“Given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune.”

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]

Image: Louis XIV (Wiki Commons)

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, 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. _{[PAs Amazon Associates, we earn through purchases made with this link]} In some places, we have edited the grammar for clarity.

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Louis XIV and the Sacred Heart

Frère Michel explains that Our Lord’s mention of the King of France refers to the requests of the Sacred Heart given to St Margaret Mary in 1689, to be passed to King Louis XIV of France. Frère Michel, like many, believes that the “misfortune” that our Lord mentions refers not to the end of Louis XIV’s reign, but rather to the events 100 years later – the regicide of Louis XVI, whose anniversary these articles are marking.

The beheading of Louis XVI was also a symbolic beheading of France – which has, excepting brief periods, lacked its royal head ever since.

What were the requests made by the Sacred Heart? Here are some, along with our Lord’s references to Louis XIV’s mother’s struggles to deliver a living child:

“Make it known to the eldest son of my Sacred Heart – [Louis XIV] – that just as his temporal birth was obtained by devotion to the merits of My holy Infancy, in the same way he will obtain his birth into grace and eternal glory by the consecration which he himself will make to my Adorable Heart. [This Sacred Heart] wishes to triumph over his own, and through his efforts, triumph over the great ones of the earth as well.

“It wishes to reign in his palace, to be painted on his standards and engraved on his arms to make them victorious over his enemies, bringing these haughty and proud people to their knees before him, to make him triumphant over all the enemies of Holy Church.”[5]

Later the same year, St Margaret Mary wrote another letter with Heaven’s requests and promises for the King of France. In this letter, she wrote that God the Father wished to establish “the empire of the Sacred Heart” in Louis XIV’s court. She conveyed the request, that Louis XIV should:

“[h]ave an edifice built containing the picture of this divine Heart, to receive there the consecration and homage of the King [Louis] and the entire court.”

Not only this, but the Sacred Heart made the following astonishing promises to the French King:

“[T]his divine Heart wishes to become the protector and defender of [Louis XIV’s] sacred person against all his enemies visible and invisible; to defend him against them, and assure his salvation by this means. Therefore, he has chosen [Louis] as His faithful friend [to establish with Rome the cult of the Sacred Heart].

“[The Sacred Heart] wishes to dispense the treasures of his graces of sanctification and salvation, pouring out His blessings in abundance over all his enterprises. He will cause [Louis’s enterprises] to succeed for [Christ’s] glory, and give new success to his arms to make them triumph over his enemies.

“Happy will [Louis XIV] be then if he learns to love this devotion, which will gain for him an eternal kingdom of honour and glory in this Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ. [Christ] will undertake to elevate him, and make him great in Heaven before God His Father, [insofar] as this great monarch will undertake to take away before men the insults and humiliations which this divine Heart suffered before them; this will be done by giving to and procuring for [Sacred Heart] the honours, love and glory which it awaits from the King.”[6]

Frère Michel tells us that the Sacred Heart added that the Jesuits, and particularly a priest name Fr de la Chaise, had been chosen to convey this message to the King of France. However, he tells us that this priest did not pass on the message, or encourage him to follow it.

“Follow him into misfortune”

Turmoil followed, with the dissolution of the Jesuits in 1773 and the French Revolution. As for the King, he did eventually find out about the requests, but his reign did not end in success. Frère Michel tells us:

“In spite of all his ingenuity, and the incessant labours of his virtuous old age, in spite of his heroic patience in the face of the worst reversals, he did not succeed in decisively crushing ‘the haughty and proud heads’ of his enemies. […]

“The great king died piously in [1715], but isolated and already powerless to prevent the coming catastrophes. His kingdom, deprived of the increase of extraordinary graces and miraculous help of the Sacred Heart, was gravely menaced from without, and undermined from within by the frivolousness, deadly errors, cowardice and betrayals which soon brought about its ruin.”[7]

He continues, stating that the Revolution essentially began exactly 100 years after St Margaret Mary had written down the request, when the Third Estate proclaimed itself a National Assembly on June 17, 1789. In prison and deprived of his crown, Louis XVI did indeed fulfil the request – but this did not save him.

As we know, a few years later on January 21, 1793, “France, ungrateful and rebellious to its God, dared to decapitate its Most Christian King.”[8]

The ministers will follow the King of France

What are we to make of all this? Let us summarise: Louis XIV failed to execute the request of heaven, and 100 years later, his successor Louis XVI lost his head.

We have already noted that this is the standard interpretation of the reference to the King of France. Given the events, the symbolism of 100 years between Louis XIV and Louis XVI, and other things, it is convincing.

So much for what they refer to in the past. What do they refer to for the future, in the context of Fatima?

Let us recall again the standard application, bolstered by the so-called Third Secret: “the Pope’s failure to comply with Heaven’s requests will result in the Pope’s death” (or risibly – his being shot and then recovering).

But is this clearly so? Let’s read closely.

“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.”

The threat is made to the “ministers” of Christ. So can we say that “ministers” clearly refers to the Popes? Is it referring to several popes in succession?

Or is it not more logically referring to the Pope and all of those ministers who were needed to make the consecration with him, and all those other ministers who were failing to comply with the various requests? We know that there were obstructions to the message and requests of Fatima coming from various ranks of the hierarchy.

On this reading, the words would mean the following:

“Make it known to my ministers [the Catholic hierarchy] that, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune [by losing their head]. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.”

What would it mean for the ministers of Christ to lose their head? Who is their visible head on earth? The Roman Pontiff.

In other words, the text at least could be interpreted as saying that the ministers of Christ will enter into misfortune by being deprived of the Roman Pontiff in an extended interregnum. We know that St Peter will have perpetual successors, so even a long interregnum can only be temporary – but it would indeed be a great misfortune and occasion of suffering for the Church.

Let us look again at the other text:

“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.”

Again, who is “they”? Is it clearly referring to multiple popes? There is only ever one Pope reigning, so the sentence “they will repent and do it” cannot refer to multiple popes.

Does this not more logically refer to the body of men requested to do the consecration, namely “Holy Father […] in union with all the bishops of the world”?

What of the last line – “the Holy Father will have much to suffer”? Well, which Holy Father? It does not say. It isn’t clear that it refers to the Pope who will eventually make the consecration. In 1931, Pius XI was the pope – it could refer to him. Or, it could refer to Pius XII: both men suffered greatly. It certainly doesn’t undermine the idea of the body of the hierarchy being deprived of its head.

It could also just as easily refer to a successor acceding to the office after a period of interregnum. And anyway, none of the claimants subsequent to Pius XII have repented and made the consecration with all of the bishops of the world – so these words can hardly be used to disprove this interpretation.

Conclusion

The ministers of Christ will enter into misfortune by being deprived, at least for a time, of the Roman Pontiff. Is this the true meaning? Who can say? Are these translations even accurate? More work may need to be done, but in any case, we do not profess to have definitive answers – but perhaps this will give rise to further questions.

But it does not appear certain to us that the image of the King of France and the accompanying prophecy are stating that “the Pope’s failure to comply with Heaven’s requests will result in the Pope’s death”.

The reading we are suggesting – that the failure of the hierarchy to comply with the requests will result in the loss of their visible head, the pope, in an extended interregnum – is at least as plausible, especially given everything else going on for the last sixty years.

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[1] Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité, The Whole Truth About Fatima Vol. II. Also available online here.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] From Br Michel: “Three years later, Sister Lucy explicitly mentioned the memorable letter written at Rianjo. Writing to Father Gonçalves on January 21, 1935, she said: ‘… Regarding the matter of Russia, I think that it would please Our Lord very much if you worked to make the Holy Father comply with His wishes. About three years ago (therefore around 1931) Our Lord was very displeased because His request had not been attended to and I made this fact known to the bishop in a letter.’ In 1936, when she wrote down the detailed account of the apparition of Tuy for Father Gonçalves, she made sure that in the same text she recalled the decisive revelation of August, 1931.” Source.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.