Editor’s Note: Marco Tosatti, Italian journalist and Vatican expert, wrote in Italy’s La Stampa concerning Dr. Maike Hickson’s recent article on Fr. Ingo Dollinger, Cardinal Ratzinger, and the Third Secret of Fatima. Dr. Hickson then reached out to Tosatti — himself an author of a book about Fatima — who agreed to the following interview.
Maike Hickson (MH): You have written already in 2002 a book on the Third Secret of Fatima, entitled Il Segreto Non Svelato (“The Unrevealed Secret”). The title itself indicates that you had already then come to the conclusion that the full Third Secret of Fatima was not published in June of 2000. Is this true? Do you believe that the text that was actually published in 2000 is an authentic part of the Third Secret of Fatima, and if yes, why?
Marco Tosatti (MT): Yes. I think that what we have read is authentic; it seems to remind us that Sister Lucy in person acknowledged the authenticity of the pages we have seen. And precisely from what we have seen we can still have some doubts.
MH: What are the main reasons why you came to the conclusion that the full Third Secret has not yet been revealed?
MT: In the document we have seen, at a certain point the narration stops with an “et cetera.” First, it seems strange to me that the Virgin would use these words. And then we have never seen the part of the Secret to which the “et cetera” is related.
Then there is the problem of the envelopes; it would be too long to enter in this issue now, but there are problems either with the measure of the envelopes sent from Portugal to Rome, and then with the envelope on which Pope John XXIII wrote his personal comment on the Secret, after having read it.
And then there is a conversation had by a scholar, Solideo Paolini, with Archbishop Capovilla, who was the personal secretary of Pope John XXIII. Solideo Paolini declared:
“I met Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla on July 5th 2006 in Sotto il Monte [name of a town] at his house. Since this very first meeting, during our private conversation, he made me implicitly but unequivocally understand something about the existence of two texts, or at least about certain things not being revealed regarding the Third Secret. When I asked him the question [about the Secret], he literally answered: ‘No, look, since it was officially revealed, I must abide by what was declared in the official documents, even if I may know something more.’ And at that point, when he said those words ‘even if I may know something more,’ he smiled ironically. Since I was there, I was able to see from his gestures that it was clear: there is something more than what was revealed during the Holy Year 2000 [by the Vatican]. But what Archbishop Capovilla said to me during a phone call was an even more dead giveaway. When he sent me his answers [by mail to questions I had sent to him], I called him on the phone, and he gave me the answer to a question of mine which literally was: ‘So, Your Excellency, as regards the two dates in which Pope Paul VI (would have) read the Third Secret, March 27th 1965 and June 27th 1963, which are confirmed by different sources, are they both correct because, in fact, there exist two texts regarding the Third Secret?’ I asked him this point-blank. He remained silent for a moment, thinking about it, and then he said to me, literally: ‘Precisely so (Per l’appunto)’. This is the most explicit confirmation that anyone could give.”
These words seemed to me a confirmation of what I had written in my book.
MH: You yourself reported recently on my own report about Father Ingo Dollinger who claims that then-Cardinal Ratzinger told him that he did not publish the whole secret. Would you have any possible explanation as to why they did not publish the full text? Could there be some kind of mental reservation involved?
MT: I will tell you what the personal secretary of Saint John Paul II [Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz] told me once, when I asked about Fatima. He answered: “The problem is to understand what the Virgin said, and what Sister Lucy said.” My personal opinion is that all the problems related to Fatima, the Popes, the Vatican are centered on this question. Did Sister Lucy add, even involuntarily, something to the message? And what? I think that is the element which has made so many people in the Church wary about the global phenomenon.
MH: Do you yourself consider it important still for us Catholics today to find out the full truth about the Third Secret?
MT: Yes, of course. When you have a revelation supported by such facts….
MH: What is your own finding about the possible content of that part of the Third Secret that is still unpublished?
MT: Really, I have no idea.
MH: Do you have any idea of how we could achieve that Rome finally releases the full secret?
MT: I think that, as far as the Holy See is concerned, the problem is closed. I do not expect in my lifetime to see anything more on the part of the Vatican.
