There is no 'fourth secret',
Bertone reiterates in updated book
by ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI
Translated from
May 10, 2010
"A fourth secret of Fatima does not exist", says Mons. Loris Capovilla, 94, who was the private secretary of Pope John XIII and was among the very first persons to read the statement handwritten by Sor Lucia, one of the three shepherd children of Fatima to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in 1917.
[Unfortunately, that single statement is all that the article says about an apparently new statement from Capovilla about the 'secret'.]
Capovilla's testimony is found in the book
L'ultimo segreto di Fatima, which is a new update of an interview book by RAI's longtime Vatican news editor Giuseppe Di Carli with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone published in 2007 as
L'ultima veggente di Fatima (The last seer of Fatima).
Bertone, in his capacity as secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had been sent to Portugal three times by then Cardinal Ratzinger to interview Suor Lucia before the so-called 'third secret' was revealed by John Paul II in 2000.
This update is not expected to settle the continuing dispute on a purported 'fourth secret' supposedly contained in a part of the 'third secret' which the Vatican chose not to reveal.
From left, Capovilla's 1964 biography of John XXIII; an undated photograph of Capovilla, probably in the 1990s; in a 2007 photograph with a visiting American journalist; and Socci's book.
Especially since Mons.Capovilla is also cited as a 'witness in support of a fourth secret' by journalist Antonio Socci in his 2008 book
Il Quarto Segreto di Fatima (which essentially disputes Bertone's book and the Vatican documents of 2000.
According to the Vatican, the third secret was a sort of prophecy referring to the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981 by the Turkish hired gun Ali Agca. The following year, John Paul II made his first of three pilgrimages to Fatima, later asking that the bullet which missed hitting him in any vital organ be embedded into the crown of the image of Our Lady of Fatima in the Chapel of the Apparitions.
Strangely, a second attempt was thwarted on that occasion, when a mentally-disturbed Spanish ultra-conservative priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, tried to stab John Paul II with a dagger.
[In his memoir published two years ago,Mons. Stanislaw Dsiwisz revealed for the first time that the Pope did sustain a surface wound from that attempt.]
When John Paul II disclosed the 'third secret' in Fatima. on the occasion of beatifying the younger seers Jacinta and Francisco, then Cardinal Ratzinger presided at a full presentation in the Vatican, which included his theological commentary on the apparitions at Fatima.
Now Pope Benedict XVI, Fatima will be the center of his first pilgrimage to Fatima as Pope, where he intends to be 'a pilgrim among pilgrims', as he wrote the bishops of Portugal.
Before the Regina caeli prayers in St. Peter's Square yesterday, the Pope asked the faithful to take part in his visit by asking the intercession of the Virgin Mary "in behalf of the Church, especially her priests, and for peace in the world".
In the eleven discourses he will deliver in Portugal, Benedict XVI will most certainly speak on the fundamental Christian values regarding life, marriage and the family.
In recent years, Portugal has undergone a progressive secularization, called 'kind' because it did not at first signal a clear break from the Catholic Church. Baptism, confirmation, First Communion and marriages continue to be celebrated, and the Christmas message of the Patriarch of Lisbon is always televised nationwide.
But in 2007, Portugal decriminalized abortion, and in recent months, it approved gay marriage, although it has yet to decide on whether to allow adoption by gay couples, which the Portuguese bishops radically oppose.
Pope to speak about
economic crisis in Portugal
By BARRY HATTON
LISBON, Portugal, May 10 (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI will speak about the economic crisis during his four-day trip to Portugal this week, telling Europeans to seek solace in their faith, a senior church official said Monday.
The Pontiff intends to deliver a message that "the joy of faith and hope" is a remedy for the gloom of financial hardship, said Carlos Azevedo, the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and the visit's coordinator.
"The moral values guiding the economy and politics show that there is a spiritual crisis," Azevedo told a news conference, adding: "Europe needs to be awoken."
The Pontiff, who arrives Tuesday in Lisbon, has been alert to the social problems caused by the economic crisis. His 2009 encyclical "Charity in Truth" specifically addressed the global financial meltdown and he has repeatedly urged leaders to ensure the world's poor don't bear the brunt of the financial pain.
Benedict says the downturn shows the need to rethink the purpose of the global financial system.
The Pope will convey "a message of hope which says it is possible, if we are guided by ethical and spiritual values, to find paths to a new future," Azevedo said.
The Pontiff will also visit the famous Catholic shrine at Fatima, in central Portugal, and Porto, the country's No. 2 city.
The timing of his visit has proved apt as Portugal, western Europe's poorest country, has become one of the main casualties of the continent's economic troubles.
Portugal's economic growth has been pedestrian for years, averaging less than 1 percent between 2001-2008, and the global downturn brought a steep contraction of 2.7 percent last year.
The result is that last year around 342,000 people took home the minimum salary of just euro475 ($615) a month. That was roughly double the number who earned that much in 2006. The average Portuguese salary is estimated at around euro900 ($1,160) a month.
A three-year austerity plan to ease the country's crippling debt load is expected to bring greater hardship to a people already feeling the pinch.
The Catholic Church provides welfare programs and food handouts for the needy. Portuguese bishops last year called attention to what they called "scandalous levels of poverty."
Benedict is also expected to address the drift in Portugal, and in much of western Europe, away from Church teaching on key issues.
Portugal's center-left Socialist government passed a law in 2007 allowing abortion on demand. In 2008, it introduced a law allowing a judge to grant a divorce even if one of the spouses is opposed.
In January, Parliament passed a bill seeking to make the country the sixth in Europe allowing same-sex couples to marry. Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silvo now has to decide whether to veto or ratify the bill.
Azevedo said one of the Pope's main themes in Portugal would be the need "to awaken slumbering Christians and also, to some extent, a Europe whose values have become somewhat decadent, to different values."
Portugal is nearly 90 percent Catholic, but only around 2 million of the country's 10.6 million people describe themselves as practicing Catholics.
Religious sentiment, however, runs deep. At least 500,000 people are expected to attend the Pope's Mass in Fatima on May 13, the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three Portuguese shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin Mary.
The visit to Fatima, where Benedict will spend two nights, is the centerpiece of his trip. On Friday morning he will celebrate a Mass in Porto's main downtown avenue before returning to the Vatican.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/07/2010 00:13]