In a mountainous region near the town of Fatima, Portugal, the Mother of God appeared six times between May 13th and October 13th, 1917, to three shepherd children: Lucia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Mary told the children that she had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman, and child in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and violence, Mary promised that Heaven would grant peace to the entire world if her requests for prayer, reparation, and consecration were heard and obeyed.
Mary explained that war is a punishment for sin. She warned that if people continued to disobey God’s Will, they would suffer consequences of war, hunger, and persecution of the Church. She also prophesied that Russia would “spread her errors” of atheism and materialism across the earth. Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying daily, especially the Rosary, of wearing the Brown Scapular, and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. She also promised a sign as proof of her messages.
On October 13, 1917, a crowd of 50,000 people at Fatima, including many noted skeptics, saw the sun rotating and spinning in the heavens; then, leaving its orbit, it plunged toward the earth. The “Miracle of the Sun” is fully documented. On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in the chest and in the abdomen at point blank range in St. Peter’s Square. He credited his miraculous escape from death to the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima. One year later he traveled to Fatima, and placed the bullet in the crown resting upon the statue of Mary. He said, “One finger fired the bullet, but another guided its path.”
Seven years later, the Berlin Wall fell without a bullet being fired, and Communism collapsed across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Finally, last month, in the first weeks of his new pontificate, Pope Francis consecrated his papal ministry to Our Lady of Fatima.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
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