The King of France, Fatima and the Crisis in the Church
“Given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune.”
“Given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune.”
‘Like the King of France…’
As we all know, one of the requests of Our Lady of Fatima was that the Pope would, with all the bishops, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Let us read Sr Lucie’s words, referring to June 13, 1929:
“Then Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come when God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.’”1
Sr Lucie then relays the following message from Heaven:
“They did not want to heed my request [to consecrate Russia]! … Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecutions against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer.”2
On August 29, 1931, she wrote the following words in a letter to the bishop:
“Make it known to my ministers that, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My request, they will follow him into misfortune. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.”3
On two further occasions, Sr Lucie referred to this message about the King of France.4
Is this referring to the Pope or the hierarchy?
What do these words mean? They are usually taken to refer to Louis XIV’s failure to execute the requests of the Sacred Heart, resulting in the death of Louis XVI exactly 100 years later. This historical example explained, it is usually applied to mean something like this:
“The Pope’s failure to comply with Heaven’s requests will result in the Pope’s death.”
This is certainly also what the text purporting to be the Third Secret of Fatima suggests.
This article will give a brief context to the history of Louis XIV, St Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart. We will then consider whether the standard interpretation above actually fits the words given.
In our opinion, they appear to be addressed not to a Pope, but rather to the entire hierarchy – who are essentially told that they will lose their head if they do not comply. This is, naturally, rather more dramatic than the mere death of a pope.
However, it is not for us to provide definitive explanations to the prophecies of our Lady of Fatima, and everyone has their own opinions. We will all see how they are to play out in due course.
The context of the King of France is taken from the work of Frère Michel, scholar of Fatima. We are referring to the second volume of his monumental work, The Whole Truth About Fatima. In some places, we have edited the grammar for clarity.
The WM Review is free for readers. This is because we believe these ideas must reach as many people as possible.
However, we also provide WM+ articles—additional material for those who choose to support this work financially. This helps us continue producing serious Catholic research, while ensuring that the main body of material remains accessible for all.
We are entering dark, dark times.
If you want to ensure that the flow of material continues, join WM+ today.
(Clergy and seminarians can contact us for free membership.)