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Although no one else saw the figure of the lady on June 13, some of the people present did notice some paranormal phenomena. Reverend V. Dacruz, a Spanish priest who studied the history of the Fatima events very deeply, noted: “The day was bright and hot as it usually is in Portugal in the month of June. Now, during the entire period of the apparition the light of the sun was dimmed in an exceptional manner, without any apparent cause. At the same time, the topmost branches of the tree were bent in the form of a parasol, and remained thus as if an invisible weight had come to rest upon them. Those nearest the tree heard quite distinctly Lucy’s [Lucia’s] words, and also perceived in the form of an indistinct whispering, or the loud humming of a bee, the sound of the Lady’s answer, alternating regularly with the girl’s voice. At the end of the apparition, there was heard near the tree a loud report which the witnesses compared to the explosion of a rocket, and Lucy cried: ‘There! She is going away.’ At the same time the onlookers saw rise from the tree a beautiful white cloud which they could follow with their eyes for quite a while as it moved in the direction of the East. Further, at the Lady’s departure, the upper branches of the tree, without losing the curved shape of a parasol, leaned towards the East, as if in going away the Lady’s dress had trailed over them. And this double pressure which had bent the branches, first into a curve and then towards the East, was so great that the branches remained like this for long hours, and only slowly resumed their normal position” (Rogo 1982, pp. 224–225). After this second apparition, news of the strange happenings began to circulate all over Portugal.

On July 13, a much larger number of people, four or five thousand, gathered with the children to await the scheduled apparition. The lady appeared in the same way as before. Once again, onlookers, although they could not see the lady herself, saw the sun become dimmer, saw an orb of light over the tree where the lady was apparently standing, and heard a whispering voice reply indistinguishably to Lucia (Rogo 1982, p. 225). Lucia put a request to the lady: “I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.” The lady replied, “Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe.” The lady also asked the children to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the world’s sinners. Then the lady, light streaming from her hands, gave the children a terrible vision. Lucia said, “The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers.” Lucia added, “It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me” (Maria Lucia 1998, p. 170). The lady explained to the children that what they saw was the hell where sinners go and that if they followed her instructions they could prevent many souls from going there. This would also insure peace in the world. The lady told them, “The war [World War I] is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.” The lady said she would later come to ask for the conversion of Russia, saying that otherwise Russia “will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions” (Maria Lucia 1998, pp. 170, 174). The lady specifically said: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world” (Maria Lucia 1998, p. 110). The lady asked that this revelation be kept secret. This is the famous second secret of Fatima.

According to the revelation, a second great war was to start during the reign of Pope Pius XI. But he died on February 10, 1939, several months before World War II began with the German invasion of Poland in September of that year. Father Louis Kondor, editor of Lucia’s writings on Fatima, stated: “To the objection that the Second World War . . . actually started during the Pontificate of Pius XII, she [Lucia] replied that in fact the war began with the occupation of Austria in 1938.” Kondor also stated, “Lucia presumed that the ‘extraordinary’ aurora borealis during the night of 25th to 26th January, 1938, was the sign given by God to announce the imminence of war.” The lady’s promise to come back was fulfilled by an appearance to Lucia in 1925. Lucia took the fall of the communist regimes in East Europe and Russia to be a fulfillment of the lady’s revelations concerning Russia” (Maria Lucia 1998, p. 110).

After revealing the two secrets mentioned above, the lady revealed the famous third secret of Fatima. It was later written down by Lucia on January 3, 1944, and it was then kept secret until June 26, 2000, when it was released in English by the Vatican. Here is the text: “At the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand; pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance’. And we saw in an immense light that is God (something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it) a Bishop dressed in White (we had the impression that it was the Holy Father). Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.” One might take it that the fall of Communism in Russia indicated that the Virgin was pleased, and that therefore her third prediction did not come to pass. Some have suggested that the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II was partial fulfillment of the prediction.

As the apparitions continued, the anticlerical government of Portugal saw the Fatima events as the focal point for a dangerous resurgence of Catholic religious sentiment, with political implications. The government, having concluded that priests had encouraged the children to manufacture the apparitions, assigned a district official, Arthur d’Oliveira Santos, to expose the children as liars. Santos arrived in Fatima on August 11 and questioned them there. Despite his threats, the children refused to confess they were telling lies in collusion with local priests (Rogo 1982, p. 226).

On August 13, as huge crowds gathered for the apparition, Lucia and her cousins were taken away by government officials. Although the children were not present at the appointed time, some unusual things did happen. Rogo (1982, p. 226) said, “The crowd heard a loud detonation and a flash of lightning illuminated the sky at the very time the woman should have appeared. The sun dimmed, and a kaleidoscope of colors bathed the Cova. A white cloud appeared by the oak tree, remained for an instant, and then rose and moved quickly away.”