Why does the Vatican feel the need to lie about the secret now? May 13, 2000 - 08:58 AM Pope Beatifies Shepherd Boy and Girl in Portugal, Reveals Third Secret By Adam Brown Associated Press Writer FATIMA, Portugal (AP) - The Vatican disclosed today that the so-called third secret of Fatima foretold the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II, ending a mystery that some had feared was apocalyptic. Believers hold that the mother of Christ appeared before three shepherd children in 1917 in Fatima and gave them three prophecies, two of which have been reported: a vision of "hell," interpreted as World War II, and the rise and fall of Soviet Communism. After years of speculation, the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said today that the "third part of the secret of Fatima" speaks of a "bishop clothed in white" who "falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a burst of gunfire." Sodano recalled that Pope John Paul has credited the Virgin of Fatima with intervening after he was shot by a Turkish gunman in St. Peter's square on May 13, 1981 - the anniversary of the first reported vision of the Virgin of Fatima in 1917. The pope beatified two of the shepherd children today during a 24-hour visit to Fatima. Beatification is the final step before sainthood. About 600,000 people watched under the hot sun as the pope performed a 2 1/2-hour ceremony to beatify Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco, who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them and their cousin Lucia dos Santos above an olive tree six times here. Many in the crowd applauded when they heard the long-awaited third secret, announced at the end of the pope's Mass. Some said they were eager to hear more details while others expressed disappointment that the secret did not foretell a momentous event, as many had speculated. "What they said all happened in the past," said Julio Estela, a 33-year-old car salesman from the northern Portuguese town of Trofa. "This isn't a prophecy. It's disappointing. I think there's more." The shepherd children died of pneumonia two years after the visions, at the ages of 9 and 11. Dos Santos, now 93 and cloistered since 1929 in a Portuguese Carmelite convent, received communion from the pope along with children dressed as shepherds. She said a silent prayer beside the tombs of her cousins before joining the beatification ceremony in Fatima's neo-Baroque basilica. The pope was driven through the cheering throng for 40 minutes in the popemobile before taking his chair and raising his right hand in salute before the beatification. Infirm people on cots and in wheelchairs and thousands of children flanked the alter where the pope performed the ceremony. Afterward, the pontiff visited the tombs of the dead shepherd children in the Fatima basilica. The pope is said to have a special fondness for Fatima since 1981, when he was wounded in the assassination attempt. "I desire once again to celebrate the goodness of the Lord toward me when, severely struck on May 13, 1981, I was saved from death," the pope told the crowds in his homily. "I also express my debt to the blessed Jacinta for the sacrifices and prayers made for the Holy Father, whom she saw suffer greatly." One of the bullets fired is placed in the crown of the statue of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, a town of 8,000. When he came to Fatima on May 12 the following year to thank the Virgin, the pope survived another assassination attempt by a fundamentalist Spanish priest who lunged at him with a bayonet, accusing him of betraying the Church. In contrast to his apparent weakness and slurred speech on arrival in Fatima on Friday, the pope early today appeared more animated, gesturing frequently to the crowd. In a surprise gesture Friday, John Paul donated to the Virgin of Fatima a cherished gold ring his late mentor Warsaw Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, the Polish primate, gave him in 1978 when he became pope. This is expected to be his last foreign trip this year amid a heavy agenda of 2000 Holy Year commitments Crowds of pilgrims from Portugal, the United States, South America and Africa slept in their cars in the open air or in tents on the grass as they waited for today's beatification. "It is beautiful what the pope is doing for the children," said Lise Bento, a 30-year-old pilgrim from Cape Verde who came to Fatima with her three small children to see the pope for the first time. "It's an amazing experience." Like the shrine at Lourdes, France, Fatima draws huge numbers of visitors - local officials estimate 6 million - each year. --- On the Net: http: http://www.vatican.va <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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