© Copyright 1989 - 2005, by Gary Giuffré

     At crucial turning points in time, the Blessed Virgin Mary has miraculously appeared to holy souls to offer her heavenly aid to the faithful and to the Church. In the early Christian age, these were uncommon events, but earthly visitations by the Mother of God increased in frequency from the time of the anti-Catholic, revolutionary movements of the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, to the period between World Wars I and II. Among the best-known examples of recent and officially recognized Marian apparitions are: La Salette, France (1846); Lourdes, France (1858); Pontmain, France (1871); Knock, Ireland (1879-80); Fatima, Portugal (1917); Beauraing, Belgium (1932-33); and Banneux, Belgium (1933).

     Two of the most renowned of the authenticated apparitions of the Blessed Mother, La Salette and Fatima, enjoyed the enthusiastic favor of several popes, yet have been met with the greatest opposition by persons inside the structures of the Church.

     At Fatima, Our Lady delivered a timely message for the Church and the world to three shepherd children, the first two segments of which were made public in 1917, while the remainder was to be unveiled at a later date. For decades, the Catholic world waited, with great anticipation, to learn the contents of the sealed Third Secret of Fatima, which was to be revealed publicly by the Pope no later than 1960. But when the Secret was suppressed by John XXIII, the disappointment of the faithful was enormous. Soon thereafter, suspicions that something had gone awry in the Vatican first began to be expressed in Catholic circles, and religious editorials.

     In its day, the Secret of La Salette had also captured the attention of the faithful, as well as Church leaders. This included two popes, who recognized in the words conveyed by the Virgin to two French peasant children, Melanie Calvat and Maximim Giraud, an authentic harbinger of the end times. But this earlier Secret also was effectively stifled.

     There has always been a definite link between the suppression of the Secret of La Salette by the French hierarchy (followed by, the Holy Office), and the quashing of the Third Secret of Fatima by John XXIII in 1960. For, their respective messages, which had the same source, were undoubtedly similar, and thus were met with stiff resistance from the same quarters.

The Secret of La Salette

     Approved by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, yet virtually concealed for 70 years, the Secret of La Salette read in part:

" . . . The Vicar of my Son will have much to suffer, as, for a time the Church will be the victim of great persecutions: this will be the hour of darkness. The Church will suffer a terrible crisis . . .

"The Holy Father will suffer greatly. I will be by his side to the end in order to receive his sacrifice. The wicked will make several attempts on his life but they cannot harm him. But neither he nor his successor [here, Melanie inserted in parentheses the words, ‘who will not reign long’] will live to see the triumph of the Church of God . . .

"Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist . . .

"The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay." (See Appendix: Complete Text of The Secret Of La Salette.)¹

     The La Salette devotion and particularly, the Secret of La Salette, stirred up so much hostility against the seers Melanie and Maximim, that, to this day, the reputations of those devout souls are still called into question. Fierce hostility to the Secret soon developed within a certain coterie of the clergy, possibly where Masonic infiltration had been most effective. Melanie and Maximim became the targets of vicious attacks, particularly among members of the French hierarchy. Interestingly, the Bishops, who had most violently opposed the young seers and the La Salette devotion, were stopped "dead" in their tracks, according to the following account of that time:

"In 1846, in a municipality of the Isère (La Salette), the Virgin appeared to two little children: Maximim Giraud and Melanie Calvat-Mathieu.

"Four French Bishops devoted themselves to the work of suffocating the belief [in La Salette] among the population. But they all died in tragic and mysterious circumstances. Bishop Ginovuhac of Grenoble, who had confined the young Melanie in an English convent in order to silence her, died shortly afterwards in a madhouse. His successor, Bishop Fava, who also did everything possible in order to halt the dissemination of the [La Salette] devotion, was found dead, stretched out on the floor, stripped, with disfigured eyes, and clenched fists. Bishop Gilbert of Amieins (and later, Bourdeaux), who had said: ‘The secret of La Salette is nothing more than a tissue of profaneness, lies, and exaggeration,’ shortly after 16 August 1889, was found dead in his room, also having fallen to the floor. And, during his funeral, his coffin crashed from the catafalque. Archbishop Darboy of Paris, who personally interrogated Maximim, causing him great psychological disturbance in order to learn the secret of the Virgin, and being perturbed by not obtaining it, had said to the boy: ‘The words of your beautiful Lady contain stupidity, as stupid as will be your secret.’ This brought the response from the boy: ‘It is as true, that I have seen the beautiful Lady, as I am certain that before three years are out, you will have been shot.’ The time for the revolutionary movement of the Communes had not yet come, nor had it been foreseen by the complacent and careless France of the Second Empire. But, on 24 May 1871, this prediction also came true: the Archbishop was shot by the Communards of Paris."²

     Many years later, Melanie would have the Secret of La Salette printed (at her own expense) in its entirety, but had to venture to the heel of the Italian peninsula to find a bishop who would approve of her project. Monsignore Salvator Grafen Zola, the Bishop of Lece, Italy, granted Melanie an imprimatur for the first publication of the entire contents of the Secret. But most of the copies that Melanie would distribute throughout France were later confiscated by confessors who, under orders of the French Church, demanded the surrender of the booklets from their penitents, as a condition for absolution. Eventually, the French hierarchy threatened Rome with the cut off of "Peter’s Pence" (material support for the urgent needs of the Pope) unless the Vatican would agree to curtail officially the circulation of the Secret, even though its dissemination had been favored by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII.

     From 1879 to 1900, several books foretelling the reign of Antichrist, perhaps inspired by the Secret of La Salette, had been published by highly respected clergy and laymen in the Church. This included Bishop Salvator Grafen Zola, Henry Edward Cardinal Manning (the eminent English Cardinal who drafted the decree on papal infallibility for Pope Pius IX at the First Vatican Council), and Frederick William Helle. By 1910, the references to a long-suffering Pope, Rome becoming the seat of Antichrist, the true Church being eclipsed and other clues concerning the end-times attack against the papacy, formed a common thread between the classical interpretations of scripture prophecy and the most recent warnings from Heaven. These kinds of details, found in the genuine, modern-day, Marian prophecies, would always generate the greatest opposition from the Church’s enemies who had infiltrated her structures. For they threatened to expose the satanic plot and long-time goal of the Masonic Lodge’s agents in the Vatican, to usurp and control the papal chair.

     The antagonism of the Masonic-dominated French clergy by which the French seers had been buffeted, and even shunned by some officials in Rome, was obviously generated by the Secret itself. For the Secret came very close to divulging the Lodge’s occult plan to overthrow the papacy, to suppress the Mass, and to destroy the Church ("Tolle Pappam; Tolle Misam; Tolle Ecclesiam.").

     The Secret warned that "the Church will be in eclipse." "Eclipse" means hidden; covered up; seeming to disappear. The Holy Scriptures say: "Where there is Peter, there is the Church." That the obscuration of the Pope was the prerequisite step for taking away the Mass and the Church seems to have been foretold by Melanie. She understood that Peter would be hidden along with the Church, and that his "eclipse" would be a prelude to the disappearance of the Mass. For, in commenting on this part of the secret, Melanie said to the French Abbot Paul Combe:

"The Church will be eclipsed. At first, we will not know which is the true pope. Then secondly, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease to be offered in churches and houses; it will be such that, for a time, there will not be public services any more. But I see that the Holy Sacrifice has not really ceased: it will be offered in barns, in alcoves, in caves, and underground." ³

     It should be remembered that despite the strong measures taken against Masonry by Pope Leo XIII, Cardinal Rampolla, a secret, 33rd degree Freemason, had risen through ranks of the hierarchy and eventually became Pope Leo’s Secretary of State, having thus attained the second highest office in the Church. From key posts, which they had already occupied 100 years before the conclave that produced the Masonic antipope, John XXIII, Luciferian agents, employed as high Vatican officials were in position to smother these heavenly warnings, by discouraging several true popes from taking appropriate action on them.

     On December 21, 1915, the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office issued a ban against further publication of "commentaries" on the Secret of La Salette, by the following decree:

"It has come to the knowledge of this Supreme Congregation that there are still persons, even ecclesiastics, who, in spite of the answers and decisions of the Sacred Congregation itself, continue, by books, pamphlets, and articles published in periodicals, whether signed or anonymous, to discuss the question of the Secrets of La Salette, its various texts, its adaptations to our present times or to the future - and these, not only without the approbation of their Bishops, but even in spite of their express prohibition. In order that these abuses, which are hurtful to true piety, and seriously attack ecclesiastical authority, may be repressed, the same Sacred Congregation orders the faithful of all countries to abstain from treating and discussing this said question, under whatsoever pretext or form, either in books, pamphlets, or articles signed or and anonymous, or in any other way . . .

" . . . This Decree is not, however, contrary to the devotion to the Blessed Virgin invoked and known under the title of Reconciler of La Salette.

"Given at Rome, at the palace of the Holy Office, December 21, l915." Signed - Louis Castellano, Notary. ⁴

     Although the Secret itself was not censured in 1915, but only private interpretations of it, the same effect was nevertheless achieved by the enemies of La Salette, as Catholic publishers were thereafter very reluctant to reproduce the Secret, even without commentaries. Hence, its contents (along with numerous, related essays on the coming of Antichrist) remained hidden for decades.

Pope Leo’s "Prayer to St. Michael"

     Another heavenly warning, censored by as yet unnamed Vatican officials, and mysteriously stricken in 1934, from the Raccolta (the Vatican’s book of officially-sanctioned prayers), was a certain "Prayer 407" (also sometimes listed "446"), written by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), who was a devotee of La Salette. Leo issued the prayer in his "moto proprio" of 25 September 1888. He was prompted to compose the prayer, so the story goes, by an incident that had left him terrified. One day, when the Pope had just finished offering his morning Mass, he became traumatized to the point that he suddenly collapsed, causing those in attendance to think he was dead. Upon his return to consciousness, the Pope described a frightful conversation he had heard coming from near the tabernacle upon the altar. The locution consisted of two "voices" which the Holy Father perceived to be that of Christ and Satan. The latter boasted that he could destroy the Church, within a period of 75 years (or 100 years, according to some accounts) if allowed "a greater influence" over those who would do his will. Perhaps as a test for Catholics who had grown indifferent to the Faith after the revolutionary movements of the 19^th century, our Lord supposedly answered Satan: "Do what you will!"

     Pope Leo is said to have retired to his apartment at once to write his famous Prayer to St. Michael. Some have rejected the rumor of this incident as pure fantasy, and dismiss as ludicrous the suggestion that Christ would permit the devil to take the Church to the brink of destruction. But the original Prayer to St. Michael written by Pope Leo at the time recalls to mind the following words of the Savior twice found in Sacred Scripture, when He quotes the Prophet Zacharias:

". . . it is written, I will strike the pastor, and the sheep . . . shall be scattered." ⁵

     Pope Leo may well have been aware of the opinions of Catholic scripture scholars that, in the latter days, a pontiff would be driven out of Rome. But whether from the disputed locution or his own expertise in biblical prophecy, the Pope apparently had specific knowledge of the devil’s strategy to bring down the Church by setting up a false pope in the place of the true Vicar of Christ. In fact, by his publication of the Prayer to St. Michael, Leo XIII seems to have been sending a clear warning to the Church of the impending attack on the papacy. A key passage in the prayer (highlighted below in bold type) strongly suggested that a false authority was already being set up to displace the true Vicar of Christ:

"O GLORIOUS Archangel St. Michael, Prince of heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom GOD created immortal, made in his own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of the LORD, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of GOD and of his CHRIST to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered. Arise then O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of GOD, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has GOD entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the GOD of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the LORD; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the Cross of the LORD; be scattered ye hostile powers.

R. The Lion of the tribe of Juda has conquered, the root of David.

V. Let thy mercies be upon us, O LORD. As we have hoped in thee.

V. O LORD, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee. Let us pray.

O GOD, the FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, we call upon thy holy name, and as suppliants we implore thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St Michael, thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen." ⁶

     Long after the death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, his Prayer to St. Michael, continued to be published in successive editions of The Raccolta. But in 1934, without explanation, the Sacred Penitentiary Apostolic in Rome authorized its removal and replacement with the following ambiguous forgery, titled only as prayer "410":

"O glorious Prince of the heavenly host, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the fearful warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come thou to the assistance of men, whom Almighty God created immortal, making them in His own image and likeness and redeeming them at a great price from the tyranny of Satan. Fight this day the battle of the Lord with thy legions of holy Angels, even as of old thou didst fight against Lucifer, the leader of the proud spirits and all his rebel angels, who were powerless to stand against thee, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that apostate angel, transformed into an angel of darkness who still creeps about the earth to encompass our ruin, was cast headlong into the abyss together with his followers. But behold, that first enemy of mankind, and a murderer from the beginning, has regained his confidence. Changing himself into an angel of light, he goes about with the whole multitude of the wicked spirits to invade the earth and blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to plunder, to slay and to consign to eternal damnation the souls that have been destined for a crown of everlasting life. This wicked serpent, like an unclean torrent, pours into men of depraved minds and corrupt hearts the poison of his malice, the spirit of lying, impiety and blasphemy, and the deadly breath of impurity and every form of vice and iniquity. These crafty enemies of mankind have filled to overflowing with gall and wormwood the Church, which is the Bride of the Lamb without spot; they have laid profane hands upon her most sacred treasures. Make haste, therefore, O invincible Prince, to help the people of God against the inroads of the lost spirits and grant us the victory. Amen." ⁷

     The 1934 Raccolta implied that Pope Leo’s moto proprio, of 25 September 1888, was the source for the truncated and watered-down prayer "410," even though it had not seen the light of day until, 4 May 1934. Yet another Prayer to St. Michael, "411," appeared at the same time, to which Pope Leo’s authorship had also been claimed, although, like prayer "410," it was not published until 31 years after the Pope’s death. This last Prayer to St. Michael, which was very brief when compared to the previous two, ultimately became the best known of the three, when its use, "for the Church in Russia," became institutionalized. For 30 years the prayer was recited at the end of low Masses, offered in Catholic churches throughout the world:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen." ⁸

     But even this prayer was too much for the "new regime" that had been installed in the Vatican after the death of Pope Pius XII. This last fragment of what had remained of the original Prayer to St. Michael was dropped altogether by Paul VI in 1963, so as not to cause any continued offense to the "church" in Russia. (Of course, this was the "Russian Orthodox Church," whose prelates were nothing more than officers of the Soviet KGB.) Earlier in the same year, a secret accord was reached between the Kremlin and John XXIII, referred to decades later as the Vatican-Moscow Agreement. The treaty would eventually be revealed as the explanation why pastors were thereafter forbidden to lead the faithful in the Prayer to St. Michael after Mass. By this sinister pact, the new Vatican powers-that-be promised to stop the Church’s praying for "the conversion of Russia," as a condition for the attendance at the Second Vatican Council by the Soviet state-church hierarchy (and its retinue of espionage agents). By then, it was becoming obvious to alert Catholics that something was seriously wrong "at the top," when prayers for the conversion of the Church’s most brutal persecutors in modern times, were arbitrarily halted before any real change of heart was manifest by the Soviet dictatorship. (It was at this time that the emerging "new church" also stopped praying for the conversion of the Jews.)

The Message of Fatima

     Just as the Secret of La Salette and the original Prayer to St. Michael had been consigned to oblivion, another warning from Heaven was being quashed by unseen forces inside the Vatican. From 1917 to 1945, one of the most important events in modern history was largely concealed from the faithful—the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima.

     Supernatural manifestations at Fatima began in 1915, the same year that the Vatican monitum had stifled all discussion on the Secret of La Salette. In 1916, St. Michael the Archangel had begun to appear to the three Fatima children, Jacinta Marto, Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos. Then, on 13 May 1917, the first vision of the Virgin Mary occurred to the young shepherds. On 13 May 1917, the last vision of Our Lady of Fatima, to appear to all three Portuguese seers, occurred while the spectacular "Miracle of the Sun" was simultaneously seen by 70-80,000 dumfounded eye-witnesses. But it was earlier, on 13 July 1917, when the young visionaries were shown the terrifying image of Hell, that the Great Fatima Secret was delivered to them by the Mother of God. The "Fatima Secret" stated in part:

"You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I ask of you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. 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 this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

"To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.

"In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world . . ." ⁹

     Once, again, troubles for the Church, and great sufferings for the Holy Father, were foretold by the heavenly messenger. The principal belligerents of World War I would again be at war within 20 years, shortly after the appearance of an eerie red light that lit up the night sky across Europe and North America on 25 January 1938. But at the time, no one in 1917 could have imagined a backward country like Russia, where many people lived in semi-starvation and abject misery, would be able to spread its influence around the world, causing large-scale persecutions of the Church and intense sufferings to the Holy Father. Few could have predicted that Russia, soon to be under the grip of Judeo-Masonic-Marxism, would be able, only 41 years later, to interfere in the papal conclave, and, together with other world powers, cause the overthrow of the rightful pope from the See of Peter. Even now, few people know that Russia was as much responsible, as Germany, for the second great world war.

     Once again, these new warnings from Heaven met with stiff opposition—at first by the anti-clerical government in Portugal, then by Church officials themselves, who succeeded in keeping most of the Catholic faithful, outside of Portugal, ignorant of the devotion years after it was declared legitimate by the Holy See. In the United States, the apparitions had hardly been heard of until American soldiers, returning from World War II, brought home news about the Miracle and Message of Fatima, and the devotion to our Lady that grew from them.

Warning at Rianjo

     In 1926, Lucia dos Santos, entered the religious life. While she was in residence at the Dorothean Sisters Novitiate House, in Tuy, Spain, the Virgin of Fatima fulfilled her pledge to come and request the "Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary." On 13 June 1929, Sister Lucy was again visited by the Blessed Mother who announced:

"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."

"So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against Me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray." ¹⁰

     To this, Sister Lucy would add the following addendum to Our Lady’s request:

"The good Lord promises to end the persecution in Russia, if the Holy Father will himself make a solemn act of reparation and consecration of Russia to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as well as ordering all the Bishops of the Catholic world to do the same. The Holy Father must then promise that upon the ending of the persecution he will approve and recommend the practice of the reparatory devotion already described." ¹¹

     Later, our Lord, Himself communicated to Sister Lucy through an interior locution, the following warning:

"They did not want to heed My request! Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer." ¹²

     The heavenly requests received by Sister Lucy were submitted to the Holy See. Two years passed and the consecration had not yet been done. It was 1931 and Pope Pius XI (1922-39) was on the Chair of Peter. When the Pope failed to carry out the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Savior is reported to have revisited Sister Lucy, in August, this time at Rianjo, Spain, a coastal city where she had been sent by her superiors for reasons of health. Our Lord then declared to Sister Lucy:

"Make it known to My ministers that, given they follow the King of France in delaying the execution of My request, that they follow him into misfortune. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary." ¹³

     Until recently, few Catholics had ever heard of Our Lord’s warning to the Pope delivered to Sister Lucy, at Rianjo. Fewer still have understood it. For Christ’s message would reveal the hidden parallels between the two eras of the French Revolution, 142 years before, and the revolt during Vatican Council II that was still to come.

     The King by Heaven had delivered a request to the King of France, through the servant of God, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. The last kings to reign over France, Louis XIV, XV and XVI, all failed to comply with Heaven’s petition to consecrate their country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After the loss of his crown, in 1789, Louis XVI attempted to carry out the consecration, but by then, the King had already relinquished his authority, and France was lost to the revolution.

     So likewise did Pope Pius XI also fail to obey Heaven’s entreaty to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Pope Pius XII (1939-58) affected a consecration of "Russia and the world" but not according to the manner requested by the Mother of God.

     The Freemasons, who had taken Louis XVI prisoner in 1789, put him to death in 1793.

     Many years after the sudden death of Pius XI in 1939, there were rumors that, the Pope had been poisoned by his own doctor:

" . . . according to the posthumous "memoirs" of the late Eugène Cardinal Tisserant, the dean of the of the Sacred College of Cardinals . . . , Pius XI . . . was assassinated by an agent of Benito Mussolini to prevent the pontiff from issuing a vigorous condemnation of Fascism.

"As reported . . . in Paris-Match, Pius XI had asked Cardinal Tisserant to convoke a meeting of the Italian bishops as a forum for the Pope’s anti-Fascist speech. On the eve of that meeting, Tisserant writes in his private papers, the Pope asked for a pick-me-up drug to bolster him through his speech. According to the account, the drug was given by injection (the common practice in Italy) by Dr. Francesco Petacci, who also happened to be the father of Mussolini’s mistress, Clara. Several hours after the injection, the Pope was dead.

" . . . Carlo Cardinal Confalonieri, 78, who was Pope Pius XI’s secretary for 17 years, insisted that, ‘Dr. Petacci did not enter the papal apartment, not even for a single instant.’ But that assertion was not likely to convince everyone. Tisserant was known for both his blunt candor and his habit of committing even the smallest details of his life to paper. ‘Being No. 2 in Rome,’ he once told a friend, ‘is to be heavy with secrets that the Popes were unaware of.’" ¹⁴

     The late William Guy Carr, Canadian naval commander and intelligence officer during World War II, was an acknowledged authority on the "Illuminati," a sinister Masonic movement whose founding in 1776, by Adam Weishaupt in Inglestat, Germany, predated the French Revolution by 13 years. Through its financial ties to the Vatican established in the 1700’s, the Illuminati was able to penetrate the Church’s structures, then increase its influence over the entire apparatus of ecclesiastical government, and, within 200 years, extend its control over the Pope himself. Commander Carr asserted that by the 1950’s, Illuminati spies in the Vatican had encircled Pope Pius XII to the point that he became a hostage to Freemasonry:

" . . . Weishaupt boasted that the Illuminati would infiltrate into the Vatican and bore from within, until they left it nothing but an empty shell . . . Since I exposed certain events which indicate that agentur of the Illuminati have infiltrated into the Vatican, I have received a number of letters from priests who have studied in the Vatican . . . Those who wrote assured me that the fears I express are more than well founded. One priest informed me that the Pope was surrounded by picked "Specialists", "Experts" and "Advisors to such an extent that he was little better than a prisoner in his own palace. Another priest informed me of the eternal surveillance exercised over the Pope . . . those who maintain the surveillance . . . give him no freedom of action even in the privacy of his own chambers. The priest said ‘Those who exercise this surveillance are all hand picked members of a certain order and they all come from the same institution in Germany located near where Weishaupt lived and conspired, while on this earth.’" ¹⁵

     Thus, if Pius XII was a "prisoner" of the Illuminati in the Vatican, it would be reasonable to suspect that he may also have met a fate similar to that alleged of his predecessor.

    With the death of Louis XVI, and the destruction of the Catholic Monarchy in France, the French Revolution pursued its Antichrist agenda to the chant of its slogan of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

     Following the suppression of the papacy, which was carried out under the cover of conclave secrecy in 1958, the way was cleared for the long-awaited Masonic "council" which would advance the same three principal objectives of the French Revolution (this time in the "Church"): "Religious Liberty" (all religions should be given equal status by the state), "Ecumenism" (the sects which separated from the Catholic Church can be sources of grace and salvation), and "Collegiality" (the Pope is merely one bishop among the Bishops of the world).

     Constitutional monarchs, or kings who reigned but did not rule (a fraudulent concept of the monarchy) were set up in France from 1814 to 1848. All the while, a legitimate Bourbon line from Louis XIV remained in exile (after the death of the Count of Chambord in 1883) under the Duchy of Parma. (The line still exists today in the person of the Catholic Prince Sixte-Henri de Bourbon-Parma, who is thought by many monarchists to be the most likely heir to the French Crown.)

     So also were the false "conciliar popes" presented to the world, while the true pope, Giuseppe Siri, remained in exile under a hidden house arrest in Genoa, ever since his legitimate election as pope, and subsequent suppression, in 1958. Since his death in 1989, hope has been kept alive, by the prophecies of the saints, that the true pope took necessary measures to guarantee the succession of the papal line.

The Third Secret of Fatima

     Of course, most people have not been aware of these hidden historical events or their connection to the requests of the Sacred Heart which fell upon the deaf ears of the French Kings. For that reason, it is most likely and logical, that Heaven would have intended to give the Catholic world a specific and clear warning of the grave events to come, which could be understood by all. The final, concealed portion of Our Lady’s message to Sister Lucy became well known as the Third Secret of Fatima. The Secret was written down by Sr. Lucy, forwarded to the Pope in a sealed envelope, and was to be made public by him no later than 1960. Its disclosure could have been a revelation of evil currents in the Vatican, and hence, a great embarrassment to the Pope. It was most probably the "punch line" of all end times prophecies which would have foiled the hidden plans of the Masonic Lodge to overthrow and exile the Pope from Rome, had it been laid bare to the world.

     While the exact wording of the Third Fatima Secret is not known to this writer, it seems reasonable to speculate on the details of this important document by various clues which Our Lady provided in the earlier portions of the Fatima message that were made public. Several key passages from what has already been divulged will therefore be examined below in light of what has happened in the Church and the world in the latter part of the 20^th century:

"The Church will undergo terrible persecutions."

     Catholics faithful to the true Mass, mandated for all time by Pope St. Pius V, were almost universally forced to depart the structures of the official "Church." In effect, those faithful to the Church’s unchanging doctrine, worship and discipline have been cast into the "wilderness" by the policies of what has been purported to be the "hierarchy of the Church," since the death of Pope Pius XII.

"Russia will spread her errors all over the World."

     When, on December 1, 1989, then Soviet ruler and former KGB chief, Gorbachev, was officially welcomed by John Paul II to the Vatican, a physical place which, after all, is also in the world, the Soviet goal to propagandize the whole world could finally be said to have been completed.

"The Holy Father will have much to suffer!"

     The true pope remained in a cruel and helpless exile for 31 years, while being forced to witness the savage attack against the faithful, as media-star anti-popes Paul VI and John Paul II traveled the world spreading the "new Gospel" of Vatican II. This condition was perpetuated by the apparent fact that in the many years following his election in 1958, the true pope-in-exile had not one cardinal upon whom he could depend to confirm his rightful and public claim to the papacy, because of fear, blackmail and intrigue. Likewise, he was afraid that his own sudden death would seriously jeopardize the continuation of the already obscured papal line, whose existence was known only to the captors of the true pope and the handful of old and timid cardinals still sympathetic to him. As long as this stalemate continued, the possibility that any other valid pope could be elected seems to have been precluded. The powers of darkness thus extended their control over the entire succession of false conciliar popes, without fear of any guidance coming upon them by the Holy Ghost, which is always bestowed upon true Vicars of Christ.

     The Third Secret of Fatima, which was to have been released to the world by the Pope, most likely contained a clear revelation that, by 1960, the forces of Antichrist would usurp the Chair of Peter and occupy the visible structures of the Church. Pope Pius XII kept the secret in a special cabinet in his bedroom during the final years of his pontificate. In 1957, it was reported in some parishes around the world that the Pope had opened the secret, was horribly shocked by its contents, wept bitterly, and went into seclusion for nearly two weeks. The Pope could have made the secret known on the spot, but he decided to wait instead, perhaps hoping that conditions would change for the better. Without doubt, the secret’s public disclosure would have caused a great scandal. The mentality of Pius XII at that time was that scandal had to be avoided at all cost. But this was in stark contrast to the admonition of Pope St. Pius X that: "It is better for scandals come out than for the truth to be covered up."

     It is almost certain that Pius XII would have ultimately acquiesced to Our Lady’s request, although he wanted to wait until the last minute, and planned not to reveal the secret to the world before January 1, 1960. But since its contents must also have been known to enemy agents, already highly placed in the Vatican at that time, its suppression would have been sought by them at any cost. The death of Pope Pius XII on 9 October 1958, just 14 months and 22 days before the start of the new decade, was most opportune for those who wanted to quash the secret. Thus, the catastrophe, which the secret’s early disclosure might have prevented, took place as planned, behind the sealed doors of the conclave.

     When 1960 finally arrived, Pius XII’s legitimate successor had been swept aside, and in his place intruded the accused Rosicrucian, Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII), who had the effrontery to quash the message from the Mother of God with the deceitful excuse: "It is not meant for my time." According to one account, damaging clues concerning Roncalli’s true motive for smothering the Third Secret of Fatima surfaced in newspapers from a country far removed from Rome:

" . . . The first and principal part of that secret is still being suppressed by the people who would be exposed and incriminated by its publication, those Modernists who have finally succeeded in "infiltrating into the highest places in the Church," including the papal throne itself. On Monday, September 11, 1972, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, largest daily newspaper in India, carried an article about the Fatima Secret. On Sunday, September 10, the UNI (United News of India) hurriedly dispatched the following news to all Indian papers and called special attention of the Associated Press and ANSA (Italian News Service). The action was prompted by the tremendous impact which leaflets on the Fatima Secret, distributed by Roman Catholics in Cochin, had made upon Indian Catholics that Sunday.

"‘The leaflet said that the Virgin Mary appeared to three children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. She had left one of them with a secret message with instructions that it be sent to the Pope in a sealed envelope that should be opened and made public in 1960.

"‘This was the FATIMA SECRET which the Vatican has failed to publish, the leaflet asserted.

"‘It alleged that the Vatican had not revealed the contents of the message so far, as ordained by the Virgin. This, the leaflet contended, was because the message was self-damaging to the Vatican.

". . . the Secret Message of Fatima was to be opened in 1960, by the Pontiff then reigning, or on the occasion of Sister Lucia’s death, whichever occurred first, and then immediately published to the world. Sister Lucia is still living. The Pontiff reigning in 1960 was Pope John XXIII.

"‘ . . . The secret contained important information about the Conclave and, as Sister Lucia has since stated to several priest interviewers, about the Papacy.

‘Rest assured, if the Secret dealt with no information other than the end of the world, a third world war, a great chastisement, or warnings and threats no matter how dire, the Modernists certainly never would have suppressed it. Why should they? But if it were to expose them? . . . ; if it were to break their power . . . then, of course, they would stop at nothing to suppress it. And by . . . 1960, they had more than enough power to control the news in any way they chose." ¹⁶

     Not only did John XXIII suppress the secret part of the Fatima message, but also seemed to ridicule the published exhortations of the Mother of God. In what now appears to have been a mocking of Our Lady’s repeated warnings, the "good ‘Pope’ John" declared on October 11, 1962, during his opening speech at the infamous Vatican Council II:

"We feel bound to disagree with these prophets of misfortune who are forever forecasting calamity as though the end of the world were imminent. And yet today, Providence is guiding us toward a new order of human relationships . . ." ¹⁷

     It was perhaps not coincidental that the word "misfortune," in Roncalli’s speech, (often translated as "doom") was the same expression used by Our Lord at Rianjo, to describe the fate of the Popes who, like the Kings of France, procrastinated in their compliance with Heaven’s requests.

     What Roncalli had in mind by a "new order of human relationships" would soon be demonstrated when he granted a private audience, in March, 1963, to the daughter and son-in-law of Soviet Premier Khrushchev, the butcher of Catholics in the captive nations. The audience, which was of immense propaganda value to the Communists, coincided with the presentation of the "Balzan Peace Prize" to Roncalli. This would be a clear signal to the Communist world of the Vatican’s new orientation, since "peace" as defined by Marxist propagandists is:

". . . the condition that will be achieved when Communism rules the world." ¹⁸

     Their meeting would set the stage for on-going collaboration between the Kremlin and Rome under the modern day antipopes, culminating 26 years later with the reception of Mikhail Gorbachev by John Paul II in the Vatican on 1 December 1989. The establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two, now friendly, entities soon followed.

     Atheistic-Communism (now given new names in different places) today rules the world. Catholic worship, as it had existed from time immemorial until the death of Pope Pius XII, is now practically non-existent. And evidence is now emerging that the rightful pope was held in a cruel and hidden exile from 1958 to 1989, while the Church was ravaged from top to bottom. It can therefore be established that several portions of Our Lady of Fatima’s published warnings, have been fulfilled.

The Prophecy of St. Francis of Assisi

     The Third Secret of Fatima, which no doubt, holds the key to decoding the Apocalyptic riddle of the end times, perhaps even more clearly than other recent warnings from heaven, will not remain suppressed forever. In essence, it might have already been revealed centuries ago by the following prophecy, attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, who foresaw that a then future great apostasy and persecution of the Church would be brought about through the false authority, or "schism" of an antipope:

"There will be an uncanonically elected pope who will cause a great Schism, there will be diverse thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea, even agree with those heretics which will cause my Order to divide, then will there be such universal dissension and persecutions that if those days were not shortened even the elect would be lost." ¹⁹

     Some Catholics believe that the above scenario is not occurring today, even though unprecedented apostasy in the "official church" is evident worldwide. They concede that the usurpation of the papal chair by antipopes has taken place in the past, and might occur again in the distant future, but could not happen now. The "crisis in the Church," they often contend, is simply the result of faulty interpretations of conciliar documents, exacerbated by the policies of weak and vacillating, but true "popes." Others clearly recognize that heresy has been officially promoted by the post-Pius "popes," but accept erroneous "explanations" as to how such could supposedly happen. However, to the first pope and his successors was given the Divine pledge:

"Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou being converted confirm thy brethren." ²⁰

     Therefore, is it possible that four validly elected Popes in a row could have been so faithless or even mentally incompetent, so as to cause, in just 40 years, the Church’s progress of almost two millennia to be nearly brought to naught? Would not Almighty God have converted such individuals, or else, prevented them from becoming true Vicars of Christ in the first place?

     For four decades, there have been persistent rumors that the true successor to Pope Pius XII was the late Giuseppe Siri, and that he was forcibly exiled from Rome by the Church’s enemies, while false claimants were secretly put in his place. Now, in the dawning light of long suppressed warnings from Heaven, these reports are finally being given serious and deserved consideration. For it is known that similar intrigue has been carried out against the papacy more than once in past centuries.

Jacinta’s Vision of a Future Pope

     Few books or articles on Fatima have mentioned the vision of a future pope, which was seen by the Portuguese shepherds and described by little Jacinta Marto, the youngest of the three Fatima seers. Reproduced below is a rare account of Jacinta’s description of the Pope she saw:

"I see the Holy Father in a very large house, on his knees before a table, with his hands over his face, crying. In front of his house, there are many people, and some are throwing stones at him, others are cursing him and saying very foul words to him. Poor little Holy Father! We must pray a lot for Him!" ²¹

     In a reported conversation between two of the Fatima children, Jacinta asked Lucia if she could tell others more about it.

"‘Can I say I saw the Holy Father and all those people?’ she asked.

"‘No,’ answered Lucia. ‘Don’t you see that makes part of the secret? And then it will be discovered?’" ²²

     From this narrative, it is evident that unusual circumstances involving the Pope make up the essence of the Third Fatima Secret. It is also obvious that the Pope in Jacinta’s vision is not securely quartered in the Vatican but is in a dangerous exile, in a private residence where he is vulnerable to assassination by an angry mob. This is likely the short-lived successor to the long- suffering Vicar of Christ, envisioned by Melanie of La Salette as the Pope "who will not reign long." His selection as pontiff may come about through emergency measures (logically undertaken by the true pope-in-exile, before his death in 1989. An expert on the prophecies of the saints, Fr. Gerald Culleton, predicted in 1941, that the new pope would be:

". . . chosen by Divine intervention and probably by a method laid down by the exile." ²³

     Since no post-Fatima pope up to and including Pius XII and his rightful successor, (nor, thus far, even the modern-day antipopes) could fit into the scene described by Jacinta, this must be a future pope. And he is possibly the same, and not-to-distant, pontiff who seems destined for a cruel execution, in the manner of Christ, as foretold in the prophecy of Pope Pius IX:

"There will come a great wonder, which will fill the world with astonishment. This wonder will be preceded by the triumph of revolution. The Church will suffer exceedingly. Her servants and her chieftain will be mocked, scourged, and martyred." ²⁴

The Promise of Christ

     Today, confusion reigns as never before, even among remnant Catholics, who are heroically clinging to the Faith of their fathers. As awareness increases concerning the bogus character of the conciliar "popes," yet another danger currently presents itself. Breeding despair and defeatism, a supposition is now being subtly introduced into traditional Catholic enclaves, that the papacy has been irreparably lost. This latest deception, however, may also involve heresy, since it seems to contradict the teaching of a dogmatic council of the Church:

"That which our Lord Jesus, the Prince of shepherds and great Shepherd of the sheep, established in the blessed apostle Peter, for the continual salvation and permanent benefit of the Church, must of necessity remain forever, by Christ’s authority, in the Church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time . . .

"Therefore if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord Himself (that is to say by Divine law) that blessed Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church . . . let him be anathema." ²⁵

     Did not the First Vatican Council teach that Christ, Himself guarantees the perpetuity of the Roman Pontiffs? This interpretation of the council seems to have been supported by Fathers Spirago and Clarke, the authors of one of the most comprehensive catechisms in the English language, who wrote in 1899:

"Never in the history of the Catholic Church, has it been free of persecution. Whatever may be the differences between the sects, they unite against the Church . . .

"All Catholics acknowledge the Pope as Head of the Church. If there were antipopes, it is none the less true that someone was the true Pope. The existence of many pretenders to a throne does not exclude the claim of the true king . . .

"The Vatican Council declares that it is the will of Christ that till the end of the world there be successors to St. Peter . . .

"Hence, there will always be Popes, Bishops and faithful and God’s revealed truths will ever be found in the Catholic Church . . ." ²⁶

     Even in these dark days, Catholics should take heart in the promise of Christ that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church, as nothing which happens on earth, occurs without the permission of Providence. There is reason to hope that another true pope will soon emerge from holy obscurity (as is suggested by the prophecies of many holy souls), and will reawaken his sleeping flock. Dispersed for a generation into the wilderness, they await to be led in a righteous march on Rome to take back the Vatican for the one, true Church. Such an event would be an incomparable blessing for the faithful, even if the Pope were to live only long enough to accomplish, with the remaining handful of true bishops, the Consecration of Russia, and to expose and anathematize the false conciliar "popes," and all their devilish works. The long-hidden enemy, within the "official church," as well as traditionalist ranks, would once and for all be forced to the surface for everyone to see. Then may the ancient serpent be finally cast out of the comfort of the Church’s physical structures and into the exterior darkness, "where there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth." This would at last convince a doubting world of the Divine origin of the Catholic Church. For the ultimate triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (and hence, the Church and her true pope) has been guaranteed by Heaven. It is as certain as her final crushing of the head of Satan, foretold at the beginning of time, as recorded in the first book of the Holy Bible:

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." ²⁷†

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Footnotes:

1 Abbé Paul Gouin, Sister Mary Of The Cross; The Shepherdess Of La Salette, 1981, L’Association Des Enfants De Notre Dame De La Salette & Saint Louis Grignon De Montfort - printed by Billing and Sons Limited, London, pages 66 & 68.

2 Luigi Villa, “La Salette; 19 settembre 1846 [‘I fatti sono…fatti’],” Chiesa Viva, No. 143, November 1972, Brescia, Italy, page 4.

3 Abbot Paul Combe: The Secret of Melanie and the Actual Crisis, 1906, Rome, p.137.

4 Margaret Maher, Weekly Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 25, 22 June 1962, Council of the International Catholic Crusade Against Communism, New Salem, Pennsylvania, page 4.

5 Matthew 26:31, and Mark 14:27

6 “#407 Prayer to St. Michael,” The Raccolta, 1930; Benziger Brothers, pages 314, 15.

7 “410,” The Raccolta, 1952; Benziger Brothers, pages 339, 40.

⁸ “411,” The Raccolta, 1952; Benziger Brothers, page 340.

9 Frère Michel of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. II; The Secret And The Church, 1989, Immaculate Heart Publications, Buffalo, New York, pages 10-13.

10 Frère Michel of the Holy Trinity, page 464.

11 Frère Michel, page 465.

12 Frère Michel, pages 464-65.

13 Frère Michel, pages 543-44.

14 Newsweek, 22 May 1972.

15 William Guy Carr, The Red Fog Over America, 1959, Angriff Press, Hollywood, California, pages 225-26.

16 Daniel J. Clark, This Is My Beloved Son; Hear Ye Him!, 1976, Secret Fatima Publications, pages 40 - 41.

17 Peter Hebblethwaite, Pope John XXIII, Shepherd of the Modern World, 1985, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, page 431.

18 William Ebenstein, “Communism”; “Words Mean Different Things Under Communism and in a Democracy,” World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. IV; Ci-Cz, 1967, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, Chicago, page 726.

19 Rev. Gerald Culleton, The Reign of Antichrist, 1951, Academy Duplicating Service, Fresno, California, page 130.

20 Luke 22:32

21 William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, 1947, Doubleday, Garden City, New York, page 92.

22 William Thomas Walsh, pages 91-92.

23 Rev. Gerald Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times, 1941, Academy Duplicating Service, Fresno, California, page 75.

24 Rev. Gerald Culleton, page 206.

25 Rev. Norman Tanner, S.J. & Giuseppe Alberigo, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. II, 1990, “First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ”; Chapter II: “The Continuation of St. Peter’s Primacy in the Roman Pontiffs,” The Vatican Council [1870], Sheed & Ward and Georgetown University Press, Washington, page 813.

26 Rev. Francis Spirago & Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Catechism Explained, 1899, Benzinger Brothers, New York, pages 242, 243, 224 & 235.

27 Genesis 3:15