Note that I removed the post on the malicious emails I received. I think it best to keep those comments as said in passing.

At La Salette, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Melanie and Maximin, two children. To Melanie, Mary gave a secret about the future with 33 parts (or we could say 33 secrets). To Maximin, she gave a secret which, in various versions, had as many as 10 parts. My translation of the secrets to Maximin and to Melanie are translated and published here, at catholicplanet.com. Some authors have used my translation, as well as my own commentary about the secrets without attribution. This article (and the next two) will discuss 3 of the secrets to Melanie.

First, there is the saying that Rome will lose the Faith. This is numbered 28 out of the 33 secrets to Melanie. I quote the original French from the book “Le Secret De Melanie” by Abbe Combe, a French priest. He received a copy of the secrets directly from Melanie, entirely written in her own hand. So the claim that some of the parts of the secret were a later edition is false. This is exactly what the secrets say.

28. Rome perdra la foi et deviendra le siege de l’antichrist.”

28. “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the antichrist.”

Rome is obviously the City of Rome, not the Holy See or the Vatican or the Roman Pontiff. The city of Rome, which today is very secular and not a devout Catholic city, unfortunately, will eventually lose the Catholic Christian Faith entirely.

Now how can that be, since Rome is the Seat of the Holy See? As the First Vatican Council says: “the Holy Roman See, which he [Peter] founded and consecrated with his blood.” [Pastor Aeternus chap. 2, n. 2]. What happens is described in the book of Daniel.

{9:25} Therefore, know and take heed: from the going forth of the word to build up Jerusalem again, until the Christ leader, there will be seven weeks of years, and sixty-two weeks of years; and the wide path will be built again, and the walls, in a time of anguish.
{9:26} And after sixty-two weeks of years, the Christ leader will be slain. And the people who have denied him will not be his. And the people, when their leader arrives, will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will be devastation, and, after the end of the war, the desolation will be set up.
{9:27} But he will confirm a covenant with many for one week of years; and for half of the week of years, victim and sacrifice will nearly cease; but there will be in the temple the abomination of desolation. And the desolation will continue even to the consummation and the end.”

I’ve bolded the part about Rome and Vatican City. The Roman Pontiff, “the Christ leader”, will be slain. In the book, Le Secret De Melanie, Abbe Combe speculates that the Pope will be driven out of Rome. But it seems from what Daniel says that the Pope is slain. Then the followers of the Antichrist “destroy the city and the sanctuary”, which is Vatican City and the churches of the Vatican and of Rome. Then what Abbe Combe says is probably true for any remaining faithful in Rome, they are driven out of the city. Some others are certainly also slain, with the Roman Pontiff. You don’t kill the Pope in Vatican City without killing other faithful persons. There must be those who would say, to the ones trying to kill the Pope, “Over my dead body.” Those who defend the Pope are killed with him, just as Daniel indicates.

So Rome loses the faith by the loss of the Roman Pontiff and the faithful who surround him, by death, and the rest of the faithful are driven out of Rome. There was an early persecution of the Twelve Apostles (Matthias replacing Judas Iscariot), and they were scattered in many directions, where they then preached the Faith. Only James remained in Jerusalem out of the Twelve. So this idea of the faithful being driven out of Rome is like the faithful being driven out of Jerusalem. But there could possibly be a few faithful souls, living in Rome at that time, hidden by the providence of God and the help of holy angels.

Then Rome becomes the seat of the Antichrist. Why? As Jesus says in Matthew:
{24:9} Then they will hand you over to tribulation, and they will kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for the sake of my name.
The whole world, almost the whole world, including a majority in every nation, will hate Christians. The Antichrist wishes to be worshipped by the world, so he has to give them what they want. Good persons will worship the Good God. But evil persons will not worship an evil human being who claims to be god, not unless there is something in it for them. So the Antichrist goes to Rome, and says negative things about the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiff, and his followers get the message implied by the Antichrist’s words and they kill the Pope and kill or drive into exile all the faithful Christians in Rome.
“And the people, when their leader arrives, will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
Then the followers of the Antichrist wreak havoc on the churches of Rome and they wreak Vatican City. The world will rejoice at this event. The world will have developed a hatred for Catholic Christianity, which will have been the only type of Christianity for many centuries previously.

So the Antichrist wishes to please the world. He also knows that the Catholic Church is the biggest obstacle to his goal to have the whole world worship him. Therefore, the Antichrist must go to Rome and encourage his people to destroy the Pope and Vatican City.

Now the explanation is long as to how the Antichrist rises to power. It is in my books of eschatology. In brief, the world will be divided into ten kingdoms only, just as some of the Saints have written and just as Mary says at La Salette (which I’ll discuss in a future article). After a century of this kingdom of the ten kings, the Antichrist becomes the king of the North (Europe) and he wages war against the Christian king of the South (which is the southernmost part of what used to be the kingdom of the great Catholic monarch in the 21st century). As Daniel says, “after the end of the war” the abomination of desolation is set up. That means the Antichrist wins the war and kills the Christian king of the South. This destroys the last protections left in the world for religion.

The southernmost part of the kingdom of the great Catholic monarch will including Israel, the northern part of Africa and the middle East. After the first part of the tribulation, people will want to live in the Holy Land. But there will not be room. So the surrounding nations will become like the suburbs of the Holy Land. Centuries later, it will still be the holiest region in the world, the kingdom of the South. This kingdom will have negotiated with other kingdoms, to give at least basic protections to believers. The only religions to survive to that point in time will be Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Once the Antichrist as the king of the north defeats the king of the South, all those protections are gone. Believers will be suddenly persecuted throughout the world, especially Christians.

The arrival in Rome of the Antichrist signals to his supporters to attack Christians and Christian churches. It is also a display by the Antichrist of his power. At that time, the kingdom of the North and of the South will be the two most powerful militaries in the world. The reason is that they will have been at war with one another for generations (Daniel 11). So when the Antichrist rises to power in the North, and defeats the South, he now controls the two most powerful militaries of the ten kingdoms.

But the Antichrist will also be very popular throughout the world. He develops, even before claiming to be god, a cult of personality. He will be seen as a fascinating political figure, especially after he consolidates power in the North, with a bold coup, and then leads the North in war against their long-hated enemy, the South. The people of the world will hate Christians. So they will rejoice in the defeat of the Christian king of the South. This will help make the Antichrist even more popular as a personality. He will have many ardent supporters in other kingdoms.

We know that the Antichrist has the help of Satan and other devils. So it will be rumored that the Antichrist has powers. He can seem to know things by the help of devils. He can seem to be more powerful than he really is by their help. Thus, the people of the world will be his followers, even while he only rules two of the ten kingdoms.

After defeating the kingdom of the South, the two next most powerful kings meet with the Antichrist, in order to defeat him by deceitful negotiations. Daniel 11:27: “And the heart of two kings will be similar, to do harm, and they will speak lies at one table, but they will not succeed.” But it doesn’t work. The Antichrist instead is able to exercise a coup in both those kingdoms, so that he now controls the four most powerful kingdoms and militaries in the world. Daniel 7:24: “and he will bring down three kings.”

Now the kingdom of the ten kings has become a kingdom with only 7 leaders, since the Antichrist defeated three kings. This is the dragon or beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, i.e. the kingdom of the ten kings, after the Antichrist takes control of it. With control over the 4 kingdoms with the strongest militaries, the Antichrist is able to force the other 6 kingdoms to make him ruler of the whole world.

{9:27} But he will confirm a covenant with many for one week of years; and for half of the week of years, victim and sacrifice will nearly cease; but there will be in the temple the abomination of desolation. And the desolation will continue even to the consummation and the end.”

The covenant or pact for one week of years is the length of the Antichrist’s kingdom, between 6 and 7 years. Then for half of the week of years, the Antichrist attempts to destroy the Catholic Faith by setting up his own competing formal religion. It might seem obvious to us, but in that future time, the world will hate religion. So the Antichrist cannot, immediately upon declaring himself to be a god — as soon as he has control over the whole world — he cannot require everyone to go to a perverse type of Mass, one that worships him instead of Jesus. The world hates Christianity in that time. That would not work. So he requires the world to worship him, but he has no formal religion, yet. Thus, the Antichrist orders all religious places of worship closed: churches, temples, mosques, anything else, all closed.

How does the Antichrist succeed against the three kings who he brings down, as Daniel says? He will be immensely popular in the media. His defeat of the South will be seen as a defeat of religion, as that region will have the most faithful Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the world. But all three of those religions will have many faithful who continue in their faith against the Antichrist. They will help one another oppose him. They will all recognize him as evil and as not a god. But the world will be so pleased with the Antichrist, that when he negotiates with the other two kings, very many persons in each of those kingdoms would rather be led by the Antichrist than by their own kings. So it is easy for the Antichrist to find many rulers under those two kings who will betray them and give the kingdom to the Antichrist.

The world will be amazed at the defeat of three kings by the Antichrist. The majority of persons in every kingdom will want the Antichrist to rule over them. This cult of personality will drive the leaders of those kingdoms to agree to the pact with the Antichrist, lest they be overthrown and replaced by other leaders who will do so anyway. And then he proclaims himself to be god, and his cult of personality reaches a fever pitch.

The conversion of the Jews happens, but not in the way that Christians have long imagined. That will require its own article. Before that conversion, Jews and Muslims help persecuted Christians oppose the Antichrist.

Now the Catholic Faith continues after the death of the Roman Pontiff. The Cardinals and Bishops will be unable to elect a new Pope. And many of these prelates will be in hiding, as the world will persecute Christians, especially the ordained. So there will be no Pope during the entire nearly 7 year reign of the Antichrist. But there will be Bishops and priests; there will be the 7 Sacraments. There will be a group of Catholic Bishops, priests, and laypersons who are hidden in some place within the world.

{12:6} And the woman fled into solitude, where a place was being held ready by God, so that they might pasture her in that place for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

So a part of the Church is preserved in hiding, so that the Mass and all the Sacraments and Cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity continue. Then, too, there will be faithful Christians in hiding in many places in the world. Then there will also be wicked persons who repent and become Christians, suddenly, all over the world.

The point of all this discussion is that the city of Rome loses the Faith, but the Holy See and the Catholic Faith continues. There will be quite a battle of wits between the faithful and the Antichrist, the false prophetess, and their followers. The whole story of what happens is quite amazing. Here’s my book on the Antichrist’s reign.

more in later articles

Ronald L. Conte Jr.