Fatima expert Carlos Evaristo, Portuguese author and TV host, who interviewed Sister Lucia on many occasions and served as an interpreter for her, shared the things he learned from her about the message, the consecration, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, and where we are today. The interview can also be viewed on our Fatima Today podcast.
The Fatima Message, in the words of Sister Lucia, is similar to the message of the angels at the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Sister Lucia told me that the angels did not say, “Peace on earth to all mankind.” The angels said, “Peace on earth to men of good will,” knowing fully well that people not of good will are never going to be at peace with anyone, and even peace with themselves.
The Fatima message begins with a message of peace and people have to be receptive to being instruments of peace.
Moreover, it is a heavenly reply to a papal request for peace. Pope Benedict XV in the deadlock of World War I decided that the war had come to a standstill, the youth were being slaughtered, and so he implored directly heaven’s intervention. He inserted in the Litany of Loreto for the first time, “Queen of Peace, pray for us.”
A week later, Our Lady appeared at Fatima with a message of peace and the means for the pope to obtain peace, not only a spiritual peace, but a physical peace, and to avoid further conflicts if these requests are heeded.
The message has to be understood as pontifical in a sense that it was destined for the pope. In fact, when we asked Sister Lucia about sharing the secret (in 1991), she said she couldn’t speak about that because it was for the pope.
The message and mission is two-fold, however, because the responsibility of the pope in carrying out his part of the mission depends on the support he gets from us, from the world. The pope had to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but the people had to support the pope with prayers, sacrifices and First Saturdays. When that didn’t happen and (Pope Pius XI) did not reply to the request for the consecration, it delayed the implementation of this peace plan from heaven that would have prevented World War II, and the delay made it also completely impossible at a later time to carry out the consecration of Russia as was requested, because it was meant for 1929 before Russia became the Soviet Union and began to spread atheism to other countries. The plan is there, but as human beings, we often fail in our mission.
The Evils of Atheism
In my interviews with Sister Lucia, I was shocked to learn the truth about many things that had been spread erroneously by self-proclaimed “experts.” I had thought, for example, that the conversion of Russia would be a conversion to Catholicism. Sister Lucia told us, “No.” It’s a conversion from a path of militant atheism to a path of normality where a country allows for the religious freedom and the free will of man to reign. Because God gave man free will to choose between good and evil, and if you remove God from the equation, then nobody has a choice; you’re born atheist into an atheist system and the whole thing is spiritually dead.
So the annihilation of nations, which I believed was physical, like many authors had said, is not. It’s the annihilation of nations from a religious cultural point of view, meaning that all of the nations where atheist Soviet teachings had been implemented completely eradicated religion and the concept of God, so that the people born into this had no way to obtain knowledge of God or the sacraments.
To Sister Lucia, this is far worse than a bomb dropped on a country, where many people die in a state of grace and are martyrs. Atheism, she said, is the greatest evil because it denies the very existence of God and allows for people not to have a conscience, not to have a sense of morality, and then you can practice abortion and any other heinous crimes, because the atheist system allows for that.
The First Day of the Triumph
Looking at the message: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph, the pope will consecrate Russia and a period of peace will be given to the world,” according to Sister Lucia, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart began the day Pope John Paul II was shot. Our Lady deviated the bullet, which was destined for his heart. This was a professional marksman, who later said to John Paul II, “I aimed and I don’t miss.” The fact that he did not kill the pope is a miracle in itself, and the pope always said that he owed his life to Our Lady’s intervention. So it was through Our Lady’s triumph of her Immaculate Heart that the pope woke up to Fatima and he became a Fatima pope.
Later, the third part of the secret revealed in 2000, shows this man dressed in white walking through a half-ruined city. The half-ruined city is the city of God, the Church. There are martyrs falling to the right and left, the martyrs of the 20th century. Just before he reaches the mound with the cross, which symbolizes the new millennium, he falls dead, having been shot with arrows and bullets. Arrows is a medieval symbology of words. Before you had cartoons with bubbles, like in Snoopy and Charlie Brown, you depicted people in cartoons and paintings with arrows shooting out of their mouths with words on them. The papacy during the 20th century suffered more verbal abuses than in all other centuries. More people were killed during the 20th century. So the pope is shot with arrows and bullets and falls dead in the vision. But that was not etched in stone; he was not killed, because he was saved by Our Lady.
The 1984 Consecration Prevented a Nuclear Holocaust
The beginning of the vision shows an angel with a flaming sword about to ignite the earth, but the rays from the Immaculate Heart prevent this sword from striking.
After consulting Sister Lucia to find out why the first consecration (of John Paul II) wasn’t proper, she said you have to have every bishop participate. It doesn’t mean every single bishop; it’s the symbolism of the unity with the pope, the unity of the people with their pastors and the pope. In this sense, the pope carried out the consecration according to what was to be done (in 1984) at that specific point of the prophecy, after it was too late (to prevent the spread of atheism). Lucia said the majority of the bishops participated, and several were in Russia, and it was accepted by Heaven. Even though our offerings sometimes are poor and incomplete, God accepts them as they are, cheap and weak as they seem. She said that the consecration of 1984 prevented a nuclear holocaust that was due in 1985. That was the symbol of the angel with the flaming sword about to ignite the earth.
The Period of Peace
Regarding our fear of war during our times, local wars will always occur because that is the nature of mankind. But a world war, a nuclear annihilation, has been prevented. If you look at the message of Fatima and say, Russia should have converted to this, it’s really cheapening the message and cheapening such a great prophecy that has surmounted in this place and time that we’re at.
While the greatest peace that concerns God is spiritual, the era of peace that was to be given to the world is also a physical peace. It’s a peace from the spread of atheistic communism. If we look at the years of peace, beginning with the fall of Soviet Union and the recent conflict in Russia/Ukraine, which has nothing to do with Fatima, it’s equivalent to two or three biblical generations, so we’ve had a lot of time of peace.
What are We to Do Today?
Sister Lucia told us the greatest message for the world today is: “He that is not with the pope is not with God, and he that wants to be with God has to be with the pope.” That is the main message of Sister Lucia to our times.
She also warned that after the fall of communism, the next threat that will come to us will come from materialism. So it’s up to us to go out and evangelize—re-evangelize; it’s our mission.
Consecration is also very important, personal consecration, because it means taking something aside and dedicating it to Christ through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That’s where we make Christ our King and Mary our Queen and say, “Reign over us. Reign over our souls.” That’s exactly what Christ meant when He said He wanted the Immaculate Heart of Mary venerated alongside His Sacred Heart. Christ was to be enthroned as King in each heart and home and Our Lady as Queen.
Therefore, enthronement of the Sacred Hearts in their homes and the First Saturday devotions are important now. It’s the part of the message of Fatima for peace that has been entrusted to us.
