The twentieth century has been without a doubt the bloodiest century in human history. The God of Israel who saw the suffering of His people enslaved in Egypt could not contemplate so much horror, undaunted and unperturbed. At that time He sent Moses; at this time He sends Mary, the one who since the wedding feast at Cana has been attentive to the needs of His people, and since the visitation to her cousin, Elizabeth, has never ceased to visit her children.
In fact, since the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima on May 13, 1917, until after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, Fatima has been at the center as a wake-up call to this suffering humanity.
Fatima, communism and the consecration of Russia
(…) I shall ask the Holy Father to consecrate Russia to my Immaculate Heart. July 13th apparition
Of all the requests that Our Lady made to the little shepherds, this was undeniably the thorniest. From Pope Pius XII, on 31st of October, 1942, to Pope Francis, on 13th of October, 2013, there have been already seven attempts to consummate this request. There have been many subterfuges in this consecration to somehow imply that Russia was being consecrated without ever naming her directly for obvious diplomatic and ecumenical reasons. José Milhazes, in his book The Message of Fatima in Russia, states that an image of Our Lady of Fatima was even secretly taken to the Red Square in 1970s.
Sister Lucia came so far as to "protest” saying that in the act of dedication on May 13, 1982, Russia did not appear to be the object of the consecration. And continued to say, “The consecration of Russia was not carried out as Our Lady requested”.
On 25th of March, 1984, Pope John Paul II sent for the official image of Our Lady of Fatima from the chapel in Fatima and for the famous Russian icon of Our Lady of Kazan at the Orthodox Church of the Blue Army, also in Fatima, and after reciting the Act of Entrustment he added, “Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting”. This was the most explicit formula of so many consecrations made thus far and Sister Lucia finally agreed that Russia had at last been consecrated as Our Lady had requested.
Just one year later the conversion of Russia took place; rising to power was Mikhail Gorbachev who launched the Perestroika reforms which in Russian means precisely conversion. With this revolution, the country put aside the militant atheism and established freedom of religion after all the years of institutional atheism.
Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Berlin until the fall of the Wall, said at the time, “For me it is obvious that the anti-Soviet revolution started in Fatima with the Virgin and the three children”. Just like the fall of the wall of Jericho (Joshua 6:20), the power of prayer succeeded where no other earthly power was able, including the military.
Fatima and Nazism
It was not only communism that felt attacked by Fatima, for the Nazis were also much disturbed. In fact, the official center of security of the Third Reich came to say that “all the propaganda of Fatima is directing its complete weight against the fundamentals of National Socialism (Nazism)”.
The message of Fatima is clear in its condemnation of communism as a militant atheism, it says nothing against the social revolution that communism brought about; there is also nothing explicit against Nazism as an ideology, it only speaks of the Second World War and of the many evils that it would cause. Despite Fatima being explicitly against the atheistic ideology of the Russian Revolution, the Allies did not want to use Fatima against Russia because it was allied with them against the Nazi Germany. Instead what they did was to manipulate the message of Fatima to become a weapon against Nazism.
More explicitly, Fr. Luis G. da Fonseca rewrote the text in the second part of the Secret, where it was written the consecration of Russia, and substituted it with the consecration of the world. Instead of Russia spreading her errors, he wrote “an unholy propaganda will spread its errors in the world by promoting wars” and in this way, he deflected the center of the message from Russia to Germany in 1942. Historically therefore, Fatima also served as a weapon the Allies used against the Nazis.
Fatima and the Cold War
The blue dome of the Orthodox Church, behind the Basilica of Fatima, still goes unnoticed even today, although it is no longer painted blue. It was in fact for many decades called the Blue Army, the religious organization that has served the North Americans and the dictators from Latin America to demonize and fight against communism. It came to have over 25 million members, and its name clearly contrasts with the Red Army of the USSR.
It was certainly a peaceful army, but the Kremlin always suspected that it was a nest for CIA agents. It was founded by the American priest, Fr. Colgan, who synthesized the message of Fatima into three precepts: devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying the Rosary daily and fulfillment of the duties of the State.
The pilgrim images of Fatima
The first image of Fatima left Portugal in 1946 at the request of a parish priest in Berlin who proposed that the image should travel to all the European capitals and even to Russia. This was followed by other travels in 1948 to Africa, in 1949 to America, and in 1953 to South Korea, in the midst of the war the White Lady of Peace was once again a weapon against communism.
It was precisely in this year 1953 that in Cairo one of the largest Marian manifestations known in the country was organized and ironically, the image was paraded on a car belonging to the Russian embassy.
Fatima and Islam
The legend has it that Fatima was the name of an Arab maiden captured by Dom Afonso Henriques in the battle against the Moors, and given in marriage to one of his commanders, Dom Gonçalo Hermingues who was benevolent towards her, on the condition that she would freely accept the matrimony and convert to Christianity.
Fatima agreed, and after the appropriate instructions, she was baptized with the name of Oureana (which gave rise to the city today known as de Ourém). The beautiful princess, however, died in the prime of her life, and Dom Gonçalo, heartbroken, gave himself to God and entered the Cistercian Abbey of Alcobaça, 30 kilometers from de Ourém.
Fatima has always been a very common name in the Arab world because that was the name of the beloved daughter of Prophet Muhammad. Fatima was the object of veneration and respect of all Muslims, for being the daughter closest to her father and for having supported him in his difficulties. The same she did for her husband and children; she was also the only daughter of the prophet who had sons that survived beyond infancy who founded dynasties in countries like Egypt.
Few Christians know that Our Lady is venerated by the Muslims. In fact, when Muhammad entered Mecca and his soldiers began to destroy all the idols, he embraced a statue of Our Lady to protect it from the rampage.
The book of the Quran contains an entire sutra (chapter) on Mary; she is also the only woman whose name is in this book. All other women whom the book talks about are never mentioned by their name, like it is done for Mary, but rather by their relation to their male counterpart. For example, there is no mention of the name Sarah, instead she is referred to as the wife of Abraham.
Mary is venerated in the Quran as a virgin and mother of the prophet Isa (Jesus) who, for both Muslims and Christians, is the One who is to come at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. It could be said that the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima has not yet ended, and that she still has a word to say on the relations between Muslims and Christians.
It is a fact that in her pilgrim travels, Our Lady of Fatima has aroused curiosity and awakened a veneration among the Arabs for having the name of Fatima. It is not, therefore, all that impossible that Mary who is venerated by Christians and Muslims alike, especially under the invocation of Our Lady of Fatima, could bring these two groups closer together.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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