VATICAN CITY, JUNE 28 (ZENIT.org)

    Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said today that Sister Lucia has written a book entitled "Calls of the Fatima Message." On June 26, the Archbishop and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger announced to the press the third "secret" the Virgin confided to the little Portuguese shepherds.

    "There is nothing about visions and secrets" in the book, the Archbishop said. "It is a kind of response to the faithful who have written her over all these decades. She has written some 300 pages. It will be published in Portugal, as soon as the commentary is ready, which has been entrusted to a Carmelite theologian."

-- Excellency, we knew there were letters and "memoirs," but now a book is being published: Sister Lucia has written a lot in her lifetime...

-- Archbishop Bertone: Only beginning at an appointed time. Initially, she didn't even know how to write. She learned later and then asked the Superior for pen and paper, but the Superior replied: "The broom is your pen!" The Sisters of her Congregation laughed at her; ecclesiastical realms were distrustful, because of the legend surrounding her.

-- Later, she was allowed to write. How was she able to keep the "secret" for 56 years, given her outgoing character and the world's curiosity?

-- Archbishop Bertone: It was possible thanks to her obedience: in 1955 she was prohibited from granting interviews and disseminating her writings. Moreover, another decisive element must be kept in mind: the great respect with which this matter has been treated. For many years, the Bishop of Leiria kept the envelope of the secret stored in a safe. Later, in 1957, he sent it to the Holy Office Archives. Also, during this period, it was only read by the Popes who requested it, and by persons whom the Popes requested to read it.

-- You said that John Paul II read the secret for the first time after the attempt...

-- Archbishop Bertone: It is a matter of record. And he didn't read it immediately after the attempt, but two weeks later: on July 18, 1981, the Substitute at the Secretariat of State, at the time Archbishop Eduardo Martinez Somalo (today a Cardinal), took two envelopes to the hospital, one with the original "secret" and the other with the translation into Italian.

-- But, even though he had not read the text, he would have known its content...

-- Archbishop Bertone: I think it quite unlikely that he knew it in this way. Both because there were very few, perhaps none, who were up-to-date, with exact knowledge of the content, and because it was very easy for the Pope to read the text: all he had to do was request it.

-- The attempt against the Pope happened two and a half years after his election. How is it possible that no one would have spoken to him of the "secret," when it was given to John XXIII and Paul VI at the beginning of their pontificates?

-- Archbishop Bertone: This is not quite correct. Paul VI saw it in March of 1965, when he had been Pope for two years!

-- John Paul II has been audacious in publishing a prophecy that concerned him, while the person who wrote it is still living.

-- Archbishop Bertone: In fact, there were people who said it would be better to wait. Also, on the issue of the beatification of the two little shepherds, there were those who felt it would be better to postpone it until after Sister Lucia's death. However, the two processes had concluded and the century was ending, and so the Pope felt the time had arrived.

-- How is it possible to be sure that the prophecy referred to the 1981 attempt against the Pontiff? Couldn't it refer to a future Pope who might, in fact, die?

-- Archbishop Bertone: First of all there is the coincidence of the date of the attempt and the anniversary of the first Fatima apparition. In addition, there is the event, unique in this century, of a Pope who was at the point of being assassinated. Finally, there is no reason to expect future events, because public revelation is for all centuries, but private revelations have a date. ZE00062811

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