A call and a promise

The final part of the message of Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal) to the three young visionaries is the most complex and controversial. The visionary, Sister Lucia, described a "steep mountain" climbed by a bishop dressed in white—most probably the Pope—who died at its summit, near a cross made of rough wood. Other bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay people also perished there.

Saint John Paul II considered this vision to be a prophecy of the attack on his life on May 13, 1981, in Saint Peter's Square. In 2000, he sent Cardinal Bertone to Sister Lucia to discuss this interpretation.

Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, also read the secret, and interpreted it essentially as a call to penance and the promise of the final victory of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Adapted from: Aleteia