Fatima faithful await Pope Francis in their thousands
FATIMA, Portugal: Tens of thousands of Catholic faithful await the high-security arrival of Pope Francis in Fatima yesterday as the Portuguese holy site marks 100 years since the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to child shepherds.
Singing Ave Maria, holding hands in prayer, falling into each other’s arms crying or strolling past shops selling t- shirts with photos of the Argentine pontiff, pilgrims from all over the world have been gathering on and near the sprawling, white Catholic shrine this week.
Among them were Regina and Leonardo Berba, a couple from Manila in the Philippines, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary with six of their seven children.
“It’s our thanksgiving. We feel that Mama Mary has always been there to guide us,” said Regina, 54, standing near a giant sculpture of a rosary.
Altogether, up to a million pilgrims are expected to descend on Fatima by foot, car or plane from countries as varied as China, South Korea, Mexico and Venezuela.
The Virgin is said to have appeared six times in Fatima, north of Lisbon, between May and October 1917 to three impoverished, barely-literate children — Jacinta, 7, Francisco, 9, and their cousin Lucia, 10.
She apparently shared three major prophesies with the trio at a time marked by the ravages of the First World War and Church persecution in a relatively new Portuguese republic. — AFP