Nicholas Gruner

Gruner died on the night of April 29, 2015, of a sudden heart attack while working in his Fatima Center office in Fort Erie, Ontario.

Throughout the 1980s, the Fatima Crusader made repeated allegations that the Vatican had been infiltrated and subverted, and that the Soviet Union was engaging in deliberate deception when it depicted Mikhail Gorbachev and perestroika as initiators of internal Communist reform after the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s.

"[3] The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights organization, listed Gruner's Fatima Crusader as a periodical which has published anti-Semitic articles.

[4][5] The Anti-Defamation League identified Gruner as a Holocaust denier who promoted conspiracy theories about the Jews plotting to overthrow Christian civilization, and the Fatima Center as a radical Catholic organization that espoused anti-Semitic views.

[15] On October 23, 2012 Gruner, along with attorney Christopher Ferrara, appeared at the headquarters of the European Union in Strasbourg, France to speak in support of a motion for a declaration by the EU Parliament calling upon Pope Benedict XVI to carry out the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Anthony Hernandez, sent a communiqué to all pastors warning about a suspended priest who encourages these devotions and was planning an appearance in Queens: "Given that Father Gruner remains suspended, and, given that the alleged Bayside apparitions have been rejected by the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities, the faithful are strongly discouraged from participating in any events connected to Father Gruner or St. Michael's World Apostolate.

"[14] Gruner's opinions regarding the Consecration of Russia, the Prophecy and the Third Secret were publicly contradicted by Fatima Seer Sister Lúcia who rebuked him for misrepresenting her during two genuine video-taped interviews held in 1992 and 1993.

These were televised with her written permission on all 3 Portuguese Television Stations (RTP 1, SIC and TVI) during major news broadcasts in 1998, This public disclosure she claimed she had permitted for the purpose of public Clarification given the widely disseminated misinformation of Gruner and various other Fatima Conspiracy Theorists The video taped interview of 1993 was subsequently distributed in a 3-DVD set produced by Videos RTP entitled Os Mistérios de Fátima.

[17] As related in a televised documentary production that aired in Portugal in 2017, several victims of slander and defamation sued Gruner and his cohorts in the Portuguese courts in 2001.

The defendants who refused to appear in court were subsequently tried in absentia and found guilty in 2005, of misrepresentation of the Fatima Seer's true opinions and therefore having attacked and defamed various persons who truthfully had disclosed her views.