Dec. 7, 2025

CC#44--How Close We Came To Nuclear War

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message What if the closest brush with nuclear war didn’t happen in 1962, but in the 1980s—and what if a prayerful act in Rome influenced events that rewired the calculus of the Cold War? We follow that thread from a field in Portugal to a tense global standoff, connecting the story of Fatima to a series of world-shaping decisions. We begin with a clear, accessible Fatima 101: the 1917 apparitions, the three shepherd children, the call to...

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

What if the closest brush with nuclear war didn’t happen in 1962, but in the 1980s—and what if a prayerful act in Rome influenced events that rewired the calculus of the Cold War? We follow that thread from a field in Portugal to a tense global standoff, connecting the story of Fatima to a series of world-shaping decisions.

We begin with a clear, accessible Fatima 101: the 1917 apparitions, the three shepherd children, the call to pray the rosary for peace, and the Miracle of the Sun that drew tens of thousands. From there, we introduce Sister Lucia’s later testimony and the scholarship behind Fatima’s Mysteries: Mary’s Message to the Modern Age, highlighting the spiritual and historical stakes that kept drawing popes, pilgrims, and skeptics to the same question—can prayer and penance really influence history?

The narrative pivots to 1984. Pope John Paul II consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25. Weeks later, on May 13, the Soviet Northern Fleet suffers the catastrophic Severmorsk explosion, crippling its missile stockpiles and degrading strike capacity. Around the same time, intelligence revelations—codenamed Albatross—signal to Soviet leadership that their command-and-control bunkers are compromised, tilting deterrence and making escalation look suicidal. Whether you see providence, prudence, or a powerful mix, the timing and implications are hard to ignore.

Across the episode, we reflect on how Fatima’s core message—conversion, prayer, and responsibility—intersects with realpolitik, shaping choices that defuse crises and open paths to peace. We share recommended readings, connect to past episodes on John Paul II and modern Catholic history, and ask a practical question for today’s world: if moral strength helped bend the arc of the twentieth century, what would it look like to exercise that strength now?

If this exploration challenged your assumptions or gave you new insight, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it. Your support helps keep thoughtful conversations like this alive.

Key Points from the Episode:

• Fatima 101: the children, messages, and miracle of the sun
• Sister Lucia’s later warnings and interpretation
• John Paul II’s 1984 consecration and timing
• Severmorsk disaster and loss of Soviet strike capacity
• Albatross intelligence and deterrence dynamics
• Why Fatima’s message matters for modern crises
• Reading list and past Catholic Corner references

Check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources

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00:00 - Framing The Nuclear Question

00:26 - Welcome And Episode Setup

01:09 - Sister Lucia’s Warning

02:48 - Introducing Fatima’s Mysteries

03:45 - Fatima 101 Overview

06:12 - The Children And Early Visions

09:00 - The Secrets And Public Apparitions

12:20 - Miracle Of The Sun Explained

14:12 - From 1917 To Global Devotion

16:00 - Return To 1984 And Consecration

17:20 - Severmorsk Disaster And Its Impact

19:05 - Espionage, Albatross, And Deterrence

21:00 - Why Fatima Still Matters

WEBVTT

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You ask when was the last time the world was very close to nuclear war?

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Those who were up on their history will exclaim, for sure, it was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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1962.

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And yes, that was one such time, but there was another time, a time closer to our present day, that many people, including the legacy press, have overlooked.

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Let's talk about it on this Catholic corner.

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Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David, and welcome back to this Catholic Corner.

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And to start this episode, we are going to hear from Sister Lucia, best known for her connection to Our Lady of Fatima.

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Let's go to the opening quote of our book.

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Years later, Sister Lucia wrote this.

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Everyone knows perfectly well that we went through one of the most critical moments in human history when the great mutually hostile powers planned a nuclear war that would have destroyed the world if not the whole world, then the greater part of it.

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And what would have remained?

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What chances of survival and who could have dissuade those arrogant people surrounded by their war plans?

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Who if not God?

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In nineteen eighty-five, in a Cumbra convent, Sister Lucia had another apparition of Our Lady, who told her that the entrustment and the consecration carried out by John Paul II saved the world from nuclear war.

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Sister Lucia disclosed in this a discussion with two cardinals, Anthony Pattiari from India and Ricardo Vidal from the Philippines.

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But she also stated that the danger still existed, as the devil did not sleep, but continually attacked people and God.

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This is a quote from a great book, Fatima's Mysteries, Mary's Message to the Modern Age, published by Ignatius Press and written by, and I apologize before trying to pronounce these names, but they're two Eastern European names that are always quite difficult to pronounce.

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So here we go Gresgar Groni and Yazus Roskan.

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Gentlemen, if I've pronounced your names wrong, I wholeheartedly apologize.

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Hope I got those names right, but if not, I apologize.

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Nevertheless, their book, these two authors, is a fantastic read and well worth purchasing it.

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It's beautifully done with great pictures and timelines, and it's just really produced well, good paper, well, very good writing.

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And now the last time I checked, we chatted about Our Lady of Fatima and the apparitions from this microphone was over a year ago, back in May of 2025.

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So for those that don't know anything about Our Lady of Fatima and the vents are surrounding it, let's do a little Fatima 101 to bring you up to speed.

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Our Lady of Fatima refers to a series of reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917 near the village of Fatima in central Portugal.

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These events began on May 13th, 1917, in a pasture called Cove da Iri and continued monthly through October of 1917.

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They have become one of the most influential Marian devotions in modern Catholicism.

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So what is it?

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Well, Our Lady of Fatima is a title Catholics give to Mary, the mother of Jesus, specifically in connection with these nineteen seventeen apparitions.

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The devotion centers around Mary's reported calls to conversion, to prayer, especially the rosary, and to penance, along with messages about peace and war and the fate of nations.

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And again, where did it begin?

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It took place outside of a small village in Fatima, Portugal, about seventy miles north of Lisbon, in a field known as the Cave da Ari, the Cove of Irene.

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The visionaries were three children from a nearby village, Lucia Don Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacita Marto.

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They were all tending sheep when the first apparition occurred.

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And actually in nineteen sixteen, almost a full year before, an angel of peace, also called the Angel of Portugal, reportedly appeared to the children three times, teaching them prayers and preparing them for what would follow.

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But on May 7 or May 13th, 1917, a quote, lady brighter than the sun appeared above a small home of an oak tree and asked them to return on the thirteenth of each month for six months, and urged prayer and sacrifice for peace and for the conversion of sinners.

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The apparitions continued monthly through October thirteenth, nineteen seventeen, culminating in what witnesses later described as the miracle of the sun, an extraordinary solar phenomenon reported by large crowds gathered at the cove.

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Now what happened afterward?

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Well, there was a small chapel that was built, and then a larger shrine and basilica was built on top of the cove, and Fatima rapidly became a major international pilgrimage site.

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In 1930, the local bishop formally declared the apparitions as worthy of belief, and over the twentieth century multiple popes highlighted Fatima's messages and further spread the devotion worldwide.

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Now who were these children?

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The three Fatima children were poor shepherd kids from the tiny hamlet near Fatima, the two siblings, Francisco and Jacita, Marto, and their older cousin Lucia, Don Santos.

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They lived very simple rural lives, later became famous as the Visionaries, and two of them died young during the flu pandemic, while Lucia lived into old age as a nun.

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So the basic who's who is Francisco de Gizes Marto was born June eleventh, nineteen oh eight, in Alarosto, near Fatima, a small village, quiet, contemplative boy, and he was the brother of Jacita.

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Jacita de Gizes Marto was born March eleventh, nineteen eighteen, or nineteen ten, two years younger or two years, yeah, two years younger than her brother, the youngest of a large, devout family, and more outgoing and emotional than her brother.

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And Lucia Don Santos was born March twenty second, nineteen oh seven, in the same village.

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She was the cousin, and slightly older in the main later source for the written accounts of the apparitions.

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Now all three came from a poor practicing Catholic farming family who raised sheep and work small plots of land around the small village, the hamlet just outside Fatima.

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Their daily routine became or before 1970 was largely to help with the sheep, simple schooling, especially for Lucia, doing the family chores in the village religious life, like going to mass and going to their basic catechism classes.

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Now the role in the apparitions came about because in 1916, like I'd mentioned before, they reported three apparitions of an angel of peace while tending the sheep.

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This angel of peace taught them prayers and spoke about sacrifice and reparation.

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And then in 1917, they reported six apparitions of Mary at the cove.

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Lucia spoke directly with the lady, and Francisco mainly saw but did not hear her.

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And Jacita saw and heard both.

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Now what happened to Francisco and Jacita?

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Like we said, both contracted the 1919 influenza, and Francisco died at home on April 4th, 1919, at the age of 10, after months of illness and intense prayer.

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Jacita suffered longer.

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She was moved between hospitals and died on February 20, 1920 in Lisbon at the age of nine.

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Both were later beatified in 2000 by John Paul II and canonized in 2017 by Pope Francis, becoming among the youngest non-martyred saints in the church's history.

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So what happened to Lucia, the survivor?

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Lucia lived a long life.

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She entered religious life first as a Dorithian sister and later became a cloistered Carmelite nun.

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She died in 2005 at the age of ninety-seven.

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Across the twentieth century, she wrote memoirs about Fatima and became the main interpreter of the messages and the secrets associated with the apparitions.

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Now let's break down these the messages into a simple month-by-month timeline.

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Again, in the spring, we had the Angel of Peace, and then in May 13th, 1917, we had the first apparition of Our Lady.

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She appeared to Francisco, to Lycia, and to Jacita.

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They were all tending sheep.

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Mary asked them to come back on the thirteenth of each month for six months, and she emphasized praying the rosary for peace and the end of war.

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Keep in mind World War I was ravaging Western Europe at the time.

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So the next month, June thirteenth, came nineteen seventeen, and the second apparition happened at the cove.

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Mary spoke about the importance of the rosary and mentioned that Francisco and Jacita would go to heaven soon, and that Lucia would remain longer to spread the devotion of her Immaculate Heart.

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That would be the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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In july thirteenth, nineteen seventeen, the third apparition happened.

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The children were shown a vision of hell, absolutely almost destroyed them.

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They received what later became known as the Three Secrets of Fatima that involved visions of war, the spread of heirs from Russia, and the persecution of the church.

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Moving on to the apparition in August.

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On august thirteenth, local authorities detained the children and prevented them from going to the cove, so no public apparition occurred there on that day.

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Mary instead appeared to them on august nineteenth at Avalanos, a nearby location, and again urged them for prayer and sacrifice, and they she promised a miracle in the month of October.

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So by now her parents knew of the apparitions, her local priests knew the apparitions, and the local authorities were trying to prevent the children from spreading this message because they did not know who it came from.

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They were distrustful that it was coming from a good source.

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On September thirteenth, the fifth apparition happened at the cove.

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Large crowd gathered.

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Some witnesses reported atmospheric signs, kind of like a luminous globe.

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And Mary again repeats the request for the rosary and foretells of the coming October miracle.

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And then the sixth and final apparition happened at the cove with tens of thousands of people present.

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During that day a heavy rain descended on Portugal.

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After the apparition, many in the crowd reported the miracle of the sun incident, where the sun appears to spin, change colors, zigzag in the sky before returning to normal, while the ground and the people's clothes previously soaked from the day's rain are said to be have dried suddenly.

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Now we'll come back and talk about the miracle of the sun a little bit later.

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But for now, that brings us up to speed with our Fatima 101 section, and we have the basics out of the way, but let's go back to the opening quote and get back to May of 1984.

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Let's get back to our book of the day, Fatima's Mysteries, going back to the book.

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It was precisely then when a global nuclear war was eminent, that John Paul II consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Rome on March twenty fifth, nineteen eighty four.

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Shortly afterwards there was a series of events that changed the course of history.

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On may thirteenth, nineteen eighty four, the first anniversary of the Fatima apparitions that saw the Soviet fleet's greatest post war catastrophe.

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It was probably caused by a sailor's cigarette, which caused a major fire at the Severmorsk Naval Base, which in turn caused the stockpile of naval missiles to explode.

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Five hundred eighty of the nine hundred anti aircraft missiles were destroyed as well as three hundred twenty of the four hundred surface to surface missiles which could carry atomic warheads.

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Two to three hundred people perished.

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The Northern Freet of Russia lost its strike capacity in a single day.

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From then on, the Soviet Union was not capable of conducting a war for the control of the Atlantic.

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Marshal Argov's doctrine was impossible to realize.

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He was the Navy Admiral over the Russian fleet, the Northern Fleet.

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Colonel Kalinsky gave the final blow to the Soviet expansion plans.

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The Russian top brass was unaware that he had been revealing the Warsaw Pact's top secrets to the CIA for some ten years.

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At a certain point during negotiations between Moscow and Washington, the Americans revealed files codenamed Albatross concerning detailed plans of the location of a system of bunkers as a command center for the Soviet army.

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That changed the course of the negotiations.

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It became clear to Moscow generals that if they attacked NATO countries, they would be killed on the very first day.

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And so in today's Catholic corner, like me and many believers, we see the 1917 apparitions at Fatima, Portugal as the most significant private revelations not only of the 20th century, but of the entire history of the Catholic Church.

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Now that's a big statement, but we'll end with a quote from the book to drive home this point.

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Going back to the book.

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These apparitions give rise to one of the most frequently visited shrines in the Christian world that led to two of the youngest people ever to be beatified in church history, inspired millions throughout the world to embark on a prayer crusade, and captured the attention of as many as six popes who personally responded to their request.

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No other private revelations have seen such elaborate interpretations by the Holy See, and no others have been associated with such an important secret, not stirred up so many emotions.

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The Fatima message attested by two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XV, changed the course of history.

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It contained information as to only hope of deliverance from the madness of the bloodiest century in human history.

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It occurred it I'm sorry, it occupied the very center of the struggle over the world's soul, reconciling man's free will with providence, and it showed the moral strength was able to crush the walls of empires.

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As Cardinal then Joseph Ratzinger stated in the year 2000, the Fatima revelations prove that God is the Lord of history, and the whole world is in his hands.

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So I would encourage you to check out this book again.

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The name is Fatima's Mysteries.

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It is subtitled Mary's Message to the Modern Age.

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And as the details of Our Lady of Fatima's message, Dovetails, with another great story in a book that we have covered on this podcast before, the second greatest story ever told, which we did a two-parter on in Catholic Corner number 22.

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It's also intertwined and combined with Pope St.

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John Paul II's first trip back to his home country of Poland, titled The Nine Days in June, which we covered in Catholic Corner number 10.

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So there's a lot going on with this story of Our Lady of Fatima.

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So again, I would encourage you to understand Our Lady of Fatima's message and to read this book, Fatima's Mysteries.

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But also check out the greatest, second greatest story ever told.

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So for now, and until next time, keep fighting.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.