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Fatima Center Lauds Plan to Release
“Third Secret”
Photographic
Copy of Original Document Requested
May 18, 2000. FORT ERIE, ONTARIO: The leader
of a major Catholic organization devoted to promoting the Message of Fatima has
praised the Pope’s decision to release the final part of that message,
known as the “Third Secret.” At the same time, Father Nicholas Gruner
requested that the Vatican release an authentic photocopy of the original
document written in 1944 by Sister Lucia dos Santos, the only surviving witness
to the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima, Portugal in 1917.
Fr. Gruner’s
Fort Erie-based Fatima Center has promoted the International Fatima Rosary
Crusade since 1978 and also publishes a quarterly magazine, The Fatima
Crusader, with more than a million U.S. and Canadian readers. He was in
attendance at Fatima recently, when Cardinal Sodano announced in the presence
of the Pope that the Vatican would finally publish the Third Secret together
with an official commentary. The document was originally intended to be
published in 1960, but has been withheld by successive Popes since that
time.
“We appreciate and applaud the Holy Father’s decision to release the
Third Secret” said Father Gruner. “We pray that the original will be
photographically reproduced for wide distribution.”
The content of the
Third Secret has been the subject of controversy and extensive speculations for
the past 40 years. Fr. Gruner’s organization has repeatedly called for the
publication of the text, notably at four international conferences attended by
Catholic bishops, priests, and laypersons around the world. The most recent
call came from a conference held in Hamilton, Ontario last October.
Because the Third Secret has been withheld
for so long, many observers believe that publishing a photocopy of the original
is the only way to ensure that the document is authentic. “Only when we
see the original text in Sister Lucia’s handwriting” said Fr. Gruner,
“can we put to rest all speculation about the Third Secret’s true
contents.”
The Vatican has not set a date for the publication of the text and
its accompanying commentary. However, the Rome-based Zenit news agency reported
on May 14 that the commentary would be published “in a few days”.
Contact Father Nicholas Gruner
The Fatima Center, 452 Kraft Road, Fort Erie, Ontario L2A
4M7
(905) 871-7607.
The Fatima Center home of
The Fatima Crusader, is the largest, worldwide Fatima apostolate campaigning
for the promotion of the full message of Fatima, for the release of the Third
Secret and for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Its
outreach includes the print media, Internet, radio and television. More
information on the Third Secret, and on what Cardinal Oddi and Cardinal
Ratzinger have said previously about its contents, is on our website.
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