[This post was written in May of this year when the Father Dollinger/Cardinal Ratzinger controversy vis-a-vis the Third Secret was in full swing.]
The first thought being that it is not news.
The mystery of the Third Secret has yet to be fully and definitively solved but even so we have enough information to know that it certainly has something to do with the present crisis in Holy Church, and that this crisis had been brewing for years before the Fatima visitations.
The article by Maike Hickson making the rounds is interesting even though some of it is material that was rehashed from previous sources. Thirty five years ago the eccentric but fascinating Abbe Georges de Nantes, not to mention numerous other serious scholars of the Fatima apparitions, had pretty much concluded that the famous third secret was being kept hidden by Rome precisely because it would call into question their cherished Vatican II and every thing that has flowed from that putrid lake. The late Brother Francis, MICM had grave suspicions about the contents of that secret and reasoned that the reason Rome is sitting on it is because it must deal with one of the great "taboos" that Rome refuses to talk about any more.
In Hickson's article the author reveals that she had a personal conversation with Father Dollinger, a confidant of Cardinal Ratzinger, and that he states that the secret spoke of a "bad Council and a bad Mass". Without something more substantial than Hickson's hearsay to go on we have to say two things. First, that the statement is a bit too pat. Second, that in any case great tragedies would obviously flow from a Church gone off its rails (certainly the conclusion of many serious Fatima scholars regarding the hidden Secret) which would surely include disaster in the Liturgy and a doubtful Council. The question then arises that if, as Father Dollinger says, Cardinal Ratzinger himself knew all this how do we explain his subsequent actions as Cardinal and Pope? These stories related by Hickson in her article raise far more questions than answers.
Between the words and writings of prudent people like Frere Michel, Brother Francis, MICM, Hamish Fraser (and his late son, Tony), Father Joaquin Maria Alonso, CMF (see his The Secret of Fatima, Ravensgate Press) we have more than enough to conclude that the Third Secret of Fatima, the hidden one, most definitely refers to the tragedy we are now living through. If this Dollinger revelation is true, well and good. It confirms what many others have suspected anyway.
Whenever some new "startling revelation" is reported my first thought is to be skeptical and keep my thoughts to myself. In this case while I keep my skepticism I have opened up my thoughts merely for the purpose of reminding some readers that there is nothing that new in these allegations and that others have already done the long, hard, patient digging to come up with sensible conclusions based not on mere hearsay but solid factual investigation, not to mention good old horse sense.. I believe Dr Hickson would have done her readers a service by making allusions to previous studies on this matter which we may be allowed to think she was already aware of.
It is not my intention to denigrate either Mrs Hickson or any of my fellow internet colleagues who have taken up the story, all of who certainly have a great interest in matters relating to Fatima and who are correct to write about these matters. But historical perspectove must always be kept in mind whenever we put pen to paper.
Here is a fine article from 2008 which does a much better job at explaining these mysteries of the Third Secret:
http://catholicism.org/the-third-secret-of-fatima.html
I highly recommend it.
Maike Hickson specializes in hatchet jobs on Pope Benedict XVI, whom she constantly criticizes and tries to connect with different dubious situations. She's practically trying to get Benedict out of Francis' way because people still want him as pope.
ReplyDelete