Fatima seer Sr. Lucia named Venerable, but controversy over identity remains
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) –– Pope Francis has
recognized the “heroic virtues” of Fatima-seer Sr. Lucia, meaning that the
visionary will now proceed to be recognized as Venerable, though controversy
remains regarding her date of death.
In the daily press bulletin June 22, the Vatican
announced that the pope had promulgated the decrees of a number of servants of
God, including Sr. Lucia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart, more generally
known as Sr. Lucy or Sr. Lucia. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the
Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, was authorized to promulgate (among
others) the decrees regarding:
the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Lúcia de
Jesus e do Coração Immaculado (born: Lúcia dos Santos), a professed nun of the
Order of Discalced Carmelites; born March 28, 1907, in Aljustrel, Portugal, and
died Feb. 13, 2005, in Coimbra, Portugal.
Sr. Lucia, along with her canonized cousins Sts.
Francesco and Jacinta Marto, received the visions of the Angel of Peace and Our
Lady of Fatima, beginning in 1915 and 1917 respectively. The visions of Our
Lady to the three children received numerous papal endorsements, and have drawn
many thousands of pilgrims to Fatima ever since.
Sr. Lucia’s later life and
death
Following the very publicly attested visions, Sr.
Lucia moved to Porto in 1921, and in 1925 entered the Dorothean convent in
Pontevedra, Spain. Taking perpetual vows in 1934, she assumed the name of
Sister Mary of the Sorrows.
But in 1946 she returned to Portugal, and after
receiving special papal permission, entered the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa
of Coimbra. Here she took the name of Sister Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the
Immaculate Heart.
Official reports state that she died on February 13,
2005, following which Pope Benedict XVI lifted the customary waiting period
before beginning the process of her eventual canonization.
However, as with much of the Fatima message and
events, controversy surrounds this aspect also. Dr. Peter Chojnowski – a
teacher, researcher, and founder of Sister Lucy Truth – has compiled forensic analysis and anecdotal
evidence to argue an “imposter” Sr. Lucia replaced the true seer of Fatima and
that the faces and handwriting of the alleged two different women are
discernibly different.
Chojnowski, whose arguments have found considerable
support amongst Catholics concerned with the crisis in the Church, argues that:
Over the course of the years 2018-2022, Sister Lucy
Truth commissioned a wide range of scientific professionals and medical
specialists and has now compiled a sufficient number of expert reports
to make the judgment that there were in fact two women, one the authentic
Sister Lucy who was the Seer at Fatima in 1917, and the other an imposter who
presented herself as the real Sister Lucy of Fatima at least from May 13, 1967
until her death on February 13, 2005. [emphasis original]
He claims that the reason for such a deception is that
the Vatican “could not silence the true seer of Fatima,” who would have no
qualms in calling out the post-1960 attempt “to water Fatima down into a vague
and generic call to holiness, prayers, and penance.”
Fatima visions: marked by
constant controversy
The visions were marked particularly by the vision of
hell shown to the three young children, the call for the consecration of Russia
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and notably by the famous three secrets, of
which the third has been the center of much controversy in recent decades.
The topics of the Third secret and the Consecration of
Russia have marked a particular element of conflict in the life of the Church.
In 2000, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s CDF published what he described as the “entirety” of the
Third Secret of Fatima, a point hotly contested by numerous Fatima scholars
and clerics.
More recently though, in 2016, Father Ingo Dollinger –
a personal friend of Ratzinger – told LifeSite’s Maike Hickson that Ratzinger had told him in 2000 that “there is
more than what we published.”
Dollinger reported that he had been told by Ratzinger
that the published part of the Secret was authentic and that the unpublished
part of the Secret speaks about “a bad council and a bad Mass” that was to come
in the near future. The Vatican, in a rare intervention, issued a statement reportedly from then
Pope Emeritus Benedict, contradicting Fr. Dollinger’s statement and declaring
“the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima is complete.”
Similar peculiar Vatican workings were on display
regarding the consecration of Russia, which popes repeatedly refused to do despite Our Lady
of Fatima’s repeated request.
The request was made by Our Lady in 1917, then
repeated in 1929. Despite this, the popes did not heed the request. Though Pope
Pius XII made a consecration of the Church and humanity to the Immaculate
Heart, he did not fulfill the specific request, despite being faced with the
global catastrophe and bloodshed of the Second World War.
Sr. Lucia received a revelation from Our Lord in 1943,
responding to this action of Pope Pius XII: “Because of the act of consecration
made by His Holiness, He [Christ] promises that the war will end shortly. But
since it was incomplete, the conversion of Russia is postponed.”
Particularly, the famous 1984 consecration, defended
by many as having finally fulfilled the request, did not in fact name Russia. Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes confirmed in 2017 that in 1984, John Paul
II actually “held back [from mentioning] Russia explicitly because the Vatican
diplomats had urgently asked him not to mention this country because otherwise
political conflicts might perhaps arise.”
Both in its striking messages, which are not for the
faint of heart, and the identity of the eldest visionary Sr. Lucia, the Fatima
visions are both topical and surrounded in as much controversy as ever before.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/fatima-seer-sr-lucia-named-venerable-but-controversy-over-identity-remains/
https://rumble.com/v1z2a74-new-forensic-files-expose-fake-sr.-lucy-of-fatima.html
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