Calls from the Message of Fatima

Commentary by Dr. Peter Chojnowski

Sister Lucy Truth presents here a brief commentary on Calls from the Message of Fatima, a book written by “Sister Lucia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart,” translated by the Sisters of the Monastery of Sancta Maria and the Convent of Our Lady of Good Success, and published in Lisbon by Secretariado dos Pastorinhos in 2000.

Here we find a Sister Lucy Truth goldmine. Here is a text from 1997, which has every official stamp of approval that can be imagined for a Fatima-related book.

1. It says that it was written by “Sister Lucy” (i.e., Sister Lucy II) and is her “spiritual testament” and her “authoritative interpretation of the message of Fatima.”
2. It is “authorized” by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This congregation was headed by Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.
3. It was copyrighted by the Coimbra Convent and the Fatima Shrine.
4. “Sister Lucy” asked permission of the Holy See, headed by John Paul II, to write this book.
5. The preliminary note to this book is written by the (former) bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva.
6. We are assured that this is the authorized version of the entire Fatima Message.
7. Finally, we are comforted that “Sister Lucy” “refers back with conviction” to the Magisterium of “our own day” in making any judgments on the Message of Fatima, and she has obeyed “the Pope and the Holy See” with regard to “the phenomenon and message of Fatima.”

So if we are to find a variance between the testimony of the woman who we now know to be Sister Lucy II, as compared to the testimony and the account of the real Sister Lucy of Fatima (Sister Lucy I), it should be found here.

The Elephant in the Room

In fact, a close examination of this “authoritative interpretation” of Fatima reveals serious problems. “Sister Lucy” felt it important enough to dedicate an entire book not only to vague spiritual reflections but one that repeats the liberal theological talking points that became popular after Vatican II, and that precisely these modernist reflections on the Eucharist, universal salvation, even to unbelievers, make up the “authoritative interpretation of the message of Fatima.” Fatima wasn’t about the three Secrets, about promoting specific devotions to Our Lady which would in turn prevent World War II, the Cold War, and the damnation of countless souls. No, we are told that Fatima was actually about post-Vatican II theology, specifically the sort promoted by John Paul II.