This booklet is not concerned with conspiracy theories or the supposed date the world will end; it is designed to show Fatima's true place in the history of divine apparitions. As the author says, 'Fatima carries the weight of every prophecy conceived in heaven – gentle yet firm, simple yet epic, gracious in mercy yet uncompromising and absolute.'
Before discussing the events of 1918, the reader is given a concise history of Our Lady's approved apparitions: they include Guadalupe, the Rue de Bac, La Salette and Lourdes, but the author is in no doubt that Fatima both contains and amplifies these earlier revelations – indeed, the author sees it as the ultimate theophany.
His essay is a most stimulating reflection on the ways of God to man, written in invigorating prose that is the opposite of pious sentiment. There is nothing here of rosaries turning to gold, but much profound meditation on the dialogues between Our Lady and the seers, especially Lucia. There is also a thoughtful and cautionary appendix.
-Francis Philips. The Catholic Herald.