Rome, Italy, Sep 12, 2007 / 09:28 am
The only surviving person to witness the opening of the third Fatima secret has denied claims that the Vatican is hiding details about a predicted apocalypse.
Archbishop Loris Capovilla, 91, who witnessed Pope John XXIII open the envelope of the third secret, said there was no truth in the rumor that the Vatican was suppressing a vision of the end of the world.
“There are not two truths from Fatima and nor is there any fourth secret. The text which I read in 1959 is the same that was distributed by the Vatican,” said Archbishop Capovilla.
“I have had enough of these conspiracy theories. It just isn't true. I read it, I presented it to the Pope and we resealed the envelope," he reportedly said.
The three "Secrets of Fatima" were written down by one of the children, Lucia Dos Santos, who later became a Carmelite nun. The nun revealed two of the secrets in 1941.
The first was a vision of hell, while the second apparently predicted the two world wars and the return of Russia from communism to Christianity.
The third secret was sent to Pope John XXIII in a sealed envelope in 1959. Pope John Paul II only revealed it in 2000 and said it referred to the 1981 assassination attempt on him.