While it's easy to focus on the prophetic words of Our Lady of Fatima and the call for Russia to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the central message of the private revelations was a call to repentance and conversion.
According to Sr. Lucia, the three children at Fatima heard the words of angel cry out, "Penance, Penance, Penance!"
Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) reflected on this aspect of the message of Our Lady of Fatima and revealed a personal conversation he had with the visionary Sr. Lucia.
St. John Paul II also pointed this out as a common theme among many private revelations of Our Lady in his message on the World Day of the Sick in 1997.
This is one of the reasons why Our Lady of Fatima asked for the First Saturday Devotion, which includes monthly confession.
If we truly want the world to change, we must not only pray for a faraway country, but look inside our own hearts.
World wars will continue, as Our Lady of Fatima said, until each one of us repents of our wrongdoings, recognizes our own personal weaknesses and relies on God for all of our needs.
