On 13 July 1917 at the Cova da Iria, Our Lady showed the children a vision and spoke words that Sister Lúcia later recorded as three parts of one secret: the vision of hell; the call to devotion to the Immaculate Heart, with the request for the consecration of Russia and First Saturdays of reparation; and a prophetic vision of a Bishop dressed in white and the suffering of the Church, published in full by the Holy See in 2000.
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Private revelation does not belong to the deposit of faith. The Holy See has published the three parts of the Fatima “secret” and offered an official interpretation. The texts below follow the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith documentation of 26 June 2000.
Church recognition and the secrets
The apparitions of Our Lady at Fátima (1917) have long been recognized for public devotion. The “secret” confided to the three children on 13 July 1917 is one secret in three parts. Sister Lúcia dos Santos wrote the first two parts in her Third Memoir (31 August 1941) and the third part on 3 January 1944 at the order of the Bishop of Leiria.
Popes John XXIII and Paul VI read the third part and chose not to publish it. After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, Pope John Paul II asked for the text. On 13 May 2000 Cardinal Angelo Sodano announced that the Holy See would publish it; on 26 June 2000 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the full documentation with a theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI).
Cardinal Ratzinger stressed that private revelations do not complete public Revelation and that the faithful are not obliged to believe them; they help us live the Gospel more fully in a given age. Of the third part he wrote that “no great mystery is revealed; nor is the future unveiled,” but rather a symbolic vision of the Church’s path of martyrdom and a call to penance.
Timeline of the secret
The three parts of the secret are given at Fátima.
Sister Lúcia writes the first and second parts in the Third Memoir.
Sister Lúcia writes the third part; the sealed envelope is held by the Bishop of Leiria.
The envelope is placed in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office.
Pope John XXIII receives the text; he decides not to publish it.
Pope Paul VI reads the text and returns it unpublished.
Assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II; he later asks for the secret.
Pope John Paul II, in union with the bishops of the world, consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sister Lúcia later confirmed that this act corresponded to Our Lady’s request (letter of 8 November 1989).
At Fátima, Cardinal Sodano announces imminent publication of the third part.
The CDF publishes the full Message of Fatima documentation and commentary.
1.
Vision of hell
Disclosed
Disclosure: Written by Sister Lúcia in the Third Memoir (31 August 1941) and published again in the Holy See’s 2000 documentation.
The first part is a brief, terrifying vision of hell, shown so that the children would understand the urgency of saving souls. Our Lady then turns immediately to the remedy: devotion to her Immaculate Heart.
Official text
Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us so kindly and so sadly:
“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…”
Cardinal Ratzinger later recalled that “to save souls” is the key word of the first and second parts. The vision is not curiosity about damnation but a summons to conversion and Marian devotion oriented to Christ.
2.
Immaculate Heart, Russia, and peace
Disclosed
Disclosure: Same Third Memoir text as published by the Holy See in 2000. Requests for the consecration of Russia and Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays belong to this part.
After the vision of hell, Our Lady speaks of ending the war then raging, warns of a worse war if people do not cease offending God, asks for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and First Saturdays of reparation, and promises that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
Official text
“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 say to 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 Pontificate 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 shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
In the Fourth Memoir Sister Lúcia adds a phrase about Portugal and the dogma of the faith. The Holy See’s 2000 introduction records Sister Lúcia’s confirmation that the 25 March 1984 act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady asked. Speculation that further “missing” requests remain is not supported by that confirmation.
3.
The Bishop dressed in white
Disclosed (26 June 2000)
Disclosure: Written 3 January 1944; published in full by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 26 June 2000, with Cardinal Sodano’s announcement (13 May 2000) and Cardinal Ratzinger’s theological commentary.
The third part is a symbolic vision: an Angel with a flaming sword crying “Penance, Penance, Penance!”; a Bishop dressed in white (the children took him to be the Holy Father) climbing a steep mountain toward a great Cross through a ruined city; his martyrdom together with bishops, priests, religious, and lay people; angels gathering the blood of the martyrs under the Cross. The Holy See interprets this as the Church’s Via Crucis in the twentieth century—wars, atheistic persecution, and the suffering of the Popes— not as a photographic prediction of a single future event.
Official text
J.M.J.
The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917.
I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
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, men and women Religious 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, men and women Religious, 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.
Tuy-3-1-1944.
Sister Lúcia told Archbishop Bertone (27 April 2000) that she received the vision but not its interpretation—that belongs to the Church—and that Cardinal Sodano’s reading corresponded to what she had experienced. Pope John Paul II linked the vision to the 1981 attempt on his life (“a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path”), while Cardinal Ratzinger insisted the vision is not a fixed fate but a call that mobilizes freedom toward penance and trust that “my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Claims of a still-hidden “fourth secret” are not part of the Holy See’s published documentation.
How the Holy See reads the third part
Cardinal Sodano (13 May 2000): the vision is prophetic and symbolic—like biblical prophecy—it compresses a succession of events and must be read in a symbolic key. It concerns especially the war of atheistic systems against the Church and the immense suffering of witnesses of the faith in the twentieth century, an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes.
Cardinal Ratzinger: the key word of the third part is “Penance, Penance, Penance!” The Angel’s flaming sword represents the threat of judgment; Our Lady’s splendour shows that the future is not unchangeably set. The mountain, ruined city, and Cross symbolize history’s struggle and the Cross as goal. The Bishop in white is the Pope; the vision gathers the century of martyrs. What remains for us is not apocalyptic curiosity but prayer, conversion, and trust in the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
