Antonio Socci is one of Italy’s most respected Catholic intellectuals, who as I said before, wrote the book “The Fourth Secret of Fatima”. Since you appear to have no intention of following up on his so called “research” I see no reason to try to convince you otherwise except to ask you if you’ve heard these tapes of Sister Lucy saying all these things that the “Vatican” has alleged she said. Certainly Cardinal Bertone would have transcripts or better yet audiotapes and videotapes of the more than 2 hours of the interview “conducted” on November 17th 2001. That is what you generally do when you interview someone like Sister Lucy about something as monumental as this. I’ve yet to hear them. By the way, the bullet melted down and attached to the crown of Fatima is rather bizzare, almost as much so as the Hindu priest invited to come and perform a “service” at the sacred altar of Fatima in 2004. Talk about your false gods. And as far as things that Cardinal Ratzinger has said. How about that AKITA and FATIMA are essentially the same message. This may require more research. I’m not sure why you would say I’m acting more like a Protestant than a Catholic although it seems like a lot of Catholics are these days. I have watched 6 of my 8 siblings leave the Catholic Church for various reasons. Welcome to the new “springtime” of V-II. I myself was adrift in what appeared to be more of a Protestantized Catholic Church than the one I grew up in. Adrift until recently that is…......

The consecration of Russia. Lucia does a complete 180 degree reversal of all of her previous statements that the consecration had not been accomplished. If I were to believe that, I think I should look for the fruits of that consecration since 1984 when it supposedly happened. Fruits such as:
  Religious conversion-Today, more than 23 years after the supposed Consecration of Russia in 1984, nearly all of those who designate themselves Russian Orthodox do not practice their religion. The Economist notes that “Russia is suffering a crisis of faith” and that 94% of Russians aged 18-29 do not go to church.
  Abortions-Today, Russia has the highest abortion rate in the world. Fr. Daniel Maurer, C.J.D., who spent eight years in Russia, says that statistically, the average Russian woman will have eight abortions during her childbearing years—though Fr. Maurer believes the actual number averaged out to be about 12 abortions per woman. He has spoken to women who have had as many as 25 abortions.
  Alcoholism-Russia has the highest alcohol consumption in the world.
  Satanism, occultism and witchcraft are on the rise in Russia, as even the Russian Orthodox patriarch, Alexy II, publicly admits.
  Homosexuality is rampant in Moscow and throughout the country. In fact, in April 1993, nine years after the 1984 “consecration”, Boris Yeltsin allowed homosexuality to be de-criminalized. Homosexuality is now “legal” in Russia.
  Russia is a leading world center for the distribution of child pornography. The Associated Press reported on a Moscow-based child pornography ring linked to another child pornography ring in Texas.
  Russians are addicted to “reality-based” TV. On the most vile of the “reality-based” shows, cameras film the intimate personal lives of Russian “couples,” including their activity breaking the 6th Commandment.
    I could go on but the fruit seems to be rotting a bit.

I’d probably rate it a PG, due to the vision of hell and third secret scenes. I wouldn’t call them terribly gory, but how much or how little it takes to scare a child varies widely from child to child. It will be a simple matter for parents to preview just these scenes and make their own decision.

No, the movie makes no statements either way about the Pope. I was just echoing the Church’s interpretation, which in fact I accept. The actor portraying the Pope in the third secret vision is ambiguous. He has John Paul’s physique (you don’t see his face), but has dark hair.

As to the conversion of Russia. I know this is controversial to some, and I do not think this is the best forum for a debate. Such debates distract us from the essence of the Fatima message: making reparation for sin, and that is something we can all agree on, and actually do, whether the consecration was made or not.  You mentioned some of the negative things going on in Russia. I want to mention some positive ones. The Russian government officially acknowledges the Russian Orthodox faith. Children in public schools are allowed to pray AND have religious instruction in the schools, unlike the United States. Vladimir Putin has publicly acknowledged that he was baptied as a child. . I have seen video footage of him venerating the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan. We can argue what it means for a nation to be “converted” . When the Emperor Constantine de-criminlaized and gave state recognition Christianity, the Roman Empire became a Christian empire, although certainly everyone in it was not Chrisitan, and many of the Christians by then were very morally corrupt people (hence St. Benedict leaving Rome in disillusionment and beginning his work of founding western monasticism). Conversion of a nation is generally a process rather than the work of a moment. There is evidence of Russia moving closer to Christ, while the US is similarly undergoing a “de-conversion”. A recent editorial in Pravda chided the US for trying to trying the same economic experiments that failed miserably in Russia. I’m not saying this “proves” anything definitively but it does mean that interesting things are hapening in Russia and that it is too soon to decide based on “by their fruits” reasoning.