This article is by Mr. David Boyce of Surrey, England. He is a professor and the English translator of the CRC magazine. He is very familiar with the Fatima apparitions and has examined in detail the theory of those few persons who recently claim the consecration of Russia is done as Our Lady of Fatima requested. He decided to go to Fatima last August to conduct his own enquiry. He came back with some very interesting findings which were first published in the Oct.- Nov. 1990 French edition of La Contre Reform Catholique.

We could say that this inquest of his has done much to unravel the plot of those who try to have us believe the greatest hoax against Fatima. In order to make our press deadline we have, with the permission of CRC, put together from various translators our own translation before the official translation of this article was available. The footnotes also are from the CRC.

       Having reflected for so long on the message of Fatima through the pages of the CRC, I decided to make the pilgrimage myself at the beginning of August. Fatima immediately impresses by the devotion of the Portuguese people, who walk for miles to reach the shrine and on arrival approach the chapel of apparitions (the Capelinha) on their knees, begging Our Lady's help as they proceed, still on their knees, around the spot where Our Lady appeared in 1917. Witnessing this fervor, I understood Our Lady's words that in Portugal "the dogma of the faith would always be kept." Theirs is a faith that knows no human respect, has its eyes fixed on Heaven and is unlikely to be seriously affected by the purely human considerations of the conciliar religion.

My Visit With Father Fox

       In Fatima at the same time was Father Robert Fox with about twenty of his young American followers.¹ Preaching at the Capelinha a pious sermon, Father Fox digressed by reiterating what he has published in his Fatima Family Messenger for some time, namely that "Russia was solemnly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in union with all the world's bishops on 25 March 1984; hence the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the opening of a peaceful era." That was on 7th August when few of the vacationers would have been aware of the ominous news from the Middle East at the beginning of the month. After Mass, I approached Father Fox to ask him how he knew that Sister Lucy had said the consecration had been done as Our Lady requested. In his written reports, he had relied heavily on the testimony of Sister Lucy's niece, Maria do Fetal, but this time he answered, "I have that information from the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima and I have documentation provided by the Prioress of the Coimbra Carmel." I expressed surprise, saying that this information was not known in England as it surely would be had the consecration been performed with due solemnity. At this, he tensed and retorted that I must be taking my cue from Father Gruner. "No, I have never read the writings of Father Gruner." He appeared annoyed. He said, "I must attend to my young people." I was about to ask him another question about the words of Sister Lucy's niece, Maria do Fetal, and about which this Apostolic Delegate had supposedly visited Sister Lucy in 1984, Archbishop Portaluppi or Archbishop Asti² , as referred to in his own report, when he turned his back on me and walked away.

       Not a happy start to the inquiries I was hoping to make in Fatima, but at least Father Fox's categorical statement that the Consecration had been done gave me a useful approach when meeting the other people I wished to see, in the company of my daughter Lucy.

My Visit To Father Kondor

       That same day, 7 August, I was seen by Father Kondor, the Vice-Postulator for the beatification cause of Jacinta and Francisco, who kindly agreed to answer questions. The conversation developed in a cordial atmosphere, with laughter from time to time. He understands English but prefers to answer in Hungarian through his secretary. As his prime interest is the beatification cause, I began by asking how the process was proceeding. "The process is complete," he told me. "We are awaiting a miracle and the beatification will then take place, on a significant date, perhaps in 1992."

       I was aware that Father Kondor is one of those rare ecclesiastics who have had permission to talk with Sister Lucy in the course of the last thirty years. Now, in the latest edition of Sister Lucy's Memoirs (March 1990), Father Kondor has added the note which reads: "Sister Lucy affirms that the consecration made by John Paul II, in union with all the bishops, on 25 March 1984, corresponded with Our Lady's request and was accepted by Heaven" (Memorias da Irma Lucia, page 114, note 11). Furthermore, the CRC had reported that Father Kondor had made similar declarations to a community of American Benedictines.³

       Referring, therefore, to Father Fox's sermon of that same morning, I asked when Sister Lucy had first mentioned that the consecration had been done according to Heaven's request. There was no direct answer,⁴ but a long account of all the events leading up to 25 March 1984, beginning with the Pope's visit to Fatima in 1982, and ending with the arguments against the consecration's validity, which apparently did not include the fact that several of the world's bishops refused to be united to the Pope on that day. The main objection to the act of March 25, 1984 is that it was not at all a consecration of Russia. This objection he sought to eliminate by saying "at the moment when John Paul II was to pronounce the word 'Russia' the loudspeakers were cut off and the Pope mumbled in an inaudible manner".⁵

       I then produced photocopies of letters alleged to have been written by Sister Lucy, and in which it is stated that the act of 25 March 1984 corresponded with Our Lady's request. You will remember that these were published and criticized in the CRC last winter. The first is addressed to Maria de Belem and dated 29 August 89, the second to Walter M. Noelker and dated 8 November 89 and the third to Father Paul Kramer and dated 22 November 89. Father Kondor immediately replied without being asked, as did the other people I visited, that they were authentic. Yes, Sister Lucy does use a word processor⁶ and is free to write to anyone. However, he did not justify the errors contained in those letters, such as the mention of a consecration of the world made by Paul VI in 1967, which is a pure invention. "The Carmel of Coimbra," he added, "passes on to me certain letters addressed to Sister Lucy, especially the correspondence concerning the causes of beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, to which I myself reply." And these letters are passed to Father Kondor for him to answer and sign with his own signature. I asked Father Kondor this question: "To whom must one ask permission to speak to Sister Lucy?" He answered, "One must ask only Cardinal Ratzinger, for neither the Bishop of Fatima nor the Bishop of Coimbra can grant it."⁷ "But Sister Lucy is free to write. You can write her." I remain surprised that we cannot converse with Sister Lucy but on the other hand she can write very freely.

       To have us believe that the act of 1984 has satisfied Heaven's demands, Father Kondor has had a video made of himself reading to the Coimbra Carmelites the text of the consecration of the world.

       I showed Father Kondor a passage from an article by Father Antonio Maria Martins entitled "Fatima Mensagem de Fe, Esperanca e Amor". This is the passage:

       "I am happy to report what was told to me by a friend who has several times visited Sister Lucy in her Carmel at Coimbra: 'One day, he told me, I asked her: Sister Lucy, the little shepherds are said to have seen hell. Is that true?' His face lit up and was transformed in a way that for me was most convincing."

       "This friend who has often visited Sister Lucy, I asked, is that you?" He laughed and then explained: "Father Martins does not say so. He is very discreet ... unlike Father Fuentes who was reprehended for his indiscretions."⁸ Father Kondor insisted that it is for the Church to judge Heaven's messages and not for the seer herself.

       At the end of the interview he leafed through, before me, the pages of the dossier of the process of beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the original of which is kept in Rome. Father Kondor told me "The definitive work of Father Alonso on Fatima, cannot be published because he had drafted it before the process was completed. There was lacking in the work of Father Alonso certain documents which are found in this dossier."⁹

       Without being precise, Father Kondor gave the impression that it was Rome's will that we regard the consecration as done and desist from further questioning.

Cardinal Ratzinger is identified by Father Kondor as the only one who can grant permission to speak to Sister Lucy.

The Carmelites At Coimbra

       Two days later, I had an opportunity to visit the Carmelite Convent at Coimbra, where Sister Lucy is a member of the Community. The Prioress was too busy to receive visitors, but my daughter and I were invited into the chapel to say a prayer. After about half an hour, an extern sister approached to ask what we wanted. She spoke very good French, and I began by relating how Father Fox had only the other day declared at Fatima that the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary had been done, despite the fact that this most important act for the world today is unknown to the Catholic world at large. After all, the Pope's encyclicals reverberate throughout the world as soon as they are pronounced, why not this all important pronouncement? The Sister replied that the statue of Fatima had been transported to Rome for the occasion and that anyway a consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart encompassed Russia.

       Shown the three photocopies of letters alleged to have been written by Sister Lucy concerning the act of March 1984, the Sister glanced at them and declared them authentic. "Yes, we do have a word-processor," she told me. And yet, the letters refer to a nonexistent act of consecration supposedly made in 1967. And why is it affirmed in the letter to Noelker that the consecration requested by Our Lady cannot be achieved during the course of a council? She acknowledges that she is incapable of replying. "When did Sister Lucy say, for the first time, that the Consecration of 1984 had satisfied the requirements of Heaven?" There again she was not able to reply. What troubling and suspicious elements there are in this affair! And the good Carmelite, who was already too painfully conscious of all this mysteriousness when I asked her "Why have they waited five years before announcing that the Consecration of Russia had been effected?" she concluded our interview in making to me this avowal, "I think like you do but the Church is like that. We must pray." I asked her once more to know if the Mother Prioress would give me the same responses to my questions. She replied, "Yes."

Father Cristino - The Fatima Archivist

       The following day, I was able to meet Father Cristino in his study at Fatima. He is a diocesan priest, about fifty years old, who is now responsible for the Fatima archives. He speaks French fairly well and so we conversed in that language. "You who worked with Father Alonso, do you know whether his work on the history of Fatima will be published before long?" He replied: "The complete work will never be published. A synthesis of it is being made by a committee working on it now."

       I then referred to Father Fox's sermon of 7 August, whereupon Father Cristino declared that he himself would be more prudent and would not venture such a statement in public. By August 10th, news from the Middle East was already making an impact, and Father Cristino was all too aware that things might turn out disastrously for the predicted era of peace ... He too insisted that the Fatima revelations were essentially private but admitted that they are of capital importance for the 20th Century.

       I produced the photocopies of the three letters and showed them to him. He knew them and pronounced them authentic, although he added that Abbé de Nantes and Father Gruner had reasons for doubting their authenticity. Knowing him to be one of the best informed authorities on Fatima: "Why do these letters contain the mention of a Consecration of the world which Pope Paul VI had made during his pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 1967? Is this not a pure invention? Why was it affirmed in the letter to Noelker that the Consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady must not be done during the course of a council?..." Father Cristino could not reply, except by shrugging his shoulders.

       In the introduction to her Vth Memoir, edited in February 1989, Sister Lucy writes to Msgr. Luciano Guerra, Rector of the Fatima Sanctuary, in these words: "The answers to your questionnaire will have to wait until later. But even now, I should warn you that there are certain questions I cannot answer for they refer to the apparitions, which I am not allowed to speak of without the Holy See's authorization. Unless you request and obtain a dispensation from this restriction, I shall have to leave these questions blank." (Memorias da Irma Lucia, March 1990, p. 192) Whence my question: Between February and August '89 — that is at the end of August '89 when the seer is reputed to have written the letter to Maria de Belem — did Sister Lucy receive permission from the Holy See to enter into correspondence over the questions concerning the apparitions and the message of Fatima?

       Father Cristino wished to change the subject and talk about England: the new appointment to Canterbury, Cardinal Newman's canonization cause. The conversation was very cordial and warm.

       The interview being completed, we got up and when I had left his office, he took me by the arm to acknowledge to me that he shared our uneasiness. "I understand your objections," he told me, "That troubles me ... It is strange that they have let five years elapse before saying that the Consecration was accomplished."

Maria Do Fetal

       I had hoped to see Sister Lucy's niece, Maria do Fetal, whilst I was in Fatima, but to no avail.¹⁰ I called at her apartment several times during the day and evening too, but she never answered her interphone. I left a note under her door, but without result. Yet she was in Fatima because my host had seen her in the bank. He kindly rang one of his friends and was told that Maria do Fetal would make no further declarations. She has even had her telephone disconnected. Presumably, she is shocked at having seen her photograph in Father Gruner's publication illustrating the articles entitled "Father Fox's Fabrications", "The Inventions of Maria do Fetal".¹¹

       Editor's Note: Due to lack of space two introductory paragraphs and one concluding paragraph were deleted.

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