Fatima is so over

 

A long but interesting skeptical discussion about Fatima, the Miracle of the Sun in particular. I was on the fence about Fatima for a while (I mean, it could have been paranormal *somehow*...or a UFO perhaps?) but this tends to tip the scales in a skeptical direction. It certainly raises awkward questions concerning the "official" Catholic position.

Many of the prophecies supposedly uttered by the Virgin Mary in 1917 were unknown at the time. Lucia never reported them to the priests interviewing her. She did so only later, in her various memoires. For instance, the prediction that her cousins would soon die. 

"Mary´s" words about World War I don´t add up either. In 1917, Lucia said that the war would end in October that year and the Portuguese soldiers return home. The war didn´t end until over a year later, of course. A later version of the prophecy said that a new world war would break out under the pontificate of Pius XI (1922-1939), implying that "Mary" knew the name of the next pope already in 1917! But of course, this version was written down by Lucia *during the actual pontificate of Pius XI* and turned out to be wrong anyway, since World War II didn´t start until the pontificate of Pius XII...

The Miracle of the Sun (October 13, 1917) also turns out to be problematic. For instance, several people returned to the site in the following days and saw exactly the same phenomena as had occured on October 13. Yet, that had been the date indicated by Mary as *the* day for the miracle. While this does suggest that something "objective" was taking place, it might as well be something entirely natural. Perhaps the sun looked strange because of a sand storm which lasted for several days?

The skeptics in the video (Kevin and Derek) are more inclined towards a psychological explanation. People simply see whatever they want to see. Kevin shows a weird recording of a recent "sun miracle" at Medjugorje in Croatia which literally shows *nothing strange at all* happening, yet some pilgrims nevertheless "see" the sun spinning, change colors, et cetera. Kevin also points out the strange fact that no photos of the actual miracle in the sky over Fatima seem to exist, yet photographers were present at the site and took pictures of the crowds?!

There are other problems with the Fatima story too, not mentioned in this video, for instance that Mary wore a dress deemed "inappropriate" by the Catholic clergy (it was too short at the legs!). Official images of Our Lady of Fatima therefore don´t conform with the actual apparition as originally reported by the children. 

With that little observation, I end this blog post.