A recent opinion article published by LifeSiteNews has revived Catholic discussion surrounding the prophecy of Our Lady of La Salette—particularly the long-debated question of whether the world has already passed through the mysterious “25 years of peace” mentioned in the apparition’s messages.
In the LifeSiteNews piece, the author opens by noting that many Christians today believe the Antichrist is near, but argues that Catholics familiar with the La Salette secrets often disagree because, as the author summarizes, the prophecy describes a future period of “peace” and “plentiful harvests.” According to the article, some Catholics point to comments made by exorcist Father Chad Ripperger, who recently reiterated the common view that these 25 years have not yet occurred.
The author writes that, upon hearing this, she was “perplexed,” given current global moral decline and technologies that “seem to me more likely [to] be exploited” in any future period of widespread apostasy. She explains that she prayed for clarity and began researching how the historical events described by the La Salette seer Mélanie might correspond to the past 150 years, stating that “astonishingly, He did” illuminate her understanding.
The LifeSiteNews article recounts several lines from Mélanie’s longer version of the La Salette message and attempts to connect them to historical events. Among the many examples cited are predictions linked to 19th-century spiritualism (“extraordinary wonders”), various internal conflicts in Europe, the burning of Paris in 1871, and major earthquakes in the early 20th century.
A central claim of the LifeSiteNews article is its proposed interpretation of the prophecy’s reference to 25 years of “plentiful harvests.” While acknowledging that the period from the end of World War I to the mid-1940s was marked by the Depression and global war, the author argues that this period might instead represent a spiritual abundance rather than material prosperity. The article states that Our Lady “meant a plentiful harvest of souls,” suggesting the era’s strong missionary activity, devotional life, and political leaders sympathetic to Catholic social teaching as possible fulfillments.
The author cites figures such as Austria’s Engelbert Dollfuss, Ireland’s W. T. Cosgrave and Éamon de Valera, Portugal’s António Salazar, and Spain’s Francisco Franco as examples of civil leaders who, in her view, “served the Church” during this period. According to the article, the decades following World War II then saw the beginning of a moral decline, pointing to trends in sexual behavior, wartime cultural shifts, and the influence of the Kinsey reports.
The LifeSiteNews article also discusses later sections of the prophecy, including predictions about a “false peace,” widespread amusement, failing religious life, and environmental upheaval. The author argues that “we have had at least several decades now of this ‘false peace’ in which people are consumed by amusement,” and claims that modern cultural trends match the spiritual warnings Our Lady allegedly gave.
One of the article’s most controversial assertions concerns the prophecy’s warning that “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” The author interprets this as applying to recent decades, claiming that “since Pope Francis was elected, we can say without exaggeration that the Vatican has lost the faith.” She points to statements and decisions during the Francis pontificate and writes that the current pope, Leo XIV, “has given no indication of correcting these heresies,” according to the article.
LifeSiteNews emphasizes that its analysis is an interpretation of private revelation—one that has been debated among Catholics for more than a century—and argues that faithful should not assume the Antichrist is centuries away. The author concludes that Catholics “cannot bank on another 25 years before he arrives,” urging readers to remain vigilant, return to the sacraments, and place their trust in God. As she writes, “We should without delay make it a top priority to live in a state of grace.”
The Church teaches that private revelations, approved or unapproved, are not binding on the faithful. Nevertheless, discussions like these continue to shape contemporary Catholic reflection on prophecy, signs of the times, and spiritual readiness.
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