
Former Pope witnesses Miracle of the Sun decades after the Fatima appearance
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On October 13, 1917, thousands of people gathered near Fatima, Portugal to witness a miracle promised by three shepherd children. With the Miracle of the Sun, the Marian apparition would prove the children were speaking the truth. But is it possible that another witnessed the same miracle decades later?

Seventy-thousand people witnessed the first Miracle of the Sun in 1917.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
5/14/2019 (5 years ago)
Published in Living Faith
Keywords: Fatima, Pope Pius XII, Miracle, Miracle of the Sun, Sister Lucia, Our Lady of Fatima, Secrets of Fatima
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Pope Pius XII, the answer is yes, and he was that person. In a handwritten note, he wrote, "I have seen the 'miracle of the sun,' this is the pure truth."
The Pope went on to write, that at 4 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1950, during his "habitual walk in the Vatican Gardens, reading and studying, having arrived to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, toward the top of the hill ... I was awestruck by a phenomenon that before now I had never seen.
"The sun, which was still quite high, looked like a pale, opaque sphere, entirely surrounded by a luminous circle. And one could look at the sun, without the slightest bother. There was a very light little cloud in front of it."
The pontiff's note goes on to describe "the opaque sphere that moved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right and vice versa. But within the sphere, you could see marked movements with total clarity and without interruption."

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Pope Pius XII witnessed the event four separate times and believed this was a sign from God for him to declare the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
After bearing witness to the Miracle of the Sun, the Pope contacted Sister Lucia, one of the original three children visionaries. According to Aletia, Sr. Lucia told Pope Pius XII the mysterious "third secret" of Fatima.
Pope Pius XII died on October 9, 1958 and was buried on the anniversary of the first "Miracle of the Sun" at Fatima, October 13.
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