Pope, pilgrims mark Fatima anniversary
FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Francis and pilgrims from around the world are flocking to a Catholic shrine town in Portugal to honor two poor, illiterate shepherd children whose visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago marked one of the most important events of the 20th-century Catholic Church.
Francis arrives today to celebrate the centenary of the apparitions and canonize the children. He is hoping the message of peace that they reported 100 years ago, when Europe was in the throes of World War I, will resonate with the Catholic faithful today.
For days now, church groups, families and individuals have made their way to Fatima, about 90 miles north of Lisbon, some on their knees in prayer. Carrying candles, rosaries and roses, they have made their way to the statue dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima or tossed wax body parts — ears, hearts, limbs — into a huge fire to pray for healing.
“For me it is the second time I am here with a pope, first with John Paul II and now with Papa Francisco,” said pilgrim Elisabete Fradique Conceicao. “They are simple men and that simplicity makes sense when you think what happened here 100 years ago.”
On May 13, 1917, while they were grazing their sheep, the children saw the first of a half-dozen visions of the Virgin Mary. They said she revealed to them three “secrets” — apocalyptic messages foreshadowing World War II, hell, the rise and fall of communism and the death of a pope — and urged them to pray for peace.
At first doubted by the local Catholic Church and even their parents, the children’s story gained believers and was eventually accepted as an authentic apparition by the church in 1930. The children being canonized, brother and sister Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were 9 and 7 at the time of the apparitions, died of influenza two years later. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, at 10 the ringleader of the group and who became the main raconteur of their tale, is on track for beatification, the first step toward becoming a saint. Her case couldn’t begin until after her death in 2005.
Francis’ deputy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the importance of Fatima lies specifically in the fact that poor, illiterate children — not the wealthy, learned or intellectuals — were able to convey a powerful message of love and forgiveness at a time of war.
The Argentinian-born Francis is exceedingly devoted to the Madonna, thanks in large part to the strong role that Marian devotions play in the popular piety of Latin American Catholics.
Before every trip he takes, Francis brings a bouquet of flowers to an icon of Mary at the Rome basilica dedicated to her name, St. Mary Major.
In a video message on the eve of his departure, Francis urged all faithful to join him, physically or spiritually, in Fatima.
