INTRODUCTION
                    by  Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
                    Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
                    Secretary of The Congregation For The Doctrine Of Faith

                As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II has
                    decided to publish the text of the third part of the “secret of Fatima”.

                    The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with
                    its tragic and cruel events culminating in the assassination attempt on the
                    “sweet Christ on earth”. Now a veil is drawn back on a series of events
                    which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien
                    to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism.

                    Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs
                    which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of
                    believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history.
                    These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must
                    therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's
                    love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace
                    required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the
                    message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance,
                    draws us to the heart of the Gospel.

                    Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. The first
                    and second parts of the “secret”—which are here published in sequence so
                    as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the frightening vision
                    of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War,
                    and finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to
                    humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist
                    totalitarianism.

                    In 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three pastorinhos of
                    Fatima see, listen and remember, and Lucia, the surviving witness, commits
                    it all to paper when ordered to do so by the Bishop of Leiria and with Our
                    Lady's permission.

                    For the account of the first two parts of the “secret”, which have already
                    been published and are therefore known, we have chosen the text written
                    by Sister Lucia in the Third Memoir of 31 August 1941; some annotations
                    were added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941.

                    The third part of the “secret” was written “by order of His Excellency the
                    Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother ...” on 3 January 1944.

                    There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced photostatically.
                    The sealed envelope was initially in the custody of the Bishop of Leiria. To
                    ensure better protection for the “secret” the envelope was placed in the
                    Secret Archives of the Holy Office on 4 April 1957. The Bishop of Leiria
                    informed Sister Lucia of this.

                    According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy
                    Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, OP, with the agreement of Cardinal
                    Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelope containing the third part of the
                    “secret of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some
                    hesitation”, His Holiness said: “We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you
                    know what I decide”.(1)

                    In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy
                    Office and not to reveal the third part of the “secret”.

                    Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo
                    Dell'Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives
                    of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.

                    John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part
                    of the “secret” following the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18
                    July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two
                    envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the
                    Secretariat of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia's original
                    text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the
                    “secret”. On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez returned the
                    two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.(2)

                    As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating
                    the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a
                    prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be
                    celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the
                    Solemnity of Pentecost, the day chosen to commemorate the 1600th
                    anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th
                    anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be
                    present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The following is the part
                    which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment:

                    “Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and
                    hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and
                    evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea
                    which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with
                    the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await
                    this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await
                    in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole
                    human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother.
                    May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of
                    truth, of justice and of hope”.(3)

                    In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy
                    Father desired to make more explicit during the Holy Year of the
                    Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been
                    repeated in Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter's
                    Square, while recalling the fiat uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the
                    Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world, who had been
                    “convoked” beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to
                    the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in terms which recalled the heartfelt words
                    spoken in 1981:

                    “O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who know all
                    their sufferings and their hopes, you who have a mother's awareness of all
                    the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which
                    afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy
                    Spirit, address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the Mother
                    and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust
                    and consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal
                    destiny of individuals and peoples.

                    In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and
                    nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated.

                    ‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!'  Despise not
                    our petitions in our necessities”.

                    The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific
                    references, as though commenting on the Message of Fatima in its
                    sorrowful fulfilment:

                    “Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your
                    Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite
                    ourselves with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of
                    himself to the Father: ‘For their sake', he said, ‘I consecrate myself that
                    they also may be consecrated in the truth' (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite
                    ourselves with our Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for
                    the human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon
                    and to secure reparation.

                    The power of this consecration lasts for all time and embraces all
                    individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the spirit of
                    darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the
                    heart of man and in his history.

                    How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and the
                    world—our modern world—in union with Christ himself! For the
                    redeeming work of Christ must be shared in by the world through the
                    Church.

                    The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee of the
                    whole Church.

                    Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord,
                    who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call!

                    Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your
                    Son!

                    Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of
                    faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration
                    and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the
                    consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.

                    In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we
                    also entrust to you this very consecration of the world, placing it in your
                    motherly Heart.

                    Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily
                    takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable
                    effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the
                    paths towards the future!

                    From famine and war, deliver us.

                    From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of
                    war, deliver us.

                    From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.

                    From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God,
                    deliver us.

                    From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and
                    international, deliver us.

                    From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.

                    From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.

                    From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.

                    From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.

                    Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all
                    individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.

                    Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin
                    and the ‘sin of the world', sin in all its manifestations.

                    Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite
                    saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a
                    stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart
                    reveal for all the light of Hope!”. (4)

                    Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of
                    consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal
                    como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it
                    has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8
                    November 1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without
                    basis.

                    In the documentation presented here four other texts have been added to
                    the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father's letter of 19 April 2000
                    to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000 with
                    Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal
                    Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the
                    theological commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the
                    Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

                    Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the third part of
                    the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father, dated 12 May 1982:

                    “The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady's words: ‘If not [Russia]
                    will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and
                    persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father
                    will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated'
                    (13-VII-1917).

                    The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation, referring to this part
                    of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not what the
                    Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be
                    converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors
                    throughout the world, etc.'.

                    Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that it has been
                    fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have
                    not yet seen the complete fulfilment of the final part of this prophecy, we
                    are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject
                    the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the
                    human person, immorality and violence, etc.

                    And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the
                    contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own
                    punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path,
                    while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are
                    responsible”.(5)

                    The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the third
                    part of the “secret” of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked
                    by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love
                    of God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the
                    Church.

                    The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility of man in
                    the drama of his creative freedom, are the two pillars upon which human
                    history is built.

                    Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values. She
                    reminds us that man's future is in God, and that we are active and
                    responsible partners in creating that future.

                                                      Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
                                                 Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
                              Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Spource: EWTN