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Important statements of CARDINAL ODDI
referring to the Third Secret of Fatima
Reproduced in full from the periodical "Medjugorje"
n. 40 July-August 1991
It is undoubtedly the Third Secret of Fatima which has aroused the interest of the world's Catholics this year. And one asks: How is it possible that if Our Lady decided to send a message and the Church duly recognized the apparitions at Fatima, the Church has kept the secret hidden when she should have revealed it in 1960?
"It is a problem that has aroused my curiosity as well" revealed Cardinal Silvio Oddi, who was already installed as president of the Congregation for the Clergy. Cardinal Oddi has made interesting unpublished statements to the periodical "30 Days", which we reproduce:
"Like the priests and all the faithful, I have become interested in the Third Secret of Fatima, - he says - As it is known that it was to be revealed in 1960 unless Sister Lucia had died earlier, we were all waiting for that year to arrive. But 1960 has come and gone, and nothing has been announced. As secretary to John XXIII when he was in Paris, I took advantage of the trust he placed in me to tell him frankly:
"Most holy Father, there is one thing for which I cannot forgive you".
"What?" he asked.
"Having the world in suspense for so many years and then watching 1960 come several months have gone by and nothing about the secret has been made known".
Pope Roncalli answered:
"Let's not talk about that".
I replied:
"If you don't want me to I will say no more, but I can't keep the people from doing so. The interest is spontaneous; I must have delivered a hundred sermons and speeches announcing the revelation".
"I told you not to mention it".
I didn't persist, but I wanted to get to the bottom of the story. Then I went to Msgr. Capovilla, his private secretary, and asked:
"Have you opened the secret?"
quot;Yes, we opened it".
"Who was present?"
"There was the Pope - he told me - Cardinal Ottaviani, and I, but we couldn't understand it since it was handwritten and in Portuguese. So we called a Portuguese monsignor who worked in the Secreteriat of State".
The text of the secret had arrived to the Vatican via the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima. The bishop, during World War II, fearing that Portugal would be dragged into the conflict and the secret destroyed, lost, or exposed, took it to Rome, asking the Holy See to take care of it. In Portugal it had been kept in the nuncio's quarters for some time. After reading it, Pope Roncalli returned it to the safe. Pius XII, according to what I've been told, never read it. The first to open the envelope was John XXIII in 1960."
But why didn't Pope John publish it?
Continues Cardinal Oddi: "I, who knew Pope John very well, am sure that the secret contained nothing good. Roncalli didn't like to hear about scandals or punishments. From that I conclude that it contained something about prohibition, punishment, or disaster.
Another occasion in which I became interested in the Secret of Fatima was in 1985. I was in Fatima for the Mass of May 13. A million people were present. Since I was in Fatima I went to visit Sr. Lucia. I spent about an hour talking with her.
I told her:
"Look, I don't want to know the secret. What intrigues me is why it hasn't been published. Can you tell me? And then I would like to know if you and the Pope talked about it when he was here" (The Pope had been in Fatima May 13, 1962).
"Oh, yes, - she replied - long ago".
"And what did you decide?"
"Not to publish it".
"Why? - I asked - If I may know the reason?"
"Because it could be misinterpreted"."
Cardinal Oddi concludes:
"At this point let me advance a hypothesis: that the Third Secret of Fatima pre-announces something terrible the Church has done, naturally without meaning to. That because of mistaken interpretations, disobedience, or something similar, the Church has passed through a moment that was too difficult. Nevertheless the secret says that by the year 1960, in spite of the best intentions, the church would have done something whose consequences were very painful, with a tremendous decline in religious practice. And that later, following a great suffering, the Faith would return. Yes, this may be the content of the secret. But if this were true, the fulfillment of the secret has already been observed, for the crisis in the Church is visible to all. And the most alert souls recognized it years ago".
![[The Secret of Fatima]](querci1.gif) ![[News]](giorna98.gif)
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