Some apparitions have also contained “secrets,” such as those reported in Fatima. These secrets were statements made by the Virgin Mary during apparitions that are not supposed to be revealed immediately. Although some people are fascinated by the secrets, the phenomenon of secrets is not unusual from a Biblical perspective.

In the Scriptures, Christ often asks people not to speak of his miracles because they are not to be revealed until the appointed time. In essence, he asks direct witnesses to keep secrets on his behalf, just as many of the visionaries (particularly in Fatima and Medjugorje, discussed in detail in Chapter 13) have been asked to guard secrets that Mary has shared with them.

Many of the secrets are actually prophecies that are not supposed to be known until the appointed time. The secrets are often deeply Biblical. When Sister Lucia, one of the visionaries from Fatima, was pressured to reveal a secret from Fatima, she said, “Just read the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. It's all in there.”

Sister Lucia's words highlight one of the larger themes of the apparitions: for these spiritual experiences to be deemed authentic, they must be consistent with Scripture. As Pope Benedict XVI said in an interview with Roy Varghese in 1991, “Apparitions are never required for salvation. The Old and New Testament revelations have all that is necessary for salvation.” Although the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches have both affirmed that authentic apparitions can aid the faithful, these subjective experiences are never supposed to overshadow the Scriptures or the witness of the Church.