It was I who started this thread thinking that this promise of a consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary would solve all the problems of mankind.
Since then I have pondered on this never ending 'solution' of Fatima that is so wrapped up in controversy that maybe it is time to reconsider all the facts involved. My first, and not my last, problem with Fatima came many years ago when I was told the story that Lucia asked the vision about one of her dead friends. The answer, we are told by Lucia; was that she was in Purgatory and would stay there until the end of time.
This of course contradicts Catholic teaching on Purgatory introduced in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV that we can lesson the time souls spend in Purgatory by prayer and that we can even gain a plenary indulgence that takes a soul out of Purgatory.
I recall as a young altar boy, a group of us used to cycle around churches getting souls out of Purgatory and into heaven. How many millions of such souls have benefited in the following way.
Visit to a Church or Oratory on All Souls Day. PLENARY INDULGENCE. A plenary indulgence, applicable ONLY to the souls in purgatory, may be obtained by those who, on All Souls Day, piously visit a church, public oratory, or for those entitled to use it, a semi-public oratory. It may be acquired either on the day designated as All Souls Day or, with the consent of the bishop, on the preceding or following Sunday or the feast of All Saints. On visiting the church or oratory it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.
Visit to a Cemetery. Only applicable to the souls in Purgatory when one devoutly visits and prays for the departed. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is bestowed for this work each day between November 1 and November 8
Now can anyone please tell me how the vision, said to be Our Lady from Heaven, could actually tell Lucia that her friend would be in Limbo until the end of time, when the Church of Christ had long shown how to get souls out of Purgatory?