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The recent debate about Fatima "opens a window on Catholic policy and shows the Vatican's very delicate dance with extreme elements in the Catholic Church," says Paul Carden, executive director of the Centers for Apologetics Research in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Carden believes most evangelicals do not realize the significance of Marian piety. "It is virtually inevitable that a focus on Mary distorts the gospel," he says. Carden spent six years in Brazil and said he has seen firsthand how obsession with Marian visions "generates movements that descend into cultism."The Pope's explanation of Fatima has been accepted by Lucia dos Santos, who turned over her handwritten account to the Vatican in 1957. Cardinal Ratzinger believes John Paul II was drawn to the suffering images of Fatima as he thought about the attempt on his life. "Was it not inevitable," Ratzinger asked, "that he should see in it his own fate?"

The text of the third Fatima secret is available at the Vatican 's Web site and the BBC .Previous Christianity Today stories that discuss relations between Roman Catholics and evangelicals include:Does the Gift of Salvation Sell Out the Reformation? | Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals thinks so. (Apr. 27, 1998) Groups Battle over Catholic Outreach | Expanding dialogue hindered by conservatives on both sides. (Mar. 2, 1998) Evangelicals, Catholics Issue Salvation Accord | Document draws mixed reactions from evangelical leaders. (Jan 12, 1998) Evangelicals and Catholics Together--Improved | "The Gift of Salvation" a remarkable statement on what we mean by the gospel. (Dec.8, 1997) Betraying the Reformation? | An evangelical response and a Catholic response. (Oct. 7, 1996)Stories from the secular press that discuss the third Fatima prophecy include:3rd Secret Spurs More Questions -- The Washington Post (July 1, 2000) Fatima 'snapshot of martyrs of past century' -- The Irish Times (June 27, 2000) Vatican Reveals Fatima Secret -- BBC (June 26, 2000) Vatican Issues Text of Third Secret of Fatima -- The New York Times (June 26, 2000) Text of 3rd Fatima Secret Released -- The Washington Post (June 26, 2000) Revelations: The Third Secret Raises More Questions -- The New York Times (May 21, 2000) Vatican Ends Mystery of the Third Prophecy of Fatima -- CNN (May 13, 2000) Pope to Beatify Two Children of Fatima Today -- The Irish Times (May 13, 2000)

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September 4 2000, Vol. 44, No. 10