The Third Part of the Secret of Fatima

By Kevin J. Symonds, M.A.

Over the years, much has been made over the third part of the Secret of Fátima. It was expected to be released in the year 1960, but it was not and people wondered why. Thankfully, we now stand in a place historically to look at the matter with a better mind owing to disclosures that have come to light in the past twenty-five or so years. Let’s take a dive into things.

First, as most Fátima devotees know, the famous Secret of Fátima was given to the three visionaries on July 13, 1917. It was kept secret by the command of the Blessed Virgin until the early 1940s. At that time, the last surviving seer, Lúcia, wrote her third and fourth Memoirs. She revealed that she had permission from heaven to reveal the Secret, but only partially. She explained that it had three parts and only the first two she could reveal. The first part was a vision of hell, and the second was the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Not too long after the Memoirs were completed, Lúcia became ill. Various Church officials became concerned that she would die before revealing the third part and so the bishop of Leiria (Fátima), José da Silva, ordered her to write it down. After so long obeying the Virgin’s command to be silent, who should Lúcia obey, Our Lady or the Bishop? This conundrum was resolved in early January 1944 when Our Lady appeared to Lúcia and gave her permission to “write what they command you, but not that which is given to you to understand of its meaning.”[1]

Additionally, there was another command from Our Lady in January of 1944. When Lúcia finished writing, she was to enclose it in an envelope, seal it, and write on the outside that it “could only be opened in 1960 by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon or by the Bishop of Leiria.” Lúcia did as instructed and passed along the text to another bishop she knew, Manuel Maria Ferreira da Silva, who then delivered it to Bishop José later in 1944. He put Lúcia’s envelope in a larger one and made his own inscription on the outside.

Word got out about the 1960 stipulation, and 1944 to 1960 was marked by theories, speculations, and wild stories that arose over the text. We here in 2026 enjoy the benefit of hindsight and further documentation. Back then, people did not have the same benefit, and information became muddled over time. For example, we know today about the command of Our Lady in January 1944. Her words were clear: the text could be opened (aberto, in Portuguese). She said nothing about it being published in 1960. The decision to publish was left to the discretion of the pastors of the Church.

Further complicating things was a very unexpected development. Our Lady had said it could be opened by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria. After receiving a request from the Holy See ca. 1956 for copies of all Lúcia’s documents be sent to Rome, Bishop José decided to send the original document, not a copy, of Lúcia’s text. Upon doing so, he and the cardinal lost all control over the document and the decision to publish now lay with the Holy Father. This transfer happened during the last years of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. He appears not to have read the text.

The opening and reading happened in August of 1959 by Pope St. John XXIII. The story is well accounted for within publicly available literature and so we need not recount it here.[2] Unfortunately, the text was not entirely clear to the Holy Father and some of his advisors. For example, they couldn’t read the document very well and had to summon Mons. Paolo Tavares from the Vatican Secretariat of State to translate the text. Another problem was that there was no interpretation that accompanied the text. Our Lady had told Lúcia in 1944 only to write what she saw, not what it meant. Reading a text that described a vision but did not explain it made matters even more complicated for the Holy Father and his advisors. Ultimately, it was decided not to publish the text out of an abundance of caution.

For the next forty years, Church authorities did not say a lot about the text and preferred to keep silence about it. Doing so fueled the fires of speculations and rumors. As the twentieth century drew to a close, Pope St. John Paul II decided the text could be safely published as, he deemed, the events it foretold had come to pass. As is well known, the impending publication was announced by Angelo Cardinal Sodano on May 13, 2000. The official publication took place on June 26, 2000 during a press conference with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, and Dr. Joaquín Navarro-Valls (the Vatican’s spokesman).

During the press conference, Cardinal Ratzinger eloquently explained why the Church did not publish the third part of the Secret in 1960. In essence, it is as said earlier: there was no interpretation and so time had to pass so the Church could put some concrete faces to the images of the vision. The third part, Ratzinger said, spoke of the evils of the twentieth century against the Church that culminated in the 1981 assassination attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II. Indeed, it was quite easy to associate the assassination attempt with the figure in the vision of a “bishop dressed in white” being shot and killed.

Some twenty-six years have now passed since the publication of the third part of the Secret. More information is available to us now that better helps us to understand the message of Our Lady at Fátima. The real drama of the third part does not lie in wondering why Our Lady commanded that the interpretation not be given to the Church and the world. It seems to me that a solid argument can be made that Our Lady desired the interpretation be withheld because it was meant for the three visionaries.

Why, then, were the children given a message that would not be given to the rest of us? Well, in a way, it was given to us. The vision of the third part shows Christians from all walks and vocations in life making their way to the cross and being martyred. By this act, they give witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a world that was forgetting its God. We see through Lúcia’s eyes the extraordinary sacrifices and penances she and her sainted cousins made. Are we doing our part, or are we unnecessarily fixated upon matters heaven has deigned to withhold from us?

Interested in learning more? Check out Kevin J. Symonds’ book On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima —a meticulously researched, multilingual study that dispels sensational conspiracy theories and illuminates the true, spiritually rich meaning of the Vatican‑revealed third secret.

[1] Carmelo de Santa Teresa – Coimbra, Um caminho sob o olhar de Maria: Biografia da Irmã Lúcia de Jesus e do Coração Imaculado, O.C.D. (Coimbra, Portugal:Edições Carmelo, 2013), 266.