On the 13th of May, 1917, in a pasture near the Portuguese town of Fátima, 3 shepherds witnessed the appearance of the mother of Jesus - the Virgin Mary. The vision shone as the sun. "The divinely beautiful woman coming down from the sky, " came down above the nearby beech forest and stood above the trees. The shepherds were 10 year-old Lúcia Santos, 9 year-old Francisco Marto and 7 year-old Jacinta Marto.
Lúcia was was the first to witness the luminous Virgin Mary. She went to go and speak with her. Jacinta also heard and saw the conversation but did not speak. Francisco saw but was unable to hear the conversation with the holy Mary.
The vision gave the children 3 letters with predictions of events that would come to pass in the coming years. In them, we see the invocation of man's responsibilities in these end times before the Second Coming. In the third letter it becomes clear who the third Messiah is.
Similar appearances of the Virgin Mary have been recognized by the Vatican as the miracles of Fatima. After that incident, the phenomenon had been seen numerous times in that very spot. However, it only communicated with the three children.
Each one of the received letters were to be opened in a specific year. The first two were to prove their reliability and importance, and the third - to reveal who would be the master of the Second Coming.
After the opening of the first two letters, it became apparent that the Virgin Mary had revealed prophecies for key events during the 20th century to the shepherds. Among them were the end of the first World War, the beginning of the second World War, the rise and fall of Communism. They were described with unbelievable accuracy. In 1991, the third letter was to be opened.
When the Catholic Church opened the final letter on that date, it suddenly became quiet and did not share its contents with the world. Legend goes that the hidden letter revealed the secret surrounding the Second Coming.
After nearly 10 years of silence, the Catholic Church came out in public with an incomplete and wishy-washy letter, just to quell the feelings of public resentment. Cardinals from the Vatican, however, reveal that this was not the real letter.
Whatever the Vatican knows about the issue of the Second Coming and why it doesn't reveal it can only be explained by the fact that the Pope and cardinals are having a hard time accepting the Messiah, let alone revealing him to the world. The mystery surrounding the third letter remains unsolved.
