The miracle of our lady of fatima is good evidence for Catholicism
The miracle of our lady of fatima is good evidence for Catholicism
0. Introduction
This is the first installment in a series of articles surveying the evidence for Catholic miracles. My objective is to present the miracle case for Catholicism in a way that is rigorous enough to persuade those that are strongly predisposed towards skepticism. That means every claim has to be established by contemperanous sources and every skeptical explanation has to be excluded by multiple lines of evidence.
In this post, I focus on the evidence for Our Lady of Fatima. In the first section, I demonstrate that skeptical explanations of the apparitions that were reported by the seers are untenable. In the second section, I demonstrate that skeptical explanations of the Miracle of the Sun are not tenable either. In the third section, I conclude that the best explanation is that Fatima was divine vindication of Catholicism. In the fourth section, I respond to the strongest objections to that conclusion.
1. Six Apparitions
An adequate theory of Fatima has to explain the six apparitions.
(Preannounced schedule) - Between May 13th and October 13th, 1917, Lucia dos Santos (age 10), Francisco Marto (age 9), and Jacinta Marto (age 7) reported six apparitions. After the first apparition on May 13th, Lucia reported the apparition told the children to return to the same location, the Cova da Iria, once a month for six consecutive months, on the thirteenth day of each month.1 On August 13th, the children were detained by a local official, which prevented them from visiting the Cova that day.2 On August 19th, the children reported a ‘make-up’ apparition at Valinhos, a field about a mile away from the Cova.3 The rest of the apparitions conformed to the schedule that had been announced in May.4
Continued here https://motivacredibilitatis.substack.com/p/our-lady-of-fatima#footnote-anchor-49-169864342
0. Introduction
This is the first installment in a series of articles surveying the evidence for Catholic miracles. My objective is to present the miracle case for Catholicism in a way that is rigorous enough to persuade those that are strongly predisposed towards skepticism. That means every claim has to be established by contemperanous sources and every skeptical explanation has to be excluded by multiple lines of evidence.
In this post, I focus on the evidence for Our Lady of Fatima. In the first section, I demonstrate that skeptical explanations of the apparitions that were reported by the seers are untenable. In the second section, I demonstrate that skeptical explanations of the Miracle of the Sun are not tenable either. In the third section, I conclude that the best explanation is that Fatima was divine vindication of Catholicism. In the fourth section, I respond to the strongest objections to that conclusion.
1. Six Apparitions
An adequate theory of Fatima has to explain the six apparitions.
(Preannounced schedule) - Between May 13th and October 13th, 1917, Lucia dos Santos (age 10), Francisco Marto (age 9), and Jacinta Marto (age 7) reported six apparitions. After the first apparition on May 13th, Lucia reported the apparition told the children to return to the same location, the Cova da Iria, once a month for six consecutive months, on the thirteenth day of each month.1 On August 13th, the children were detained by a local official, which prevented them from visiting the Cova that day.2 On August 19th, the children reported a ‘make-up’ apparition at Valinhos, a field about a mile away from the Cova.3 The rest of the apparitions conformed to the schedule that had been announced in May.4
Continued here https://motivacredibilitatis.substack.com/p/our-lady-of-fatima#footnote-anchor-49-169864342
