Fatima and John XXIII

It was fifty years ago this last July 13 the 45th anniversary of the three seers third apparition with the Blessed Mother at Fatima that I was within about twenty feet of John XXIII as he blessed the faithful while being carried on his gestatorial chair through St Peters Basilica.  The new book by Christopher Ferrara False Friends of Fatima would not be able include John XXIII on a list of false friends because the Time Magazine 1962 Man of the Year made no secret of his disdain for Fatima as evident by these decisions:

In the summer of 1959 in anticipation of the Third Secret of Fatima being revealed in 1960 the bishops of Italy consecrated their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Thousands joined the processions throughout Italy carrying the statue of Our Lady of  Fatima   When the procession reached Rome, John XXIII embarrassed Our Lady by remaining silent and ignoring the celebration.

In late 1959 John XXIII  read the Third Secret in private and then chose to disobey the wishes Our Lady of Fatima by refusing to reveal the contents to the world.

John XXIII  brokered the "great deal" that was the Vatican-Moscow Agreement.  The Vatican agreed not to criticize Communism at Vatican II in exchange for Russian Orthodox to be able to observe the proceedings. This agreement was a complete denial of the Fatima message and in the opinion of many eliminated any chance of consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  It also meant that the council could not condemn Russia for the many atrocities including the mass murders order by Josef Stalin  that took millions of lives.  Since Vatican II pretended that these horrors never happened  it is just as easy to imagine that the hammer and sickle never flew on top of St Peters.

John XXIII was not the first pope to protect Communism. In September 1942  being well aware of the brutalities of  'Uncle Joe' and after the first two parts of the Fatima Secret had been made public, Pius XII said, "At the request of President Roosevelt, the Vatican has refrained from all polemics against the Communist regime . . . May God grant that the free world may not have to regret my silence one day!"     The results of WWII are history with Communism taking over nearly half the world spreading 'the errors of Russia' just as Pius XII feared and Our Lady of Fatima warned.

In 1931 Msgr Eugenio Pacelli the future Pius XII made an astonishing prophecy when he said, "I am worried by the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy of Fatima.  This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. . ."  John XXIII  opening speech at the Council was a complete denial of the message of Fatima ,  "We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world was at hand."  This set the tone for the conclave that confirmed the prophecy of Pacelli, rejected  the message of Fatima, eliminated the Holy Rosary and nearly expelled the Mother of God from the Church her Son created to the delight of Her enemies.

When doing research one will read that John XXIII was beloved for his evident warmth and kindness.  It will be harder to discover that he eliminated saints such as St Philamena "Patroness of the Living Rosary" from the Calendar of the Saints.  According to Fatima author Mark Fellows, Pope John was the Pope who single-handedly rehabilitated Communism, discredited Fatima and used deceitful methods to bury the Third Secret.  In the light of Fatima, he was the Pope of the Apostasy.   He was Beatified on March 3, 2000.

Homer Sweeney