For ongoing updates to this discussion, please visit Kevin’s website at https://kevinsymonds.com/
Special thanks:
In addition to those named within the book as translators, En Route Books and Media would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Michela Ferri, who proofed the translations against the video interviews. Dr. Michela Ferri is the author of Sacro Contemporaneo, Dialoghi Sull’arte, coming soon in English translation from En Route Books & Media.
Personal Blog Posts:
Sr. Lucia and the Seventh Apparition: https://kevinsymonds.com/2017/05/24/lucia-seventh-apparition/
On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima
by Kevin J. Symonds
For several decades, there has been much discussion on the famous third part of the secret of Fátima. Originally communicated to the three seers of Fátima in July, 1917, it was not written down until January, 1944. It was then kept under lock and key first in Portugal, then in the Vatican until its eventual release in June, 2000. The long years of its remaining unpublished was accompanied by a desire by various Church officials not to discuss the matter. These two facts and others led to much speculation on the content of the third part of the secret as well as to accusations of a cover-up on the part of the Church hierarchy.
The seemingly endless speculations and accusations have been more prominent since the release of the text in the year 2000. To date, there has been no comprehensive refutation of specific arguments in response to the speculations and accusations.
That fact has now changed. Kevin J. Symonds of Menominee, Michigan has performed some groundbreaking research on the matter in his latest book On the Third Part of the Secret of Fátima.
Utilizing material in six foreign languages, including information from the archives of the Sanctuary of Fátima itself, Kevin weighs many of the arguments in support of conspiracy theories on the third part of the secret. He takes the arguments head-on, explores the sources and critiques the conspiracies. Symonds’ findings produce some truly astonishing results that are sure to cause many to re-think their understanding of the message of Our Lady of Fátima.
In this centennial year of Fátima, many of the faithful are renewing their interest in or discovering for the first time the message of Our Lady of Fátima. On the Third Part of the Secret of Fátima is not an introductory book, but will be an excellent source for people already familiar with the topic.
Paperback $26.95 | Kindle $9.99
Revisiting the Vision: Alternative Perspectives on the 3rd Part of the Secret of Fátima, Part 2 (June 13, 2021)
INTERVIEWS
Iota Unum Talk 5 Part 1- Joseph Shaw in Conversation with Kevin Symonds
Iota Unum Talk 5 Part 2- Joseph Shaw in Conversation with Kevin Symonds
Catholic Answers Interview (Aired March 19, 2018) – Fatima’s Secrets in Context | Catholic Answers
- Dr. Michela Ferri – interview for Frontier
- Matthew Hoffman – interview with The Catholic World Report
REVIEWS
“A Book Review… A Non-Polemical Study The Third Secret Of Fatima.” by Donal Anthony Foley
TESTIMONIALS
“This book by Kevin J. Symonds provides a well-researched and fascinating study of the many questions and controversies concerning the third part of the secret of Fátima. This study includes many new insights gathered from the 2013 biography of Sister Lúcia written by the Carmelite Sisters of Coimbra, Portugal, and further information up through 2023. Symonds treats the critics of the Holy See’s account of the Fátima secret—Fr. Grun- er, Fr. Kramer, Br. François de Marie des Anges, C. Ferrara, A. Socci, et al.— with respect and fairness, even though he does not hesitate to expose the flaws of their scholarship. Symonds’ book also contains some valuable texts in the appendix, such as [. . .] a transcript of the June 26, 2000, Vatican Press Conference on the secret of Fátima. For those wishing an in depth examination of the third part of the Fátima secret—and one not based on suspicion and conspiracy theories—this is the book to read.” —Robert L. Fastiggi, Ph.D. Bishop Kevin M. Britt Chair of Dogmatic Theology and Christology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, Michigan, and former President of the Mariological Society of America
In his latest work, On the Third Part of the Secret of Fátima, Kevin J. Symonds offers a valuable contribution to the literature about this aspect of the message given by Our Lady to Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta one hundred years ago. With so much interest in the Third Part of the Secret (or “The Third Secret,” as some writers employ), our author presents a useful summary and analysis as well as pertinent documents that are not often seen in English. This reviewer is grateful for those sources, the recommendation concerning the Biography of Sister Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart penned by the Carmelites of Coimbra entitled, A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary and Mr. Symonds’ plausible contention and exhortation: “We are entering into a new period of the history of Fáti- ma and we ought to be celebrating this fact, not engaging in seemingly endless controversies.” —Monsignor Charles M. Mangan, Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland
“Symonds has done a very thorough job in get- ting to the bottom—insofar as it is possible—of the various confusions and conspiracy theories on the subject of the Third Secret, making a compel- ling case that what the Vatican published in 2000 was the whole text of it as written by Sr Lúcia. No doubt the debate will continue, but the clarity and intellectual honesty of Symonds’ work, with copious reference to the relevant sources in their original languages, will be of enormous assistance for scholars in the future who wish to understand this tangled affair.” —Dr. Joseph Shaw, Research Fellow at St. Benet’s Hall, England
“I’m an amateur researcher, working on the subject of Fátima for years now, and Kevin’s book is outstanding. It is the best and up-to-date book on the subject of the secret of Fátima.” – Bernardo Motta, author of O Milagre do Sol
“Many strong devotional Catholics are confused because of conflicting interpretations of the prophecies coming from the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Since some of these accuse Popes of concealing certain prophecies, we have long felt a need to read a balanced account. On the Third Secret of Fatima by Kevin J. Symonds, is just what is needed. Why? Because in Symonds’ treatise you will find meticulous research, based on writings in many different languages, in a style understandable to the non-theologian. I highly recommend On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima.” – Ronda Chervin, Ph.D., Emerita Professor of Philosophy, Holy Apostles College and Seminary.
In his ground-breaking work, On the Third Part of the Secret of Fatima, Kevin Symonds shines the light of his careful research on the most fundamental elements of conspiracy theories that claim the existence of a yet-undisclosed text that is sometimes called the “fourth secret of Fatima,” clarifying “facts” that are not so factual as they seem and offering reasonable explanations in place of unreasonable conjectures. Symonds’ dispassionate and exacting analysis offers a very useful counterbalance to the often hysterical claims of a cover-up regarding the Fatima secret which have distracted many faithful Catholics in their struggle to resist the very real onslaught of neo-modernism in the post-Vatican II Church. This contribution to the literature on Fatima will be welcome to all who are seeking the truth about Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos’ “third secret.” —Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, Catholic journalist and author and translator of The Book of Gomorrah and St. Peter Damian’s Struggle Against Ecclesiastical Corruption
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Symonds was born and raised in Massachusetts. He attended Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio where he obtained his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Theology with a background in the classical languages. He has worked with the Church’s theology of private revelation since 2002 and has published Internet and magazine articles. He is also the author of Refractions of Light: 201 Answers on Apparitions, Visions and the Catholic Church (En Route Books and Media, 2015) and Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael (Preserving Christian Publications, 2015). He lives in Michigan. For more information or to arrange an interview with Kevin, contact him at: spirituskevin@gmail.com or visit him on his web site: www.kevinsymonds.com.
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