Joaquim Fernandes

Joaquim Fernandes is a Portuguese historian and professor at the Fernando Pessoa University in Porto who has conducted extensive academic research on the Fátima apparitions and their connection to UAP phenomena. He collaborated with research partner Fina d'Armada to analyze original witness testimonies, Vatican archives, and contemporary newspaper accounts of the 1917 Fátima events.

Together with Fina d'Armada, Fernandes published joint research in key books, including "Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fátima Cover-Up" (2007) and "Fatima Revisited: The Apparition Phenomenon in Ufology, Psychology, and Science" (2008). Their research concluded that original witness descriptions align more with UAP encounters than traditional religious interpretations. The children described a small luminous being, not the Virgin Mary, and the "Miracle of the Sun" matches descriptions of a structured, disc-shaped aerial object.

Fernandes' work represents one of the most rigorous academic attempts to analyze a historical religious event through the lens of UAP research.