| Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005 10:18 a.m. EST Mel Gibson's Secret Meeting with Fatima Visionary Actor Mel Gibson held a secret meeting with one of the famous visionaries of Fatima, Sister Lucia of Portugal. 
Sisters Sophia and Lucia, Mel Gibson and wife. Sister Lucia, now 98 years of age, is a cloistered nun who as a child saw and spoke with the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Her visions and those of her two childhood friends, both since passed away, were both prophetic and apocalyptic. The Catholic Church accepted the visions as authentic. Fatima-based Unity Publishing's Richard Salbato recently revealed in an online report that after the nuns asked for a private showing of Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson not only OK'd the viewing, but the actor flew to Coimbra, Portugal to personally introduce the film to Lucia and her Sisters. During Lent of 2004, the nuns at the convent in Coimbra where Sister Lucia lives wanted to see the film as a devotional aid in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. Unable to leave the convent or meet face-to-face with outsiders because of the strict Carmelite rules governing cloistered sisters - and lacking the modern convenience of a DVD player - they sought to contact Mel Gibson's Icon Productions for help. According to Unity, word was sent out from the Convent to make contact with Icon or Gibson to get a DVD for the Convent. Thanks to a girl in Porto, Portugal, Luciana Regadas, who knew a volunteer worker for Icon Productions and Mel Gibson named Lourdes Gutierrez in Florida, this contact was made. Gutierrez, had been involved with the movie in a volunteer capacity, helping to put together two screenings in the Miami, Florida area. According to Unity, "Mel Gibson had come to Fatima in September of 2003 to ask Our Lady for help in the film and later Jim Caviezel (the actor who played Christ) came to show the film to religious institutions to get their opinions of the movie. He even went to the Convent in Coimbra to show the film but was refused because he insisted on going behind the cloister which is not permitted." 
Gibson and wife meet Lucia. Lourdes Gutierrez, recalled that "Ninety-two e-mails back and forth later and many phone calls, a deal was set to show the film to the nuns. This was difficult because there were no DVDs yet and only 1 inch tapes, which require special cameras and large pull down screens. "We even got approval for Mel Gibson to see Lucia in a private meeting, but because Mel Gibson might be attacked as using Lucia to promote his film, he, Mel Gibson, and not the convent, insisted that such a visit would be strictly secret. "In the end only Father Condor, the convent and the Icon Production crew knew of the date of showing the film. We knew the month but that was all. It must have cost Mel Gibson ten to twenty thousand dollars to show this film to the convent because it took a full crew of camera men. "Mel Gibson later came into Portugal to promote the Portuguese version of the film and then sneaked over to the Convent without anyone knowing and met with Sister Lucia. We were told not to print this or let anyone know unless the Convent or Mel Gibson gave permission for it. This did not come until after the film ran its course in the theaters and the DVD ran its campaign in the stores." 
Gibson Shakes Hands with Lucia. Mel Gibson visited Lucia of Fatima at the Carmel convent last July. He was accompanied by his wife, Robin Moore and Fr. Luis Condor. According to the convent's Mother Superior Celina, the actor and his wife are wonderful and very humble people. "He is very outspoken and a person easily to be liked, and he answered all of our questions about the movie. Some questions were asked by Sr. Lucy, who attended the meeting which lasted for about an hour, was always very alert following the conversation," she told Unity. According to Unity, what the nuns or Lucia said about the movie is unknown and may never be known because statements by Lucia or for that matter any Carmelite nun throughout the world are always sent through the bishop or the Holy Father first. Because of her power of influence, Lucia must be very careful what she says publicly since she is one of the possessors of the so called "Third Secret of Fatima." As a child, Sister Lucia and her friends Jacinta and Francisco saw the Virgin Mary in a series of apparitions. While playing in a field outside of the village of Fatima during World War I they saw a flash of light on top of a small evergreen tree which turned out to be a lady. The Lady asked that they would come back on the 13th for the next six months. At that time, she would tell them who she was and what she wanted. During the apparitions, the Virgin Mary made some prophecies, telling the children that if man did not stop offending God, a second great war would begin during the reign of Pope Pius XI. Twenty-Two years later, World War II broke out in Europe. The Apparition, before the rise of the Soviet Union, also warned that Russia, unless converted, would wreak havoc upon the world. Mary also confided to the girls the so-called Third Secret. The Secret was to be read by the Pope in office in 1960 and then publicized. As it turned out, Pope John XXIII was the pope at that time who read the secret and decided to not reveal its contents. The contents of the Third Secret were shared with John XXIII's successors. In June, 2000, Pope John Paul II released the Third Secret. The message, as recounted by Lucia, was brief but it warned of tribulation for the world and persecution of the Catholic Church, including the shooting of the Pope. Some Church officials believe that the shooting of John Paul II in in 1982 was a fulfilment of the prophecy while others believe it has yet to be fulilled. Others wonder if the full details of Third Secret had been revealed. Asked in 1980 why the Secret had yet to be released, Pope John Paul II told a German audience: "Because of the seriousness of its contents, in order not to encourage the world wide power of Communism to carry out certain coups, my Prederessors in the Chair of Peter have diplomatically preferred to withhold its publication. "On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this much: if there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish ... there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message. "Many want to know merely out of curiosity, or because of their taste for sensationalism, but they forget that 'to know' implies for them a responsibility. It is dangerous to want to satisfy one's curiosity only, if one is convinced that we can do nothing aganst a catastrophe that has been predicted." At this point, the Holy Father took hold of his Rosary and said: "Here is the remedy against the evil! Pray, pray and ask for nothing else. Put everything in the hands of the Mother of God!" John Paul II continued: "We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-to-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. "Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise. "We must be strong, we must prepare ourselves, we must entrust ourselves to Christ and to His holy Mother, and we must be attentive, very attentive, to the prayer of the Rosary." Editor's note:
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