One day, we spent our siesta down by my parents’ well. Jacinta sat on the stone slabs on top of the well. Francisco and I climbed up a steep bank in search of wild honey among the brambles in a nearby thicket. After a little while, Jacinta called out to me: “Didn’t you see the Holy Father?”
“No.”
“I don’t know how it was, but I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him.”
I have already told you, how one day two priests recommended us to pray for the Holy Father, and explained to us who the Pope was.
Afterwards Jacinta asked me: “Is he the one I saw weeping, the one Our Lady told us about in the secret?”
“Yes, he is”, I answered.
“The Lady must have shown him also to those priests. You see, I was not mistaken. We need to pray a lot for him”
At another time, we went to the cave called Lapa Cabeco. As soon as we got there, we prostrated on the ground, saying the prayers the Angel had taught us. After sometime, Jacinta stood up and called to me:
“Can’t you see all those highways and roads and fields full of people, who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat? And the Holy Father in a church praying before the Immaculate Heart of Mary? And so many people praying with him?”
Some days later, she asked me: “Can I say that I saw the Holy Father and all those people?”
“No! Don’t you see that that’s part of the secret? If you do they’ll find out straight away.”
“All right! Then I’ll say nothing at all.”