Three Secrets of Fatima (Caroline Era)

The Three Secrets of Fatima were a series of alleged prophecies divulged to three shepherd children by an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1917: Lucia Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto. The first secret was alleged to be a vision of Hell and the second concerned the end of the First World War, which would be followed by a further world war. The Third Secret is unknown but horrified the children. It was rumoured to have involved warnings of a danger to a future Pope and a world war which would destroy the Holy Land. There was also advice concerning how to prevent these events. Unfortunately, all three children died in the 1918 Spanish 'Flu Epidemic and the secrets went with them to their graves. Nobody in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church learnt the content of these secrets for certain and they had to rely on vague rumour and speculation.

Although it may seem that the question of whether the children's claims were accurate cannot be answered without making a specific theological, philosophical or parapsychological commitment, it is possible that the Church would have been influenced by such claims had they been widely known at the time, and that certain decisions regarding the safety of Pope John Paul II could have prevented his assassination by Mehmet Ali Agca in 1981. The reign of a Polish Pope might have made some difference to Eastern European and perhaps also Middle Eastern politics. However, since the secrets are unknown, all this is idle speculation.