The Fourth Secret of Fatima

by Antonio Socci

A fascinating inquiry into the theories and the truths of the most disconcerting mystery of the twentieth century.
On June 26, 2000, Vatican officials (including Cardinal Bertone) released what they claimed was the Third Secret of Fatima. They further said it was a prediction of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981. Antonio Socci, an acclaimed Italian journalist and television personality, originally sided with the Vatican's interpretation of the Third Secret.
Upon closer investigation of this matter, the evidence led him to the conclusion that there is another document of the Third Secret containing the actual words of Our Lady. So far, the Vatican is still hiding this text while claiming that all is released.
Antonio Socci, for the first time, in this book produces the testimony of a still-living witness from the inner circle of Pope John XXIII, to prove his point. This book, by a friend of Pope Benedict XVI and former friend of Cardinal Bertone, has caused a public sensation and debate.

Genres: Religion, Catholic, Nonfiction, Faith, Theology

159 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

Antonio Socci è un giornalista e scrittore italiano.
Frequenta l'università di Siena, dove si laurea in Lettere moderne con una tesi in filologia romanza sulla Divina Commedia.
Ha lavorato come giornalista ne "Il Sabato", "30Giorni nella Chiesa e nel mondo" e al "Giornale".
Ha collaborato inoltre con "Il Foglio", "Libero" e con "Panorama".
Dal 2004 è direttore – per conto della Rai – della "Scuola di giornalismo radiotelevisivo di Perugia".

Reviews

[Ryan]

I read this in French. I liked that the language was simple enough that when I read it I could understand it and be amused by it. I feel it had a very slow start. There was a lot of useless conversations and poor build up in the beginning. I felt that in the end it got really exciting and that made up for the poor start.
If you cut this book down to 60 percent it's current number of pages and keeping all the good stuff; it would be an amazing story.

[J.]

This book reads as a detective novel or feels like a historical fiction, but it is not. The author, a journalist, has done his homework and brings together a seamless garment filled with failures and scandals to heroic feats and Heaven's hand. The author uses well placed documentation and lesser known facts concerning the Secret of Fatima and the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate, powerfully calling into question the official narrative used by the Vatican.

By the time you are done reading this book you will be amazed at the actions done by the Popes of the 20th Century and the overlap it has with events of the 20th Century, as it specifically relates to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author is armed with footnotes and sources who were closer to the 20th Century Popes than he was, he plays himself as a realist, neither getting too caught up in the reactionary hyper-traditionalism but also not giving into the neo-conservative/progressive mainstream narrative of the Vatican.

Nonetheless try as he might, through a process of deductive reasoning and evidence, he comes to rather unsettling conclusions concerning the Secret of Fatima that is indeed directly pertinent to our times. Indeed, anyone who is honest with themselves must admit that the errors of Russia (Marxism and all its philosophical baggage and implications) has not been routed but rather has in fact spread throughout the world, especially the Western World which we know has massive influence on other parts of the world.

The implications are huge, the narrative he weaves is more than just something isolated in the past, it is ongoing, it is a celestial narrative, the narrative of Humanity's Salvation History, and Antonio Socci like a man on top of a hill is able to see the past and what is coming in the future and in so doing, has done a tremendous job of reminding us where we stand in salvation history, at this juncture of human history. Whether you walk away from this book unconvinced of his argument or are convinced, everyone - including the author admits that in the end Russia will be Consecrated, a Reign of Peace will come, and Her Immaculate Heart will triumph.

[Piedad Restrepo V.]

El Cuarto Secreto de Fátima.

El Autor describe en este libro un interesante análisis de documentos, procedimientos y de intrigas políticas por intereses de poder, como razones suficientes que demuestran la confusa situación eclesial alrededor del Secreto de Fátima. De lo que aquí se explica, puede concluirse que nunca se ha dado a conocer el Mensaje completo de la Santísima Virgen María a los tres niños ni se han cumplido Sus recomendaciones, tal como era Su Voluntad. Es un libro altamente recomendable para ser leído por quienes nos preocupa la Iglesia de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo.

[Marco]

Libro meraviglioso, illuminante, serio, doloroso.

[John]

This could have been much shorter, easily cut by half at least. It's a mysterious subject, as Socci sets out the conjecture that the popes privy to the Third Secret either did not bother to open it, or, with John XXIII charged to deal with it in 1960, basically kept it in the "circular file" of his room instead of sharing it as intended when it was revealed in 1917. Paul VI seemed hostile, and under John Paul II, the content was judged to "predict" (in a symbolic scene and somewhat imprecise circumlocution) his own assassination attempted in 1981. Socci proposes that part of the Secret has been kept under wraps. The section published 2001 might not contain the full revelation, which is said to be far more terrifying for both the claims of apostasy at the pinnacle of the Vatican, and of global devastation.

Why? It seems that it's a warning of the leaders of the Church being taken over, even if believers in God, by the modernist heresies, conformity to the secularized century, and the influence of darker forces. There's evidence today in the implosion of Catholic culture, the crackdown on popular devotions and the traditional liturgy, and desertion by hundreds of millions from its pews since the reforms of an ecumenical council and a shift towards a Protestant individualism led by theologians, clergy, bishops, and very eager laity. Meanwhile, we see, vocations sank, and outside of certain conservative communities, few enter liberalized Orders. Socci doesn't deny the validity of V2, but he situates it within the desires of key ecclesiastical and diplomatic figures seeking Soviet acceptance.

Taking this into consideration two decades on, after Benedict, Francis, and Leo, you understand how entrenched those wishing to get along with communist (soon, liberation theology, and myriad leftist movements in the wake of Marxist thought) imposition from the top-down (allied with those active in the bottom-up) have become. Socci sketches this transition in the background, as it may confirm the Secret as reified in our world. I don't know if the efforts of an outnumbered cadre of more hesitant or less hedonistic faithful can reverse the trends which Vatican II embraced and its captivated followers keep embedding. I've grown up within this system, and it doesn't feel as if it's ebbing let alone fading.

Socci writes as an investigator, and his dogged 2006 quest fairly weighs those from all over the range of insiders who have had access to those in the know. He critiques any exaggerated or sensationalist scuttlebutt circulating. As I've been exposed to the Fatima story through a first-grade viewing in my parochial school of the Cold War 1951 film, which terrified an impressionable me, I admit I approach this topic gingerly and without any bias. Although Socci spends too many pages meticulously scouting out hints of this and echoes of that, I recognize his diligence and professional skill. And it's useful to have these documents, interviews, and summaries set out: it sobers me to recognize how the Council which concluded before I was entering my parish education in the second half of the Sixties truly inculcated risky accommodations with sectors of international society which bore no love for "Rome."

Reading Socci in English translation may intensify the verbose feel. However, after a Marian paean, he ends his study with an eloquent observation about mortality, our feeble resistance to aging, and the world's passing. It may be too deep in the theme for casual inquirers, but it's thought-provoking.

[Manuel Taboada]

Socci demuestra nuevamente su capacidad para presentar los hechos de tal forma que el interés va ‘in crescendo’ conforme nos acercamos a los capítulos finales, los cuales no suelen decepcionar. Además, transmite la información de manera muy ordenada y exhaustiva, usando de manera certera las fuentes y procurando no dejar cabos sueltos. Creo las personas interesadas en el fenómeno de Fátima no se verán decepcionadas.

[Iri]

Jak se dá ohodnotit poselství z Nebe? Jak se dá ohodnotit práce někoho, kdo hledá střípky pravdy ohledně tohoto poselství a pracně je dává dohromady? Nuž, myslím, že tato kniha byla napsaná kvalitně. A rozhodně mě autor donutil nad pár věcmi trochu zapřemýšlet. Nebo spíš nad tím, nad čím taky sám tak moc rozjímal.