The Third Secret

Explosive in both its pace and its revelations, The Third Secret is a remarkable international thriller. Bestselling author Steve Berry tackles some of the most controversial ideas of our time in a breakneck journey through the history of the Church and the future of religion. Fatima, Portugal, 1917: The Virgin Mary appears to three peasant children, sharing with them three secrets, two of which are soon revealed to the world. The third secret is sealed away in the Vatican, read only by popes, and not disclosed until the year 2000. When revealed, its quizzical tone and anticlimactic nature leave many faithful wondering if the Church has truly unveiled all of the Virgin Mary’s words–or if a message far more important has been left in the shadows. Vatican City, present day: Papal secretary Father Colin Michener is concerned for the Pope. Night after restless night, Pope Clement XV enters the Vatican’s Riserva, the special archive open only to popes, where the Church’s most clandestine and controversial documents are stored. Though unsure of the details, Michener knows that the Pope’ s distress stems from the revelations of Fatima. Equally concerned, but not out of any sense of compassion, is Alberto Cardinal Valendrea, the Vatican’s Secretary of State,. Valendrea desperately covets the papacy, having narrowly lost out to Clement at the last conclave. Now the Pope’s interest in Fatima threatens to uncover a shocking ancient truth that Valendrea has kept to himself for many years. When Pope Clement sends Michener to the Romanian highlands, then to a Bosnian holy site, in search of a priest–possibly one of the last people on Earth who knows Mary’s true message– a perilous set of events unfolds. Michener finds himself embroiled in murder, suspicion, suicide, deceit, and his forbidden passion for a beloved woman. In a desperate search for answers, he travels to Pope Clement’s birthplace in Germany, where he learns that the third secret of Fatima may dictate the very fate of the Church–a fate now lying in Michener’s own hands. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steve Berry’s The Columbus Affair.

Rick Thomas stole drug-cartel evidence from a government facility. And spent three years in a federal prison. Attorney Erin Morgan has a rule: never defend the bad guys. But Rick Thomas, quiet and self-assured, doesn't seem bad. That's why she agrees to defend him against what he swears is a trumped-up murder charge. She's ignoring her experience and listening to her instincts instead. But psychologist and expert witness Kelly Chapman is listening to her instincts, too. And they're saying that Rick Thomas is lying to Erin. That he's keeping secrets. That he's a dangerous man. And that, despite everything, maybe he's one of the good guys….

This book seeks to explain in reader-friendly terms the controversial 'Third Secret' of Fatima as released by the Catholic Church on June 26, 2000. Included in this work is the commentary written by Cardinal Ratzinger and titled, 'The Message of Fatima.' Discover the increasingly important role private revelation plays in the lives of Christians worldwide.

Explosive in both its pace and its revelations, The Third Secret is a remarkable international thriller. Bestselling author Steve Berry tackles some of the most controversial ideas of our time in a breakneck journey through the history of the Church and the future of religion. Fatima, Portugal, 1917: The Virgin Mary appears to three peasant children, sharing with them three secrets, two of which are soon revealed to the world. The third secret is sealed away in the Vatican, read only by popes, and not disclosed until the year 2000. When revealed, its quizzical tone and anticlimactic nature leave many faithful wondering if the Church has truly unveiled all of the Virgin Mary’s words–or if a message far more important has been left in the shadows. Vatican City, present day: Papal secretary Father Colin Michener is concerned for the Pope. Night after restless night, Pope Clement XV enters the Vatican’s Riserva, the special archive open only to popes, where the Church’s most clandestine and controversial documents are stored. Though unsure of the details, Michener knows that the Pope’s distress stems from the revelations of Fatima. Equally concerned, but not out of any sense of compassion, is Alberto Cardinal Valendrea, the Vatican’s Secretary of State,. Valendrea desperately covets the papacy, having narrowly lost out to Clement at the last conclave. Now the Pope’s interest in Fatima threatens to uncover a shocking ancient truth that Valendrea has kept to himself for many years. When Pope Clement sends Michener to the Romanian highlands, then to a Bosnian holy site, in search of a priest–possibly one of the last people on Earth who knows Mary’s true message–a perilous set of events unfolds. Michener finds himself embroiled in murder, suspicion, suicide, deceit, and his forbidden passion for a beloved woman. In a desperate search for answers, he travels to Pope Clement’s birthplace in Germany, where he learns that the third secret of Fatima may dictate the very fate of the Church–a fate now lying in Michener’s own hands.

In 1968, a Muslim bus mechanic reported seeing a clear apparition of the Madonna at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. Over the next three years, Protestants, Muslims, Catholics, and people of all faiths reported seeing similar sightings there. According to the Orthodox religion, the site of the Madonna's appearances is one of the locations where the holy family stayed during their flight to Egypt. Did the Madonna really appear? For the most part, non-Catholics believe earthly appearances by the Madonna are Demonic in nature. However, they widely accept that Samuel was brought up from the dead (1 Samuel 28). Given that, it's arguable the Madonna could be sent by Her son as a messenger, which is the premise of this fictional, three-part "trilogy" book. An Italian immigrant named Big Al comes to America at the turn of the twentieth century in pursuit of his dreams. He becomes associated with some of the biggest Mafia gangsters of the day, helps elect a president, and serves as a US envoy between the president and the pope, during which time he hides a shocking and powerful secret (the Third Secret of Fatima) given in 1917 by the Madonna to a future nun. In the late 2000s, reporter John Tate is lured into a search for the still-hidden secret. He is met by opposing Freemasons wanting a new world order. The more he digs, the more questions Tate has: Why has the Vatican kept quiet about the Third Secret of Fatima since 1917? Was Pope John Paul I murdered in 1978, after just thirty-three days in office? Did Pope Benedict XVI resign because he was being blackmailed? Was the current pope validly elected? Has the Prophecy of Popes correctly predicted 112 popes in a row? Is there to be only one more pope after this one? During his investigation, Tate gets help from two unlikely people: Big Al's son Giuseppe--a former American diplomat himself--and a priest who, as a boy, claims to have been visited by the Madonna. The fate of the world hinges on the answers they uncover!

The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.