Fatima and Conspiracy Theories

English journalist and author Joanna Bogle considers that contentious topic in a post on the Catholic World Report blog:

I was living in Berlin in 1984 and I remember that as 1984 opened we talked about George Orwell's book that had predicted a worldwide grim police state in that year. I was standing outside the small church  in Pruessenallee,  dedicated to St George and used by the British military community,  in March 1984 when I heard about the Pope having carried out the consecration of the world, and wondered what this could mean. The whole Fatima saga was linked in Catholic minds to Russia and Communism. In Berlin in the early 1980s,  the Wall dominated the city, soldiers  were still shooting anyone trying to escape from the Communist East, and there was the whole paraphernalia of  watchtowers (the East German government had recently built great new ones), howling search-dogs, barbed wire, tank-traps and more.

Five years later, the Berlin Wall had come crashing down, Russia as the headquarters of world Communism was history, and everything had changed. And as the second decade of the 21st century opened, the main story from Russia was of millions of people queuing up to venerate a holy relic of Mary, standing for hours in the bitter cold.  

Mary's promise at Fatima that "Russia will be converted" did not put any timing on the event: it will probably take years. But the extraordinary link between the Marian devotion of Blessed John Paul, his survival of the assassination attempt on May 13th - the Fatima feast-day - and the events following that consecration in 1984, are all worth pondering. Don't go for conspiracy theories:  just concentrate on what the Church teaches, as both Blessed John Paul and our present Holy Father have done.

Read her entire post. Also see:

Comments

[Nancy D.]

"Mary's promise at Fatima that 'Russia will be converted' did not put any timing on the event."
Our Blessed Mother stated that the conversion of Russia will not occur until after The Pope and The Bishops in communion with him consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, so the timing of the conversion is after the consecration and thus depends upon when the consecration is finally done. What is the Church's reason for not specifically consecrating Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart?

[Elizabeth D]

I just learned something that I don't think is public knowledge at all. Sr Lucia visited Rome "frequently" (ie to meet with JPII, I think during the end of the Cold War era). This was told to me by a friend who was at a talk given Thursday to Catholic high schoolers and a few others by President Reagan's ambassador to the Holy See, Frank Shakespeare, who was very devoted to Fatima, met Sr Lucia on various occasions, would have had direct contemporary knowledge. The ambassador is elderly and told them this was his final talk.

[Nancy D.]

Without a final authority, there can be no cohesiveness of belief, which is why, in order to heal the schism in His Church, it is logical to assume Our Lady knows one should begin at the beginning. Our Lady of Fatima, hear our Prayers, so that His Church may be ONE for the sake of Christ, His Church, all who believe, and all who will come to believe in the One Word of God Who Has revealed Himself to His Church in the trinitarian relationship of Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and The Teaching of The Magisterium.