The fact that the war is understood to have begun only in the reign of Pope Pius XII presents no great difficulty for Sister Lucia. She remarks that the annexation of Austria by Germany – and we might add various other political events at the end of the reign of Pope Pius XI – constituted the preliminary stage of the conflagration that would take shape fully some time later. (De Marchi, p. 309)

The phrase about the “dogma of the Faith” can logically be taken as the conclusion to the second part of the Secret (barring further evidence coming to light). In other words, it is not the opening words of the third part, as has sometimes been assumed. This crucial point was emphasised in the press conference in the Vatican on 26 June by Archbishop Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when he presented the document in the Sala Stampa of the Vatican on the aforementioned date.

This phrase, placed the way it is at the end of the second part of the Secret, gives the impression of just hanging there in mid air. This consequently led some writers to the theory that the third part of the Secret, when revealed, would follow on from this phrase and provide an explanation of it. But the third part of the Secret as revealed turns out to be something of a quite different nature, i.e. a vision instead of the expected colloquy. As such, the phrase about the “dogma of the Faith” (concluding with “etc”) must be taken as the final sentence of the second part.

Fatimologists were almost unanimous in agreeing that this phrase is about a great crisis of faith (of religion) that would affect the whole world. This is deduced from the fact that Our Lady found it worth noting how Portugal would be remarkable for keeping the dogma of the Faith. On the other hand, this does not affirm that the faith in Portugal would not suffer great setbacks. At any rate, a crisis of faith of such proportions in the world would inevitably lead to a crisis within the Church. The fact that the third part of the secret as revealed does not contain such an explanation in no way affects its appropriateness. One only needs eyes to see and ears to hear to know there is a crisis withing the Church. Several books have been written on the subject.

For the purposes of this footnote we only need recall the famous words of Pope Paul VI regarding the “process of self-destruction” within the Church after the Second Vatican Council (Allocution of 7 December 1968 to the students of the Lombard Seminary), as well as the terrible feeling of the Pontiff that, after the Council, "Satan's smoke has made its way into the temple of God through some crack" (Allocution of 29 June 1972 on the commemoration of the Feast of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul). Pope John Paul II also referred several times to this crisis, and in a solemn document denounced the grave doctrinal and practical errors in the moral field that began circulating in the Church, “in the area of post-conciliar theological discussions” (Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, 6 August 1993, no. 29).

What is the link between this crisis and what is said in the second part of the secret?

One of the most shocking aspects of the crisis in the Church is the leftist infiltration in Catholic milieus. This infiltration was already so alarming in 1968 that in that year, 1,600,368 Brazilians, 266,512 Argentines, 121,210 Chileans, and 37,111 Uruguayans signed a petition to His Holiness Pope Paul VI requesting him to take urgent measures against it. (The memorable petition was promoted in those countries by the respective Societies for the Defence of Tradition, Family and Properly. Time magazine [23/8/68] reported this about the petition: "The ease with which TFP collected the signatures reflects the fact that a majority of Latinos either approve or at least tolerate [sic] Catholic conservatism.")

It would be restrictive to limit the errors of marxism to the economical, social or political aspects. Its egalitarianism has a metaphysical nature and affects all of its anthropological, moral, and, paradoxically, theological concepts (in spite of it being fundamentally atheistic). For this reason, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith felt it necessary to denounce, in a document that had widespread repercussions, the infiltration of marxist errors even within certain currents of Liberation Theology.

Now, communism is precisely the scourge with which God wishes to punish the world for its crimes: "Russia... will spread its errors throughout the world" (second part of the secret). When we see that these errors infiltrated the sacred barque of the Roman Catholic Church, we clearly see the link between the essence of the second secret and its final phrase, about the faith being kept in Portugal, that unveils the crisis within the Church.

It is, then, licit to think that, if Our Lady did not deem it necessary to explain this crisis in detail, she, nevertheless, in her maternal goodness, left us a simple phrase from which not only experienced theologians, but also the simple faithful could deduct the existence of a crisis of faith – crisis of the Church and to open our eyes to this fact.

Thus, a phrase apparently left in mid-air – “In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be kept” – is rich in meaning and content. It alerts us to a sorrowful reality that, without this phrase, many possibly would neither know how to measure its extent nor its transcendental importance.

This version is the most distinct one and is not mentioned outside this document. It is not known whether Father Reis transcribed it directly from the manuscript or from one of the typed copies when he included it in his work. If the latter is the case, it would be interesting to compare the manuscript with the typewritten copy of the cited matter in order to make sure no error was made during the transcription.

The seers, in saying this prayer, understood it to apply to those souls who are in the greatest danger of damnation, and not to the souls in purgatory. Sister Lucia affirms this in a letter of 18 May 1941, to Father Gonçalves. "They adjusted it by making the last petition for the souls in purgatory because they claimed not to understand the meaning of the last words, but I believe Our Lady was referring to the souls who are in greater danger of damnation. This was the impression I had, and perhaps Your Reverence feels the same after having read what I wrote about the secret, keeping in mind that she taught us the prayers at the time of the third [apparition in] July." (Memoirs, p. 442) Therefore, the formula, "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned," is certainly incorrect.

Besieged after this apparition with questions about what Our Lady had told them, the seers said it was a secret.

"Good or bad?" insisted the questioners. "Good for some, bad for others," responded the children. (De Marchi, p. 94; Walsh, English edn., p. 84)

Before the last apparition, Canon Manuel Nunes Formigão asked Francisco and Jacinta whether the "people would be sad if they knew the secret." Their answer was "They would." (De Marchi, pp. 151-152; Walsh, p. 121)

Was the war of 1939-45 the punishment foretold in the apparition of July? Analysis of the prediction seems to lead to the conclusion that World War II was but the threshold of the great punishment.

Indeed, Our Lady warned that "several nations will be annihilated". To be sure, several nations were severely punished during and after the war, but it cannot be said that they were annihilated.

Moreover, once the conflagration had already ended, Sister Lucia stated in an interview granted to Walsh on 15 July 1946 that "if this is done [the consecration of Russia], she [the Blessed Virgin] will convert Russia, and there will be peace. If this is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world." "Does this mean, in your opinion," asked Walsh, "that every country, without exception, will be overcome by communism?" "Yes," answered the seer. (Walsh, English edn., p. 226) (Editor's note: It is worthwhile to ponder this statement in light of the comments on the errors of Russia commented upon in the preface.)

Since the expansion of communism and its ideological diffusion throughout the world became more conspicuous after the war ended, it must be concluded that the punishment foretold by the Mother of God is in progress.

Finally, if the punishment had already passed, the part of the message that speaks of the victory of Mary Most Holy and the establishment of her reign, clearly indicated by the words "Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph," should also have been fulfilled. But the world has taken the exact opposite course.

So it seems that the terrible sufferings of World War II were just a prologue to the punishments Our Lady foretold, which are yet to be completed.