Dark Mysteries of the Vatican

by H. Paul Jeffers

  More than four centuries after the dome of St. Peter’s basilica was completed, the Vatican announced the discovery of a long-missing Michelangelo sketch for the dome, possibly his last design before his death. Drawn in blood-red chalk for the stone cutters who were working on the basilica, it was done in the spring of 1563, less than a year before his death at age ninety. The sketch was found in the Fabbrica of St. Peter’s, which contains the basilica’s offices.

  The newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said most sketches by Michelangelo for the stone cutters were destroyed or lost in the cutters’ workplaces, but this one had survived because a supervisor used the back of the sketch to make notes of problems linked to the stone’s transport through the outskirts of Rome. Michelangelo finished the dome and four columns for its base before he died in February 1564. Three weeks before he died, when he was nearly eighty-nine, he went up the dome to inspect it.

  The construction of the basilica, whose cupola defines Rome’s skyline, spanned several working lifetimes of some of the Renaissance’s most celebrated artists and architects. Vatican historians note that the first architect of the basilica, Donato Bramante, died eight years after the cornerstone was laid. Other architects, including Raphael, followed, until Pope Paul III turned to Michelangelo in 1546, thirty-two years after Michelangelo had put his last brush stroke on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.

  Also in 2007, the Associated Press reported that a 450-year-old receipt found in the same archive provided proof that Michelangelo had kept a private room in St. Peter’s Basilica while working as the pope’s chief architect. Going through archives for an exhibit on the 500th anniversary of the basilica, researchers from the Fabbrica di San Pietro came across an entry for a key to a chest located “in the room in St. Peter’s where Master Michelangelo retires.”

  “We now know that Michelangelo definitely had a private space in the basilica,” said Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella, who runs the Fabbrica, in an interview with the Associated Press. “The next step is to identify it.”

  The ink-scripted entry contained in a parchment-covered volume listing the expenditures of the Fabbrica for the years 1556–58, referred to the payment of ten scudos to the blacksmith who forged the key, but offered no details about the chest or the location of the room.

  The account of the discovery noted that a frescoed room with a cozy fireplace, part of the area in the left wing of the basilica where the archives are housed, had traditionally been called “la stanza di Michelangelo” (Michelangelo’s room). On an upper floor, overlooking the main altar, it is connected to the ground floor by a small winding marble staircase, suggesting that the room afforded the artist secrecy and an escape route from envious fellow artisans. But research showed the room was part of renovation done after Michelangelo’s death, and that the space did not exist during Michelangelo’s time at the Vatican.

  “”The theory is very romantic and conspiratorial, but totally unfounded,” said Federico Bellini, an art historian who worked in the archive department.

  Originally the Fabbrica, whose documents date from as far back as 1506, was in the right wing of the basilica, already built at the time of Michelangelo. It was known that artisans had been allotted lodgings there, leading experts to direct their search for Michelangelo’s studio to that area.

  The Associated Press article noted, “One detail the expenditure does reveal is that Michelangelo had requested a very expensive key. According to Simona Turriziani, a Fabbrica archivist, ten scudos in the 1550s was more than the monthly salary of many of the artisans working on the basilica.”

  CHAPTER 16

  The Vatican and the End of the World

  In the spring of 1916 in the town of Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd girls, Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisca Marto, were visited three times by what they thought was an angel. He “told them he was the guardian angel of Portugal and urged them to pray and prepare themselves. The next spring, eight months after the angel’s final visit, the Virgin Mary began to speak to them. Lucia had just had her tenth birthday, Francisco would turn nine in June, and Jacinta was seven. On May 13, 1917, they took their sheep to a small hollow known as a Cova da Iria (Cove of Irene). And there around noon, a beautiful lady appeared near an oak tree, telling them to say the Rosary every day, ‘to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.’ She promised to visit them again ‘on the thirteenth of each month’ for the next five months.’

  “By 1917, a figure who identified herself as the Virgin appeared to them and eventually delivered a message for humankind. The children became a focus of worldwide interest, and in October of that year, the Virgin’s presence seemed to be confirmed for many others when a crowd of 70,000—mostly Catholics and some skeptics—saw the sun appear to zigzag in the sky as the Virgin again addressed the children.

  “I looked at the sun and saw it spinning like a disc, rolling on itself,” said a farmer, Antonio de Oliveiro. “I saw people changing color. They were stained with the colors of the rainbow. The sun seemed to fall down from the sky. The people said that the world was going to end. They were afraid and screaming.”

  Maria Candida da Silva said, “Suddenly the rain stopped and a great splendor appeared and the children cried, ‘Look at the sun!’ I saw the sun coming down, feeling that it was falling to the ground. At that moment, I collapsed.”

  The Reverend Joao Menitra reported, “I looked and saw that the people were in various colors, yellow, white, blue. At the same time, I beheld the sun spinning at great speed and very near me. I at once thought: I am going to die.”

  “Fatima almost immediately became a global pilgrimage site.

  “The message delivered there remained a mystery as the children refused to reveal the content of the vision. Two of them died in childhood during an epidemic; but in 1941, Lucia, the survivor by then a nun, released a description of the first two ‘secrets’ from the Virgin that made headlines all over the world. One was a vivid vision of Hell; the other was a prediction that World War I would end, but if people continued to offend God, a worse one would break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI.”

  Regarding the first secret’s vision of Hell, Lucia said, “Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent.”

  This vision lasted but an instant, Lucia said, “Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”

  “The second secret was a statement that World War I would end and supposedly predicted the coming of World War II, should God continue to be offended and if Russia did not convert. The second half requested that Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart.

  In 1941, a document was written by Lucia at the request of Jose da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, to assist with the publication of a new edition of a book on Jacinta. “When asked by the Bishop of Leiria in 1943 to reveal the secret, Lucia struggled for a short period, being ‘not yet convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act. However, in October of 1943 the bishop of Leiria ordered her to put it in writing. Lucia then wrote the secret down and sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when ‘it will appear clearer.’…

  “In June of 1944, the sealed envelope containing the third secret was delivered to Silva, where it stayed until 1957, when it was finally delivered to Rome.”

  “To ensure better protection for the ‘secret.’ the envelope was placed in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office on April 4, 1957.

&nb
sp; “According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, with the agreement of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelope containing the third part of the ‘secret of Fatima’ to Pope John XXIII on August 17, 1959. After some hesitation, His Holiness said, ‘We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I decide.’

  “In fact, Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to the Holy Office and not to reveal the third part of the ‘secret.’

  “Pope Paul VI read the contents…on March 27, 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.

  “John Paul II…asked for the envelope containing the third part of the secret following the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981. On July 18, 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat of State: one was a white envelope, containing Sister Lucia’s original text in Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the ‘secret.’ [On] August 11, Archbishop Martínez returned the two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.”

  “The text of the third secret was officially released by Pope John Paul II in 2000.” He claimed that the third secret was a prediction of the attempt on his life, and that he had been saved because the Virgin Mary deflected the bullet.

  Doubters claimed that it was not the real secret revealed by Lucia, “despite assertions from the Vatican to the contrary.”

  Along with the text of the secret, the future Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, published a theological commentary, in which he stated that a careful reading of the text of the so-called third secret of Fatima would “probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the speculation it has stirred.”

  No great mystery was revealed, he said, “nor is the future unveiled.”

  After explaining the differences between public and private revelations, he cautioned people not to see in the message a determined future event. He said, “The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the ‘secret,’ such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of 13 May 1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence and could not therefore have acted freely, or other similar ideas in circulation. Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them.”

  According to the New York Times, speculation over the content of the secret ranged “from worldwide nuclear annihilation to deep rifts in the Roman Catholic Church that lead to rival papacies.

  “There were some groups who disputed that the full text of the third secret had been officially published. The most prominent among these was The Fatima Center, which is run by Father Nicholas Gruner, who was suspended as a priest by the Avellino, Italy, diocese. Father Gruner rejected the validity of the suspension and continued to perform the functions of a priest. On November 22, 2006, the Italian author Antonio Socci published Il Quarto Segreto di Fatima (The Fourth Secret of Fatima) in Italian, which also argued that the Vatican had not formally released the entire Third Secret. These critics…pointed to the fact that Lucia’s vision, as recorded in the officially released text, did not contain any words from Mary, as one might expect, and it said nothing about a crisis of faith in the Church.

  “The Vatican maintained its position that the full text of the Third Secret was published in June 2000.” Although the Holy See claimed that publication of the third [and last] of secrets given by the Virgin Mary to three children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 predicted the 1981 attempted assassination of John Paul II, it was believed by many Catholics and others that the final forecast also gave the date for the Second Coming of Christ, and the end of the world as we know it.

  While the New Testament’s book of Revelations by St. John of Patmos is the Christian foretelling of the climax of history and the Second Coming of Christ, the Vatican Archives contain other doomsday prophecies. Johannes Friede (1204–57) provided a glimpse of global warming. He wrote, “When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy great regions, and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but mankind will penetrate into the bowels of the earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder, and the age of iron will plunge into nothingness. When nights will be filled with more intensive cold and days with heat, a new life will begin in nature. The heat means radiation from the earth, the cold the waning light of the sun. Only a few years more and you will become aware that sunlight has grown perceptibly weaker. When even your artificial light will cease to give service, the great event in the heavens will be near.”

  In the sixteenth century, Maria Laach Monastery looked ahead four hundred years and said, “The twentieth century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments; it will be the century of three great wars with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West. After a terrible defeat of Germany will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.”

  Perhaps the most famous and controversial predictions were made in the eleventh century by an Irishman. Canonized by Pope Clement III in 1190, the first papal canonization of an Irish saint, he was born in Armagh in 1094, ostensibly of noble birth. He was baptized Máel Máedóc (a name that has been Latinized as Malachy) and ordained at age twenty-five. In 1123, his uncle, “the lay abbot of Bangor, resigned in favor of Malachy. In 1125, he was chosen Bishop of Connor and Down…and set to work teaching and proclaiming the Gospel,” established a seminary, and restored churches. In 1129, he became Archbishop of Armagh.

  “In 1137, Malachy set out for Rome. On the way, he stayed at Clairvaux and became friends with St. Bernard. When he arrived in Rome, Malachy tried to resign and become a monk at Clairvaux, but Pope Innocent II refused and instead appointed him Papal Legate to Ireland.”

  “While on his way to the Vatican in 1139 to assume the post of papal legate for Ireland, he fell into trance and saw a line of papal reigns stretching from the successor to Innocent II and extending through centuries to the last of the line…. Malachy assigned short descriptions in Latin to each pope, referring to a family name, birthplace, coat-of-arms, or office held before election to the papacy…. He wrote poetic descriptions of each of the pontiffs, and presented the manuscript to Pope Innocent II—and it was forgotten until 1590. It has been in print—and hotly debated for both authenticity and correctness, ever since.”

  Malachy’s Prohecies: The Last Ten Popes

  “The Burning Fire”: Pius X (1903–14) It has been said that this Pope showed a burning passion for the spiritual renewal of the Church.

  “Religion Laid Waste”: Benedict XV (1914–22) “During this Pope’s reign, [the world] saw Communism move into Russia where religious life was laid waste, and World War I, with the death of millions of Christians.”

  “Unshaken Faith”: Pius XI (1922–39) “This Pope faced tremendous pressure from fascist and sinister powers in Germany and Italy, but he was an outspoken critic of Communism and Fascism which enraged Hitler.”

  “An Angelic Shepherd”: Pius XII (1939–58) This Pope had an affinity for the spiritual world and was a beloved and admired pontiff throughout World War II.

  “Pastor and Mari
ner”: John XXIII (1958–63) John was a pastor to the world, much beloved, and the Patriarch of Venice. The connection to ‘mariner’ is thus remarkable.”

  “Flower of Flowers”: Paul VI (1963–78) “Paul’s coat-of-arms depicted three fleurs-de-lis (iris blossoms), corresponding to Malachy’s prophecy.”

  “Of the Half Moon”: John Paul I (1978–78) “Elected Pope on August 26, 1978, when there was a half moon…who was born in the diocese of Belluno (beautiful moon) and was baptized Albino Luciani (white light). He became pope on August 26, 1978, when the moon appeared exactly half full in its waning phase. He died in the following month, soon after an eclipse of the moon.”

  “The Labor of the Sun”: John Paul II (1978–2005) “Pope John Paul II was the most traveled Pope in history. He circled the globe numerous times, preaching to huge audiences everywhere he went…. He was born on May 18, 1920. On that date in the morning there was a near total eclipse of the sun over Europe. Prophecy—the 110th Pope is ‘De Labore Solis’ (Of the Solar Eclipse, or, From the Toil of the Sun). Like the sun he came out of the East (Poland).”

  “The Glory of the Olive”: Benedict XVI (2005–) “The Order of St. Benedict has said this Pope will come from their order. Jesus gave his apocalyptic prophecy about the end of time from the Mount of Olives. This Pope will reign during the beginning of the tribulation of which Jesus spoke. The 111th prophesy is ‘Gloria Olivae’ (The Glory of the Olive)…. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, would triumphantly lead the Roman Catholic Church in its fight against evil.

  “Peter the Roman.” “This final Pope will be Satan, taking the form of a man named Peter who will gain a worldwide allegiance and adoration. He will be the final antichrist of which prophecy students have long foretold.”