The World Apostolate of Fatima – “Our Lady’s Blue Army” - is a Public International Association of the Faithful under The Pontifical Council for the Laity, established as such to speak officially to the world on behalf of Holy Mother Church about the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 to three little shepherd children; the message from heaven she delivered to the world during those apparitions; and the profound miracle which was performed in order to verify that she was indeed who she claimed to be, and that her message to the world was authentic. Contained in Our Blessed Mother’s Fatima Message are the keys to bringing about the conversion of sinners which is necessary to save souls from hell and bring peace to the world. The apostolate’s mission is to help people everywhere learn, live and spread the Message of Our Lady of Fatima in communion with the Church and in concert with the New Evangelization. When it finally succeeds these keys will be in the hands of all of God’s children. Souls will be saved and peace will come to the world. Reparation for sin, the cultivation of virtuous living and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary are the core of Our Lady’s message. These are contained in and supported by what have come to be known as Our Lady’s Fatima Requests. It is the teaching of these requests and the assisting of people in living them that the apostolate’s mission is directed.

What is a Public Association of the Faithful?

The following canons from the Church’s Code of Canon Law explain:

Can. 298 §1. In the Church there are associations distinct from institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life; in these associations the Christian faithful, whether clerics, lay persons, or clerics and lay persons together, strive in a common endeavor to foster a more perfect life, to promote public worship or Christian doctrine, or to exercise other works of the apostolate such as initiatives of evangelization, works of piety or charity, and those which animate the temporal order with a Christian spirit.
§2. The Christian faithful are to join especially those associations which competent ecclesiastical authority has erected, praised, or commended.
Can. 301 §1. It is for the competent ecclesiastical authority alone to erect associations of the Christian faithful which propose to hand on Christian doctrine in the name of the Church or to promote public worship, or which intend other purposes whose pursuit is of its nature reserved to the same ecclesiastical authority.
§3. Associations of the Christian faithful which are erected by competent ecclesiastical authority are called public associations.

Can. 312 §1. The authority competent to erect public associations is:

1/ the Holy See for universal and international associations;
2/ the conference of bishops in its own territory for national associations, that is, those which from their founding are directed toward activity throughout the whole nation;
3/ the diocesan bishop in his own territory, but not a diocesan administrator, for diocesan associations, except, however, for those associations whose right of erection has been reserved to others by apostolic privilege.