MATHETON

“In 1992 details relating to the apparitions that had previously been unreleased were finally revealed.

“A priest who had interviewed the children at the time of the apparitions reported …: ‘Jacinta declares that Our Lady’s dress goes down only to her knees. Our Lady can only appear dressed, obviously, in the most decent and modest way; the dress would have to have come down to her feet. Any other way constitutes the most serious obstacle to the supernaturalism of the apparition and makes us think that it is a mystification prepared by the Spirit of Darkness. …’

“[In official reports,] the earrings worn by the Virgin had been sublimated into a ‘halo’ of light, while the short dress worn by the Virgin during the apparitions had not formed any part of official descriptions; instead, and in sharp contrast, the Virgin had officially been reported as saying: ‘Certain fashions will be introduced which will offend my Son very much.’

“In the 1940s, Pius XII was asked his opinion of what women should wear to preserve modesty. He replied: ‘Below the knee, halfway down the arm, two finger-widths below the collarbone’ — bounds which the Virgin is now known to have been described as breaching during the Fatima apparitions.”