GUADALAJARA, Mexico-The early morning hours of the first Sunday of August found Monsignor Oscar Riquelme, rector of the Paraguayan National Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Caacupe, awaiting another normal Sunday.

But that morning, Msgr. Riquelme noticed something strange for this time of the year: an enormous throng of people drawing water from a spring near the shrine. He approached the crowd and began to inquire about the unusual level of activity.

It turned out the pilgrims believed that water from springs close to Marian shrines would be an effective way to ward off attacks of the devil during the “days of darkness” that would precede the end of the world. One by one, each of the unexpected visitors that morning related how a photocopy had appeared under the door, or a phone call had come from a friend or relative, or a conversation had been overheard in the street.

It seemed many of the visitors were not fully convinced in the reliability of the information. The younger ones were particularly skeptical, but even they preferred to return home with some water por si acaso (just in case).

Had he contacted other Church authorities in Latin America, Monsignor Riquelme would have found that the idea of the end of the world was not only haunting modest Paraguayan pilgrims, but also Catholics from all different social sectors in the region.

In fact, popular Catholic web pages in the region, like that maintained by the Catholic news agency Aci-Prensa, have been flooded by requests for a confirmation or refutation of “the revelation of the third secret of Fatima.”

No one seems to know how or when the rumor of the alleged revelation started, but one thing for sure is that it is now all over the region.

The rumor has it that the end of the world will come prior to the turn of the millennium (in other words, before the end of this year), and following several days of darkness. In those days, Catholics must stay at home, fasting and praying, blessing doors with holy water-preferably from a Marian shrine-and keeping doors shut to any visitor, because “the visitor will be the Devil.”

The paradox is that most Internet users in Latin America come from the more affluent, and thus most literate, social sectors. It would appear that increasing computer literacy can just as easily spread rumors as defuse them.

Marian Shrines and other spiritual centers have been the most evident barometers of this phenomenon. The Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, the Shrine of Saint Rose in Lima, Peru, and the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Urkupina in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba are some of the places that have recently seen a significant number of pilgrims preparing for the end of the world.

During a recent homily in Mexico, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera reminded Catholics that “the Lord has clearly said that we will not know the day or the hour [of his return], so we have to stay awake” in our faith always.

The Cardinal also reproved those who, “moved by a sick spirit or dark interests, are generating confusion by spreading rumors” that have never been substantiated by Church authorities.

He was referring in particular to widespread speculation around the “third secret of Fatima,” which has been known to the popes since John XXIII, but has never been disclosed. (The three secrets of Fatima were revealed by an apparition of the Blessed Mother to three children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917; the first involved a vision of hell and the second an exhortation to devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.)

Rivera also chided Catholics who are “more willing to believe in inconsistent rumors than in the word of God and the teachings of the Church. We all have to work hard to achieve a truly Christian life-not because the end of the world is near, but because it is our vocation and mission.”

In Urkupina, during the recent feast days, fear of the world's end moved a substantial number of pilgrims to look for religious objects that would allegedly protect them against the devil. Enterprising vendors took advantage of the collective hysteria around the shrine by selling overpriced products.

Thus, during Mass on August 15, Archbishop Tito Solari of Cochabamba strongly rebuked those who circulate bogus prophesies. “Many false prophets said that the recent eclipse would be the end of the world, and all we had was a beautiful phenomenon to enjoy,” he said. “Likewise, today we have other prophets of doom announcing the end of the world … Those prophets are either ill-intentioned or mentallyill. Don't pay attention to their words.”

In Caacupe, Monsignor Riquelme said that believing in rumors that are both irrational and inconsistent with Church teaching is not an example of faith, but of credulity. “We Catholics believe in Jesus Christ, and believe that a moral, true Christian life is the only security we have in front of the possibility of our death,” he added.

Complicating matters in many areas is the fact that gloomy predictions of an approaching doomsday are not limited to Catholic spheres. Indeed, many fundamentalist organizations have been disseminating an elaborate rumor that involves the Pope.

The rumor says that, in the year 2000, an alliance will form between the Vatican and Arab millionaires. At that time, according to the rumor, all the currency of the world will be standardized under one single monetary unit, which will be printed with the number 666 (a reference based on a spurious reading of Revelation 13:18).

Fundamentalist communities are especially vulnerable to such rumors because their organizations discourage contact with non-members for any reason other than proselytizing the “unsaved.”

The fundamentalist rumor has it that any goods purchased or sold after 2000 will have to be branded with the number 666, and all homes in the world will have to bear a picture of the Pope; failure to comply will allegedly land the guilty parties in jail.

Observers in Andean countries have been surprised at both the outlandish content of the “prophecy” and the receptivity it has found. “Fundamentalists seem eager to believe any anti-Catholic prophecy, no matter how bizarre,” says Father Julian Barba, from the diocese of Huaraz in the Peruvian Andes.

Moreover, unlike Catholic rumors, which tend to be harmless, “these evangelical prophecies help create a hostile atmosphere that generates religious tensions,” adds Father Barba.

Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, the outspoken Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, says millennialism is a psychological and sociological phenomenon that goes beyond races, religions and social classes. “If the Catholic Church makes a formal public statement on all these prophesies, it would only help to give them more relevance and momentum,” he said at a recent press conference. “As always, time will show people how absurd [such rumors] were.”

“Of course,” he concluded, “if some Catholics want to go into their room, pray and fast for a few days, that's fine with me.”

Alejandro Bermudez writes from Lima, Peru.