the correct interpretation, then it stands to reason that the prophesy could also be pointing to a future pope, such as Pius XIII, who winds up in a very similar situation to Benedict XVI now. While I certainly don’t want to discount this theory, I tend to be of the opinion: If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Benedict XVI checks all the boxes for this part of the text… And I think the evidence only mounts as we move forward.

 
The destroyed city
This is the part of the analysis where I’m really going to start diverging from common interpretations. If you do much searching around the internet, you’ll quickly find that most people assume that the vision speaks of an ACTUAL desolated city. Much of the reasoning from this comes from the vision of Pope St. Pius X, which is listed above. In it, of course, it specifies a pope, of his own name, fleeing Rome. The similarities between the two visions are striking, and dovetail quite nicely with each other. For the purposes of this analysis, I’m going to be making the assumption that both visions speak of the same event, which doesn’t seem like a particularly enormous stretch to make, all things considered.

Thus, if we take these two events to speak of the same thing, then we can assume that the Bishop in White holds the name of either Pius or Joseph. As stated above, Benedict XVI’s baptismal name is, indeed, Joseph. This simply adds evidence to the speculation that the Bishop in White: I.e. a former pope with the name of either Joseph or Pius, might just be Benedict XVI.
Returning to the Third Secret, let’s look at the Bishop in White. When he’s first mentioned, they see him halfway up the mountain. The vision then takes a step BACKWARDS, and mentions that before arriving at the mountain, the Holy Father had to pass through a destroyed city. Notice here: When it takes a step back and they view him IN the city, he is identified as Pope. When outside, as a Bishop in White.

And thus: my theory: The event prophesied by these two visions has already happened.

I think that, in this vision and the vision of Pius X, the ruined city of Rome is symbolic of a spiritually desolate Vatican. I think that the dead bodies referred to in both visions are those individuals are spiritually dead, those members of the “corrupt gay mafia” that currently seem to be running the show. Benedict’s resignation wasn’t due to his health, it was him actively fleeing the Vatican and the corruption there. Which doesn’t exactly bode well for his or our future.
The proof for why I believe the Bishop in White/Holy Father to be Benedict XVI is laid out above. Establishing the claim in the preceding paragraph will take a bit more explanation, which I intend to provide now. And, for that, I will actually turn to the man himself, Benedict XVI.

We know that he read the secret, and, likely, the explanation. While his predecessor, John Paul II, let the secret sit at the explanation given in the year 2000, Benedict XVI seemingly refused to do so. In particular, he made several statements that have garnered much attention in the Fatima community.

We will be looking at three things that he has said in particular:

1. The Fatima message is ongoing still has relevance today.
2. Fatima is likely related to the corruption in the clergy (specifically the 2008 sex scandal).
3. The message of Fatima is essentially the same as that of Akita.

In these statements, and in related comments here and there, Benedict XVI has heavily implied that the Fatima message deals with corruption in the Church. The idea that Fatima denotes corruption is such a commonly accepted fact that almost no Fatima scholars will dispute it. You’ll find the text of Akita above, which clearly describes a breakdown of the clergy. There’s the fact that Our Lady decreed that the secret not be opened until 1960, which just happens to be when Vatican II took place, which was likely the influence of Satan on the church as prophesied by Leo XIII (see above as well). I really don’t want to go into detail on this, as the establishment of this fact is, as I said, something you can find in other corners of the internet.

What I find interesting is that, while corruption is an established fact of the secret, almost no Fatima scholars will place it ANYWHERE within the vision. They’ll simply say that without Our Lady’s explanation, we can’t be certain. Well… I disagree.
If you do a quick google search, it isn’t hard to see that much of the Vatican is currently quite corrupt. Estimates (depending on which one you find) indicate that fifty to eighty percent of the Vatican is corrupt, gay, or both. Almost every insider report to come out of the Vatican these days speaks of factions, exploitation, money laundering… The list goes on. If we assume for a moment that fully half of the people working in the Vatican are corrupt… Well, it doesn’t really take much to make the connection between major spiritual issues and ruin.

On top of THAT, all we have to do is turn to the reports that have come flooding out of seminaries in the wake of the 2018 scandals. Take McCarrick, for example. It’s an established fact that he would assault seminarians, use them for his pleasure, and only promote them if they played along. Church Militant has done literally hundreds of articles and videos talking about this issue, speaking not only of McCarrick, but also seminaries in New York who would shoot down good priests and only promote corruption. This has happened across the entire world, creating a culture of poor leadership and crumbling infrastructure.

And this brings me to the “corpses that he met along the way.” Note that wording: Corpses he met along the way. This, to me, implies people who are spiritually dead but perhaps still physically alive. Of course, an argument can quickly be drawn from this back to the vision of Pius X, in which the pontiff fled “over the dead bodies of his priests.” In this argument, one might state that this indeed refers to the literal dead, but I don’t think that this necessarily is the case.

Simply put: Fatima speaks of the passage of the Holy Father through the city, in which he spent his time meeting and praying for people. Pius X, on the other hand, spoke of the actual process of fleeing the city, in which, instead of praying, he simply ran. And this leads me to my point:

I think that Benedict XVI, upon assuming office, wasn’t particularly pleased with the state of the Church. He prayed for those he met who were spiritually deficient. He did his best to apply reforms to the Novus Ordo (a fact that many people I know rather despised at the time). He stood up for tradition, in what limited capacity he could. And, eventually, he fled. Perhaps he felt threatened by elements within the Vatican, perhaps he was flat-out forced to resign, perhaps he was simply nervous. Whatever the case, he resigned, transferring from the position of Holy Father to Bishop in White, and thus fulfilling that portion of the prophesy.

The next question, of course, is… IF that’s true… What’s coming next?

 
The trek up the Mountainside/the cork-wood cross
I’m gonna be honest, I’m fairly clueless on this one. We know that when he reaches the top of the mountain, he and everyone with him get killed. For this, I mostly harken back to my theory at the beginning of this article: That this prophesy is more or less intended to be understood as events take place, through the connections of other visions and prophesies. It is my opinion that, at this point (early 2020) The Bishop in White is likely somewhere on his journey up the mountainside, along with the throngs of other people. So… What does it all mean?

I’ll turn briefly to the cork-wood cross. We know, from a letter from Sister Lucia herself, that the start of the missing portion of the third secret is “The faith will be retained in Portugal.” As with so much else, there is nigh-on endless speculation about what that could mean. Some people interpret it as the entire nation of Portugal remaining as a traditional stronghold even as modernism grasps the world. In a recent (posted the first week of May, 2020) video, Dr. Taylor Marshal postulated several possible continuations of the phrase, including “The faith will be retained in Portugal among the hearts of the people,” or “The faith will be retained in Portugal where pilgrims come to Fatima,” or other such phrases. It’s such an ambiguous statement, and has so little explanation around it, that there’s really not much speculation that can truly be done without venturing into fully theoretical territory. However, the connection to Portugal is often attributed to the cork-wood cross in the vision, as, notably, cork trees are incredibly common in Portugal. It should ALSO be noted here, as a brief aside, that there exists a church (the XX) that has been under construction since the year 1884 (the same year that Pope Leo XIII had his vision) that quite literally uses cork wood in its construction. And was formally consecrated by Benedict XVI in 2010. I’m not saying that there’s a connection there, but…

As far as the mountain itself… Like I said, I’ve got nothing. If I had to throw out a guess: I’d say that it points to the fact that as people get higher and higher up the mountain, they’re able to see the full extent of the desolation of the city. So maybe it reveals to the corruption becoming more and more visible to the public? Through the leaks of Archbishop Vigano, the investigations of Cardinal Pell, and the testimony of victims? My gut reaction, though, is to say that this climb up the mountain is either in-progress or refers to a future event. It’s obviously important, or it wouldn’t be included, but… Yeah, I’ve got nothing. That said…

 
At the foot of the cross
Once the Bishop in White and the congregation behind him reach the foot of the cross, they are killed by soldiers who fire “bullets and arrows.” After that point, two angels appear and, using crystal aspersoriums, gathered up the blood of the martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. Now, while I’m fairly clueless when it comes to the mountain itself, I actually DO have a number of thoughts on this last event. The reasons for it are twofold:

1. I think that, like with the pontiff fleeing Rome, other visions and apparitions hold the key to interpreting this part of the vision.
2. I think that this particular event is actually in the Bible itself.

Yeah, you read that right. If your blood didn’t turn to ice with that last statement, you might want to check your pulse. I actually have so many thoughts on this portion of the secret that I plan on writing an entirely separate article about it. That said, to jump into it here:

First and foremost, I’d like to address the soldiers firing bullets and arrows. I’ve always thought that such peculiar phrasing was… Well… Odd. Why bullets and arrows? I’ve seen a number of speculations on this, with two main theories coming out: First, that the arrows might represent some sort of regression of technology, that warfare continues despite the fact that guns no longer exist. Second, that the arrows represent some sort of technology that the children didn’t recognize, such as rockets or missiles. Both seem reasonable, but, as with the ruined city, I’d like to examine this in a slightly more figurative light. A light that has only recently popped into existence, as far as I’m concerned.

Simply put: Plague. I present to you, for your consideration, St. Sebastian. Known for being martyred twice, he was drug out into a field and shot full of arrows. This failed to kill him, and he subsequently healed, then went and got himself martyred for good. It’s really a fascinating story, one that I would strongly suggest looking into. That said, the important aspect of this is that he has often been invoked over the years against plague. There’s even a festival in his honor in a town in Spain to commemorate a time when his intercession spared them from a pandemic. So… Why IS that? What’s the connection?
The answer: The arrows. In Greek mythology, plague and pestilence was often represented by arrows being shot by the gods down onto the Earth. This imagery was picked up by the Christians of the time, and adapted to fit the situation of St. Sebastian. Since he survived being shot full of arrows, he was invoked as protection against plague. Despite the odd connection and the link to pagan myths, the fact that he is credited as having saved villages seems to prove that God at least respected the connection when people cried out for help. It should also be noted here that arrows are also used in the Bible (particularly the psalms) to denote divine punishment or intervention. I can’t find any specific use of arrows as plague in the Bible, but there’s certainly an importance placed on arrows within the Bible.

So, how does this particular connection apply to the third secret? Well… Okay, so this one is total speculation, and I’ll readily acknowledge that, BUT… What if the mention of arrows is to denote the persecution of Christians through the use of plague? We’ve already seen Covid-19 used around the world to shut down masses. We’ve seen priests arrested for saying mass with people present. There are rumors that China has already started massacring Christians and simply counting their deaths as Covid-19 casualties. And that’s just what’s ALREADY happened. Forgive me if this sounds outlandish, but with all the talk in the news of a post-Covid world, I really don’t see it as a major stretch to think that the next major wave of persecution might just utilize fear of a virus to justify the carnage. If the vaccines for Covid do wind up using aborted fetal tissue, as they’re rumored to contain, then no Catholic would be able to take that vaccine in good conscience. Thus, you suddenly have an entire religion of anti-vaxers during a time when virus is feared above everything else.

Okay, so that’s my theory just on the arrows. What about the rest? Well… Hang onto your hats.
For this, I return to Benedict XVI’s comment on the third secret where he stated that it was “essentially the same as that of Akita.” Earlier, I used this statement to make the case for the ruined city being analogous to the corruption of the Vatican. However, the intense corruption within the Church is only PART of Akita’s message. The second half? A giant firestorm that wipes out essentially all of humanity.

As I said, I want to write an entire article on this, but I believe that this event, spoken of in the Akita message, is a reference to the Three Days of Darkness. The phrase “three days of darkness” isn’t used within the text anywhere, but the context lines up quite closely with a number of other visions about the Three Days, enough so to convince me that they’re one and the same. Thus, using Benedict’s statement as a cypher key, I think that we can assume that the destruction spoken of in the Akita message can only logically be applied to this latter portion of the message, where the angels are gathering up and sprinkling the blood of the martyrs. So… What does that mean?

I’m going to be honest: At this point, I’m going to be working backwards from the assumption that this portion of the secret applies to the Three Days of Darkness. That may seem faulty and somewhat redundant: If I’ve already established what I believe it represents, why try to break it down even more? Well, for the same reasons that I’ve been listing throughout. I think that the secret is meant to be understood, and I think that it must be understood. And I think that it holds several key bits of information about what’s coming next.

For this, I’m going to take a look at the tool that the angels are using: a crystal aspersorium. If you’re not familiar with the term (I wasn’t when I started learning about Fatima), the word “aspersorium” can refer to that dohicky that priests use to fling holy water onto the congregation, or simply to holy water fonts in general. Either way, the connection to holy water and the mention of crystal in general is… Intriguing. And thus, I turn to the book of Revelation.

Verse 4:6 is as follows: “And in the sight of the throne was, as it were, a sea of glass like to crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind.” Now, while I’ll readily admit that there’s no direct connection here, I do find it interesting that both water (sea) and crystal seem to be referenced in this verse, where water and crystal are also both referenced in the secret. Again, a tenuous connection, but I think a connection nonetheless.

Presuming that this connection holds true, I think that we simply need to read the book of Revelation from that point. John spends a good deal of time describing the throne of God and the various inhabitants of heaven, then moves straightforward into the Seal Judgements. Importantly, these seal judgements, after the four rather infamous Horsemen, resolve in the 5th and 6th seals: Immense persecution followed by an event that VERY closely matches the Three Days of Darkness.
As I said, I plan on doing an entire article where I examine all the evidence, but I rather firmly believe that the 6th seal judgement refers to the Three Days of Darkness, and, by extension, the end of the Third Secret of Fatima. In the 5th seal judgement, the saints under the altar make a point of asking when their blood will be avenged on Earth. They are told that it will be soon, and are given a white robe while they wait. In the Third Secret, the souls of those making their way to heaven are sprinkled with the blood of the martyrs. While some interpretations of the Third Secret seem to suggest that the souls being sprinkled are the souls of the martyrs themselves, I don’t really think that that’s the case. Martyrs being sprinkled with their own blood? That doesn’t seem to make sense… Especially because, to get to heaven, we’re washed with Christ’s blood, not the blood of the martyrs.

No, what happens with the blood of martyrs is vengeance. Their blood is avenged in the 6th seal, when God’s wrath is poured out upon the Earth. Perhaps the blood is sprinkled upon those faithful Catholics, sparing them from the coming wrath. Perhaps it is sprinkled upon the entire world, as, in a sense, all souls are attempting to make their way to God (most simply don’t make it). I don’t have a fantastic explanation for EXACTLY what the secret is trying to say, but I truly believe that the gist of it is there.

 
I wrap things up 
And… Thus will conclude my analysis of the Third Secret of Fatima. At the end of the day, I guess I believe that the secret is only one of many puzzle pieces that we’ve been given, but that it serves as one of the more central pieces. In the same way that other visions and prophesies serve as cypher keys to interpret the Third Secret, I think that the Third Secret serves as a way to tie them all together.

Perhaps my above analysis of the Third Secret is correct. Perhaps not. I’m no prophet, I’m no scholar, I’m simply an author. That said, I do hope that my own thoughts can inspire others who are more knowledgeable than myself. If you have any questions or comments, want to provide rebuttals on any issues I present, or find yourself able to extrapolate further than I myself have been able to do, please contact me. I do hope to have an in-depth look at the Three Days of Darkness online within the next few weeks, Lord willing.
 
Until then,
 
Ave Maria