Russia and Portugal: Two Spiritual Symbols in the Message of Fatima
This is a profoundly thought-provoking intuition. At the same time, it is important to distinguish carefully between what belongs to the authentic Fatima message itself and what is offered as a theological interpretation. Yet it is precisely here that a rich avenue for reflection opens.
In the message of Fatima, Russia is not merely a geographical reality. It becomes the symbol of a particular spiritual condition.
The apparitions took place in 1917, before the October Revolution. Our Lady declared:
"Russia will spread her errors throughout the world."
Only a few months later did history reveal what those "errors" would become.
Russia can therefore be understood as the icon of a civilisation built etsi Deus non daretur—as though God did not exist. The message reaches far beyond communism itself. Communism was simply the first systematic attempt to construct a world without God.
Today, however, those same errors are no longer confined to any single nation. They continue wherever humanity embraces:
- materialism,
- moral relativism,
- the rejection of natural law,
- the dismantling of marriage and family,
- the cult of autonomous humanity,
- technological utopianism,
- the belief that human progress alone can redeem mankind.
In this sense, "Russia" becomes the name of a spiritual illness that has spread throughout modern civilisation.
Against this background, another remarkable sentence from the Fatima message acquires new depth:
"In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved."
For more than a century these words have intrigued theologians.
Our Lady did not say:
"Portugal will become the greatest nation."
Nor:
"Portugal will save the world."
She did not even say:
"Portugal will be the holiest nation."
She simply declared:
"The dogma of the Faith will always be preserved."
The emphasis is striking.
The focus is not success.
Not influence.
Not numbers.
But faithfulness.
Here a fascinating theological possibility emerges.
Why Portugal?
Perhaps because Portugal became the nation that responded to Our Lady's appeal with exceptional fidelity.
Following the apparitions there emerged:
- widespread devotion to the First Saturdays,
- national acts of consecration,
- pilgrimages of extraordinary scale,
- the flourishing of the Shrine of Fatima,
- and, above all, a sustained effort to preserve the memory and message of Fatima.
Portugal, then, is not distinguished because of national superiority but because it became a sign of obedience.
Throughout Sacred Scripture salvation history unfolds between two responses.
The first is Adam's:
"No."
The second is Mary's:
"Fiat."
From this perspective Russia symbolises a civilisation built upon humanity's refusal of God, whereas Portugal represents a people who answered Our Lady with a trusting "yes".
The contrast is deeply illuminating.
Russia symbolises rebellion.
Portugal symbolises obedience.
Russia proclaims:
"Humanity will save itself."
Portugal echoes Mary's words:
"Let it be done unto me according to your word."
Russia becomes an icon of pride.
Portugal an icon of humility.
Seen in this light, Fatima is not fundamentally about East versus West, nor communism versus capitalism.
It is about two radically different civilisations:
the civilisation of autonomy and the civilisation of surrender to God.
This interpretation may be carried even further.
Perhaps Portugal ultimately signifies more than a particular nation.
In biblical language, concrete places frequently become figures of spiritual realities.
Jerusalem is both a city and the image of the Church.
Egypt is both a nation and the symbol of slavery.
Babylon is both an empire and the image of a world organised apart from God.
Likewise, Portugal may represent every soul, every family, every community, and every nation that freely responds to Mary's invitation.
In this sense, "Portugal" is every faithful heart.
Not because it lies on the Iberian Peninsula, but because it safeguards the deposit of faith.
At this point an even deeper connection with Divine Mercy becomes apparent.
If Russia symbolises humanity's rejection of God, God's answer is not vengeance.
His answer is Mercy.
Fatima is not primarily a prophecy of catastrophe.
It is an urgent appeal to conversion.
The same dynamic appears in the revelations entrusted to Saint Faustina.
Christ does not begin with judgement.
He begins with mercy:
"I do not wish to punish mankind; I desire to heal it."
๏ปฟThe two messages therefore appear as complementary dimensions of a single divine plan.
Fatima diagnoses the illness.
Divine Mercy reveals the remedy.
Fatima declares:
The world is turning away from God.
Divine Mercy replies:
God never turns away from the world.
Fr. Marcin Budzinski
a Catholic priest, born in Poznaล, in western Poland, in 1980. A physicist and biologist by training, and a teacher by passion; he graduated from the Archdiocesan Seminary in 2012 and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Poznaล; his main academic interests are the natural sciences and philosophy, on which he wrote his master’s thesis; he worked mainly in secondary schools with young people, whom he evangelised through theatre; his dream was to work abroad; for the past three years he has been working with the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales; he is dean of the north-western deanery of the Polish Catholic Mission and parish priest in Lancaster; he is deeply devoted to Our Lady of Fátima and to the devotion to Divine Mercy. In 2026, Fr Marcin was appointed as the new Deputy National Spiritual Director for the World Apostolate of Fatima, England & Wales.
