We do not analyse here all the apparitions, but we focus only on those of Fatima, where the Virgin indicates precisely and concretely to three children - and through them to all of Christianity - what needs to be done in these times to overcome a planetary crisis of which She, Our Lady, has a clear vision.

Not satisfied by simply admonishing, our Mother comes to rescue. At Fatima, She in some way "moulds" the children who are innocent with pure hearts, and then reveals them to the whole world as an example to follow. She dictates the task, the children execute it, and by reading the students' composition, we have a clear vision of what we, too, must do. So, what a great gift are the children of Fatima for the entire Church, and particularly the two siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who in a few months sanctified themselves at the school of Mary.

They are the manifesto of twentieth-century Catholic spirituality for all of us; they are what Our Lady wants us to be and do. The little shepherds did not sanctify themselves for their own sake; indeed, they were not aware of their purification and sanctification process. For them, the saints were Saint Anthony and Saint Joseph, whose statues they saw and honoured in the parish like the other faithful. It was precisely their innocence and unconditional obedience to the "Lady" that led them to be a perfect transparency of the Queen of Heaven's voice.

There is no filter between the message of Fatima and the lives of the Marto siblings; they are what they received. They are simply the realization of the Virgin Mary's desires, that is, of God. They believed her immediately, without question, and they executed. By doing this, they became saints within few months.