Lo que vieron los niños: infierno, purgatorio y cielo en Fátima

Marian devotion

suggestion - a sober image (the Capelinha, or the oak, or a detail of the mosaic of the basilica). DO NOT use sensationalist iconography of hell; it devolves the page and lacks a
Andreas Trepte — CC BY-SA 2.5, vía Wikimedia Commons

Previous warning, and you're serious.

This page deals with what three children of ten, nine and seven years old said they had seen the 13 July 1917, and what the account of Fatima says about the eternal fate of two girls known to him.

Es private disclosure. The Catholic Church has recognized Fatima as credible, and that recognition means exactly three things, according to the formulation that Cardinal Ratzinger endorsed in the document of the Holy See of 2000:

"the ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation contains three elements: the message in question contains nothing that goes against faith and good customs; it is lawful to make it public, and the faithful are authorized to give it their commitment in a prudent manner.. […] It is an aid that is offered, but it is not mandatory to use it.»
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "The Message of Fatima," June 26, 2000, theological commentary of the card. Joseph Ratzinger, quoting E. Dhanis.

In other words: a Catholic may not believe in the vision of Fatima's hell and remain fully Catholic. What you do believe, because it is Church doctrine and not private revelation, is another thing: that hell exists, that purgatory exists and that heaven exists. We'll see that in the end, and with the Catechism in hand, so that it doesn't get confused. what the Church teaches con what a vision describes.

PART 1: How a vision is read (and this has to be read before the text)

If you skip this section, everything else is read wrong. Cardinal Ratzinger's theological comment, published by the Holy See along with the secret, devotes an entire section to the anthropological structure of private revelations. You deserve to quote long, because it is the vault key of this page:

«La antropología teológica distingue en este ámbito tres formas de percepción o «visión»: la visión con los sentidos, es decir la percepción externa corpórea, la percepción interior y la visión espiritual (visio sensibilis – imaginative – intellectualis). It is clear that in the visions of Lourdes, Fatima, etc. it is not about the normal external perception of the senses: the images and the figures, which are seen, are not found externally in space.like a tree or a house. This is absolutely obvious, for example, as regards the vision of hell (descrita en la primera parte del «secreto» de Fátima) […] sobre todo porque no todos los presentes las veían, sino de hecho sólo los «videntes». […] Aquí se trata de la categoría intermedia, the inner perceptionwho certainly has in the seer the force of a presence that, for him, amounts to the sensitive external manifestation. "

And then the decisive thing:

«Seeing inside doesn't mean it's fantasy., como si fuera sólo una expresión de la imaginación subjetiva. Más bien significa que el alma viene acariciada por algo real, aunque suprasensible, y es capaz de ver lo no sensible […] una especie de visión con los «sentidos internos». Se trata de verdaderos «objetos», que tocan el alma, aunque no pertenezcan a nuestro habitual mundo sensible.»

And the limit, which is what you almost never quote:

"The subject, the seer, is involved in an even more intimate way. He sees with his specific possibilities, with the forms of representation and knowledge that are accessible to him. […] Tales visiones nunca son simples «fotografías» del más allábut also carry the possibilities and limits of the perceptor subject. "

"The images they describe are not at all simple expressions of their fantasy, but the result of a real perception of superior and inner origin, but are not imaginations as if for a moment the veil of the beyond was removed and the sky appeared in its pure essenceas we hope to see one day in the definitive union with God. Rather, images are, to put it this way, a synthesis of the momentum from the High and the possibilities available to the subject who perceives, that is, children. For this reason, the imaginative language of these visions is a symbolic language. "

Translated to practical, and without lowering anything:

The children really saw something, and that something had origin in God: this is what the Holy See holds.
What you saw is not a picture of hell. It is the translation that three Portuguese children of 1917 were able to make, with their language and their images, a reality that overtook them.
And the end of the vision was not to inform about the geography of the beyond, but to move: "para salvarlas. "The text itself says so.

Ratzinger also says this in a way that cuts any morb from root:

"May I insert here a personal memory: in a conversation with me Sr Lucia told me that it was increasingly clear to him that the goal of all apparitions was to grow ever more in faith, hope and charity. All the rest was just to lead to this.»

SEGUNDA PART: el infierno

The whole text

Tercera Memoria, p. (this is the wording published by the Holy See in 2000). Portuguese Original:

«Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire, which seemed to be under the earth; immersed in this fire, demons and souls, as if they were transparent and black or tanned coals, in human form, floating in the fire, carried by the flames of themselves that went out together with clouds of smoke, falling to all sides, similar to falling from faults in the great fires, without weight or balance, between cries and groans of pain and despair that horrified and shudled with fear. Demons distinguished themselves by horrible and disgusting forms of amazing and unknown animals, but transparent and black.
This view was a moment, and thanks to our good Mother of Heaven, who had previously warned us with the promise to take us to Heaven (in the first apparition)! If it weren't, I think we would have died of fright and dread.»

Official translation of the Holy See:

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire that seemed to be under the earth; submerged in that fire, demons and souls, as if they were transparent and black or bronzed, with human form, fluctuating in the fire, led by the flames that were coming out of them together with clouds of smoke, falling to all sides, like falling from the sparks in the great fires, without weight or balance, between cries and groans of pain and despair that horrified and made them stink. The demons were distinguished by horrible and disgusting forms of horrific and unknown animals, but transparent and black.
This view was a moment, and thanks to our good Mother of Heaven, who had previously warned us with the promise to take us to Heaven (in the first apparition). If it wasn't, I think we'd have died of fear and fear.»

In the narrative that the Sanctuary itself publishes, taken from the Fourth Memory, there is also a paragraph that illuminates the scene from the outside: "(it must have been when I met this view when I gave that ¡ay! They say they heard me. "That is: The crowd in the Cova heard the girl's cry without knowing why she was screaming.

What the Virgin says immediately after - and that's the key to everything.

«— You have seen hell, where the souls of the poor sinners go; to save them, God wants to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart.»
("You saw hell where the souls of the poor sinners go; para salvarlasGod wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. ")

El comentario de Ratzinger recoge precisely took turns:

«Los niños han experimentado durante un instante terrible una visión del infierno. Han visto la caída de las «almas de los pobres pecadores». Y se les dice por qué se les ha hecho pasar por ese momento: para «salvarlas», para mostrar un camino de salvación. Viene así a la mente la frase de la Primera Carta de Pedro: «meta de vuestra fe es la salvación de las almas» (1, 9).»

This is the right reading and that of the Holy See: the vision of the hell of Fatima It's not a threat, it's a call.. The text does not stop in horror: it uses it and goes by, to ask for something that can be done.

And a note that's from the editor, not the seer.

Note 5 of the official edition reads: "Lucia describes very in detail her vision of Hell» (Memories, p. 121). Es editor comentario. We point it out because in Fatima the mixture between text and note is constant, and this module always separates them.

What happened to Jacinta: the real effect of vision on a seven-year-old girl

This is almost never counted, and should be counted whenever the vision is counted, because it is its consequence:

"He often sat on the floor or on some stone and, thinking, began to say:
— Hell! Hell! What a pity I have of the souls who go to hell! And people there live burning like wood in the fire!
And half a trembling man kneeled, with his hands together, to pray the prayer which Our Lady had taught us. "
— III Memory, p. 122. Own translation.

«— Why does Our Lady not show hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would no longer sin, so that they would not go there. You must tell that Lady to show hell to all those people [she referred to those who were in the Cova da Iria]. You'll see how they become. "
— idem, pp. 122-123.

And Sister Lucia herself writes a phrase that is a whole pedagogical position, and that in 1941 was not obvious:

«Some people, even pious, do not want to speak to the children of hell, not to scare them; but God did not hesitate to show it to three, and one only 6 years old.and that He knew whether to be horrified to the point of, I would almost dare say, to be afraid. "
— III Memory, p. 122. Own translation.

Here this module takes no pedagogical advantagebut he does warn of something: Sister Lucia herself recognizes the devastating effect that that had on Jacinta. Whoever uses Fatima to scare children is doing exactly the opposite of what the text asks, whose center is "para salvarlas"and whose summary, according to the same seer, is" to grow in faith, in hope and in charity. "

And a phrase that must be well understood

«Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, who go many souls to hell for there is no one to sacrifice and ask for them.»
— Valinhos, 19 August 1917; IV Memoria, pp. 178-179.

This phrase is constantly quoted and misinterpreted in two opposite directions:

No dice that most men condemn themselves. There are no statistics in Fatima, or in the Church. The Church has never declared that any particular person is in hell.
Yes, it does. something that is common Catholic doctrine: that the prayer and sacrifice of some take advantage of others. It is the communion of the saints. What Fatima does here is not to invent doctrine: it is to ask that it be practiced.

TERCERA PART: el purgatorio

In Fatima purgatory appears once, and in a brief and disconcerting scene. It's the 13 May 1917And she's a ten-year-old girl asking for two dead friends:

"I remembered then to ask for two girls who had recently died. They were friends of mine and they were at my house learning weavers with my older sister.
- And Maria das Neves is already in Heaven?
— Yes, it is.
I think she was about 16.
- What about Amelia?
— He'll be in purgatory until the end of the world.
I think he was 18 to 20.»
— IV Memoria, Memories of Sister Lucia I, pp. 172-173. Own translation. The words in italics are comments of Lucia herself, not of the apparition.

What you can say here and what you can't

What you can't say, and you always say:

Nothing about why. The text does not give a reason, a sin, or a circumstance. All that circulates on Amelia's sins is devotional invention without any documentary basis. This module does not repeat or instill it.
Nothing about his full identity. We know his first name, his approximate age according to Lucia's calculation, and he learned to knit at the house of the Saints. Nothing more.

What you do have to say, and it's a real difficulty:

Purgatory, by doctrinal definition, is a state Transitional: it is the purification of whom is saved. If Amelia is in purgatory, Amelia She's saved.. And "until the end of the world" does not mean "forever": it means until the end of this world, that is, until the final resurrection, when purgatory, by definition, no longer takes place.

And there is a luminous consequence that almost no one draws: if Amelia's purification lasts until the end of the world, then There's time to pray for her.and that prayer may serve. The phrase is not a condemnation: it is, if read all, one of the strongest invitations that exist to pray for the deceased.

⚠️ And a final honesty on this point. The text is from a 1941about a conversation of 1917, and the editor of the official edition himself warns of the "insecurity of Lucia" in dates and circumstances and that what she presents as a message from Heaven must be distinguished from what she presents as her reflection. Here the two things are typographically separated. Beyond that, the Church has declared nothing about Amelia's eternal destinyAnd neither is this module.

The prayer of the rosary that Fatima left, and which is a prayer for the deceased

«O my Jesus, forgive us, deliver us from the fire of hell, bring all souls to Heaven, mainly those most in need.»
- IV Memory, p. 177.

Sister Lucía adds his own comment on the latter clause:

"already V. Excia. Rvma. will understand Why did I have the impression that the last words of this prayer referred to souls who are in greatest danger or most imminent of condemnation?.»
— III Memory, p. 122. Own translation.

And watch the sign: "I got the impression." It's interpretation of the seer, and she herself presents her as such. Not even Sister Lucia claims to know exactly what "the most needy" means.

PART 4: The sky

Heaven is in Fatima much more than hell, even if it is cited a thousand times less.

The promise, in the first apparition

"- And I go to Heaven too?
— Yes, you are.
- And Jacinta?
— Also.
— ¿Y Francisco?
— Also, but you have to pray a lot of rosaries.»
- IV Memory, p. 172.

The answer about Francis deserves to be noted: the promise is not conditioned. "He has to pray many rosaries." In Fatima the sky is promised, but it never gives away without way.

The light: what the three agreed to experience

What in Fatima makes "heaven" is not a description of place, but an experience of God as light. It happens three times, when the Lady opens her hands:

"he opened his hands for the first time, communicating such an intense light to us, as a reflection that came out of them, that he entered us into the chest and into the most intimate of the soul, made us see ourselves in God, who was that light, more clearly that we see ourselves in the best of mirrors.»
- IV Memory, p. 173.

And the reaction, which is worship of Godnot to the Virgin:

«— O Most Holy Trinity, I love you. My God, my God, I love you in the Most Holy Sacrament.»

In June, the light is distributed:

"In it we were seen as immersed in God. Jacinta and Francis seemed to be in the part of that light that was rising to Heaven, and I in which it was spreading on earth.»
— IV Memory, pp. 175-176.

For the two who would soon die, the light went up; for which it would remain eighty-eight years, the light would spread on the earth. No need to force the symbol: it is in the text itself.

And the testimony of Francis, which is the greatest of the three

«We were burning in that light that is God, and we were not burning. God! You can't say! You can never say this! But what a shame He is so sad! If I could comfort him!...»
- IV Memory, p. 144. Own translation.

John Paul II cited him in the homily of beatification on May 13, 2000.

Two things in that line from a nine-year-old. The first: "can't say"- is the classic experience of the mystics, the impossibility of language before God, spoken by an illiterate shepherd. The second: what you have left not joy, but compassion"It is a shame that He is so sad." In Fatima the sky does not produce evasion: it produces repair.

And what Jacinta was planning to do there

"- What are you going to do in Heaven?
— I will love Jesus very much, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to ask much for you, for sinners, for the Holy Father...»
- I Memory, p. 61. Own translation.

The sky, for a nine-year-old girl who was dying alone in a hospital in Lisbon, was keep wanting and keep asking. That is exactly the communion of the saints.

FIFTH PART: What the Church teaches (and this is no longer private revelation)

It is appropriate to end by putting your feet on the doctrinal floor, because it is one thing that three children saw and another that the Church teaches everyone. The second thing is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, primera parte, sección segunda, capítulo tercero, artículo 12 («Creo en la vida eterna») — texto oficial en https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_sp/p123a12_sp.html (HTTP 200).

The sky (No. 1023-1029):

"Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified, para siempre with Christ.» (n. 1023)
"This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity, this communion of life and love with her, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed..." (n. 1024)

Purgatory (No. 1030-1032):

«Those who die in the grace and friendship of God, but imperfectly purified, even though they are sure of their eternal salvation, suffer after their death a purification, in order to obtain the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of heaven.» (n. 1030)

«The Church calls purgatory to this final purification of the chosen, which is completely different from the punishment of the condemned. The Church has formulated the doctrine of faith concerning purgatory especially in the Councils of Florence and Trent. "(n. 1031)

«This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the deceased., de la que ya habla la Escritura: «Por eso mandó [Judas Macabeo] hacer este sacrificio expiatorio en favor de los muertos…»» (n. 1032)

Note well: "the chosen," "sure of their eternal salvation." Purgatory is one of the se salvanand the Church commands to pray for them. Now turn with that to the phrase on Amelia, and read again.

Hell (No. 1033-1037):

«The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Las almas de los que mueren en estado de pecado mortal descienden a los infiernos inmediatamente después de la muerte y allí sufren las penas del infierno, «el fuego eterno». The main penalty of hell is the eternal separation of Godin whom man can only have the life and happiness for which he has been created and to which he aspires. "(n. 1035)

"The statements of Scripture and the teachings of the Church concerning hell are a call to the responsibility with which man must use his freedom in relation to his eternal destiny. They constitute at the same time an urgent call for conversion…» (n. 1036)

«God pretends no one to go to hellfor that to happen is necessary a voluntary aversion to God (a mortal sin), and to persist in him until the end. En la liturgia eucarística y en las plegarias diarias de los fieles, la Iglesia implora la misericordia de Dios, que «quiere que nadie perezca, sino que todos lleguen a la conversión» (2 P 3, 9).» (n. 1037)

Slow read No. 1035: the main penalty of hell is not fire, it is the separation of God. The whole iconography of the world - and the vision of 1917 itself, with its sea of fire - is language to say that. And No. 1037 closes the door to fatalism: No one is predestinedIt is necessary to reject God freely and to persist.

(Cited literally on the official text of vatican.va on September 21, 2026; the cuts within a number are marked with suspensive points and no word is reconstructed.)

The doctrinal conclusion, said with all the letters:

1. Hell exists and is eternal; but Nadie es predestined to eland it is necessary to reject God freely.

2. The purgatory exists and is purification of those who are savedIn the punishment of convicts.

3. The sky exists and it is life with Christ and the TrinityIn the abstract award.

4. The Church has never declared that any particular person is condemned. None. And Fatima doesn't change that.

And one last distinction, which on this page is mandatory

Throughout all this material, who receives worship es God."O Most Holy Trinity, I love you"; "My God, I believe, I love, I hope and I love you"; "Most Holy Trinity... I love you deeply." A the Virgin He eats it, disgraced it, and is asked intercession - "I promise to assist you in the hour of death," and that intercession leads to Christ. Pope Francis himself did so in the canonization of the pastors: the Virgin "introduced them into the immense sea of the Light of God, to be adored"to Him.

In Fatima, the Immaculate Heart of Mary It's not a destination.It's a road. The June 1917 text reads: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.»

Sources of this page

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "The message of Fatima", 26 de junio de 2000, con el comentario teológico del card. Joseph Ratzinger: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_sp.html (HTTP 200).
Memories of Sister Lucia I — PDF oficial del Santuário, ficha F002: https://www.fatima.pt/files/upload/fontes/F002_Memorias1.pdf (HTTP 200). Páginas 61, 121-123, 144, 172-178.
Santuário de Fátima, «Narrativa das aparições»: https://www.fatima.pt/pt/pages/narrativa-das-aparicoes (HTTP 200).
Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 1023-1037: https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_sp/p123a12_sp.html (HTTP 200).

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