During her appearances before three shepherd children in 1917, Our Lady of Fátima supposedly gave them three secrets and repeatedly exhorted them to pray the rosary for world peace. The first secret was a vision of souls in hell. She emphasized the necessity of devotions to her Immaculate Heart in order for souls to be saved. The second secret is interpreted as pointing toward the end of World War I, the start of World War II, and her request to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The third secret, which was kept from the public until 2000, has been interpreted in different ways. A popular interpretation is that the secret was the Virgin Mary’s vision of the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. The pope publicly credited Our Lady of Fátima for saving his life.
The children also said that Our Lady of Fátima told them God would perform a miracle on October 13, 1917, so that people would believe. A crowd, estimated at about 70,000, gathered at Fátima, Portugal, on that day and witnessed what has been described as a miraculous solar phenomenon, in which the Sun appeared to fall toward Earth—sometimes called the Miracle of the Sun—immediately after her final appearance to the children.