[MEGoody]

But what sort of optical illusion makes it appear that the bright shining object in the sky would dance around and crash to the Earth?

Don't know, but obviously, the sun didn't dance or crash to the earth.

Even if a naturalistic phenomenon could be proffered as an explanation, it can’t detract from the miraculous nature of the event, just like the various naturalistic phenomena offered as explanations for Moses’ plagues of Egypt can’t detract from the miraculous nature of God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt.

Except the plagues of Egypt had a purpose. What purpose would this have served if it were a miracle?

[dangus]

The plagues served to change the heart of the pharoah, so that he would let Moses’ people go. Ultimately, of course, since God could have achieved this through other means, the purpose was to strengthen the faith of the Israelites.

The miracle at Fatima served to encourage hundreds of millions of Catholics to pray for the conversion of Russia, to resist the heresy of universalism, and to know God was at work even during the horrors of WWII and the Soviet dominance of Eastern Europe. In other words, to strengthen the faith of the faithful Christians in the Catholic Church.

[dangus]

(Incidentally, from 1918 until the end of the 20th century, Portugal emerged as the most Christian nation in Europe.)

[Quix]

There are quite a number of reports of even large UFO’s as well as dyads, triads, groups of UFO’s

—shining brightly quite similar to the sun
—dancing about precisely as described in the eyewitness reports
—appearing to crash, merge, sink behind, land on the earth—with and without ‘winking out’ phenomena associated at precisely that point in time and in their path etc.

—EVERY visible phenomena reported at Fatima by the most mature, ‘scientific,’ objective of the many observers regarding the sphere, light, craft . . . have been REPEATEDLY DUPLICATED numerous times in many UFO reports.

—ALSO, the personage, perhaps ‘designed’ to appear as a maiden plausibly convincing in the role as “Mary” has had counterparts in the UFO literature. There appears to be an ability to mimic, counterfeit, parallel, virtually any sort of political, spiritual personage such forces and powers care to bother with.