Fatima and the Popes

On May 13, 1917, Mary appeared to three young children—Lucia, Francesco, and Jacinta—in a remote glen called Cova da Iria in Fatima as they pastured sheep.

- Ed de Vera

It was the height of World War I and into their innocent little world that knew no rancor nor hate, far-removed from the raging global conflict, Mary appeared in the first of thirteen monthly apparitions to give an urgent message. She asked for prayers, especially the Rosary, to obtain conversions and world peace for a sinful humanity lacking in love.

The Messages from Our Lady

Lucia entered a Carmelite convent following the apparitions and shortly after the death of Francesco and Jacinta. Our Lady imparted further messages which Lucia disclosed in her written memoirs upon request of her bishop: the first part was the vision of hell’s reality; the second was the outbreak of World War II; the third part she kept to herself, but nevertheless wrote and sealed it in an envelope, wishing its disclosure for 1960—and thus came to be known as the “third secret.”