It is only natural then that, affected by the ‘Fátima secrets’, the leaders of the Catholic church have a hard time striving for Russia’s collapse or decrying its history and culture as a big ‘mistake’.
Amid the rampant anti-Russian hysteria that has seemingly brought together most of the Western political elites, the Catholic church, a major spiritual and authoritative institution of the Western world, has repeatedly declined to chastise Russian history and culture, opting to take its own stance.
It may come as a surprise, given that the papal jurisdiction encompasses western Ukraine where a lot of Ukrainian Greek Catholics are the wildest ultra-nationalists. Part of the Greek Catholic clergy and bishops endorsed the Ukrainian National Assembly (banned in Russia) and welcomed the Nazi invasion of the USSR. In the Soviet era, these Greek Catholics were outlawed and whisked far away from the limelight.
However, not only does Vatican disown the Russophobic chants but it also stays away from yelling about ‘Russia’s aggression’ or ‘the regime’s crimes’. Pope Francis cited ‘NATO’s barking at Russia’s door’ as one of the main causes of the ongoing conflict. Both His Holiness and many Catholic priests have publicly spoken of their fondness for the great Russian literature and history, largely ignoring the increasing number of European officials and elite-controlled mainstream media frothing at the mouth. Not least of all, the Catholics outrage the Ukrainian puppet regime that was expecting them to fall into line with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church renegades. They have been proven dead wrong.
Sure enough, Vatican’s official stance is influenced by the Pope’s personal convictions, his Argentinian background, his education and his love of the Russian culture and especially literature, which was emblematic of Latin America in the mid-to-late 20th century. He has always been mindful of the legacy of the Church Fathers and that of Byzantine theology. During his stint as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the current pontiff would reportedly attend both the Christmas Eve celebrations and the Easter night vigils at the Annunciation Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in Buenos Aires. This fact alone speaks volumes.
But most interestingly, the Pope’s personal attitude is not the only factor explaining why the Catholic church emphatic anti-Russian stance. One may say their clergy and officials are not entirely free to choose their take on the ‘Russian question’ as they are significantly limited by their own theological beliefs rooted in their church’s official tradition. And this crucial factor seems to be often overlooked by secular commentators.
The thing is, the image of Russia has been key to Catholic Eschatology, a study of the doctrines focusing on the ‘last things’. The late 18th century along with the 19th and 20th centuries were awash with various prophecies, predictions and legends that had to do with Russia. Those culminated in the so-called Miracle of the Sun, or Fatima revelations, where Our Lady allegedly appeared before the three kids in Fátima, now a two-hour drive from Lisbon, in the fateful year of 1917.
On 13 May 1917, the three kids who were looking after the sheep – Lúcia Santos (1907–2005) and her cousins Francisco (1908–1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910–1920) – saw an apparition where, according to them, Our Lady told them about the future events and ordered them to summon the locals on 13 June.
At first, their parents were distrustful. They even scolded the kids. But the nippers would not relent. That year the Theotokos would keep appearing before the kids on the 13th of every single month till October and the apparitions were witnessed by an increasing number of people. She told about Heaven and Hell and warned that she would claim Francisco and Jacinta. The kids indeed later succumbed to the Spanish flu in 1919 and 1920, respectively.
Our Lady also foretold the end of World War I and the outbreak of World War II as well as offered a path to salvation that had to do with Russia.
Clearly, the small kids from Portugal could hardly nurse any serious fantasies about faraway Russia, which rules out their vivid imagination as a factor.
Following 13 years of research, the Catholic church officially recognised the Fátima miracle in 1930. Odd as that may sound, it was a politically important decision. No matter the attitude to the Fátima apparitions coming from Orthodox Christians who have their fair share of reservations or secular atheists – even though there is quite a lot of preposterous atheistic explanations for that event – the Fátima revelations constitute an integral part of faith for Catholics, including the Pope and the cardinals down to the last follower.
The Fátima Marian apparition was followed by apparitions at Pontevedra (1925 –1926), Tuy (1929) and Rianjo (1931), all in Spain, ahead of the Civil War in that country. All of them yet again prominently featured Russia.
Already as a nun, Lúcia Santos detailed the Fátima revelations, known as ‘the Three Secrets of Fátima’, in writing and submitted her letters to Vatican City. The first two of the ‘secrets’, both involving Russia, were published in 1929. The third one was slated to be revealed in 1960 but the Pope did not do it. The insignificant portion of the text was published at the turn of the 21stcentury, in 2000. Many believe it had to do with an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.
That final ‘secret’ is still largely a mystery. We do not know for a fact how the Catholic leadership approaches the publication of the ‘Fátima secrets’, why it was postponed in 1960 and revealed in 2000 only in part. We are unaware if the decision was made by the Pope or his spiritual director or involved a broader circle of cardinals. Anyway, it seems safe to assume the pontiff does know the content of those envelops. Or it may have already been digitised.
Notably, ten years ago, when President Putin met Pope Francis in Vatican and gave him a replica of Our Lady of Vladimir, the Catholic media were unanimous in their statements claiming the start of the ‘third Fátima secret’ getting materialised.
On the outside, the story has taken an unexpected turn in a different direction. Yet, as Catholic prelates tend to say, prophecies work in mysterious ways.
Even if you are highly skeptical of such sort of legends and predictions, bear in mind that it is not the interpretation of Nostradamus or Baba Vanga – it is about the official recognition by the Catholic church that brings together at least 1.2 billion followers worldwide. For most of them, the Miracle of the Sun was real.
It is only natural then that, affected by the ‘Fátima secrets’, the leaders of the Catholic church have a hard time opposing Russia, striving for its collapse or decrying its history and culture as a big ‘mistake’ etc.
The world proves yet again to be much more complicated and gripping than billed.