Fatima visionaries canonized, giving Church 2 child saints
FATIMA – Pope Francis gave the Catholic Church two of its youngest saints yesterday, canonizing shepherd siblings believed to have seen the Madonna 100 years ago in this Portuguese town that is now a major pilgrimage site.
Hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom slept outdoors to hold their places, broke into applause as the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics proclaimed the siblings – Francisco and Jacinta Marto – the newest of the Church’s saints.
The two died at the ages of 10 and 9 years old, within three years of the 1917 apparitions, making them the youngest saints of the Church who were not martyrs.
The Virgin of Fatima is venerated by Catholics around the world, a following underscored by the many national flags fluttering in the huge crowd,
estimated at more than half a million.
Marie Chantal, 57, a lifelong devotee, traveled more than 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) from the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean to attend the ceremony.
“I am very emotional because this pope is truly merciful and close to the people and I think he will bring us many good things,” she said.
In the homily of a huge outdoor mass, Francis prayed that the Madonna would protect the most vulnerable members of society, “especially the sick and the disabled, prisoners and the unemployed, the poor and the abandoned.”
Two huge tapestries made from century-old photographs of the children dressed in the traditional peasant garb of the times hung from the church that is now the focal point of the sanctuary visited by about seven million people each year.
The story of Fatima’s shepherd children has captivated Catholics since their first reported vision on May 13, 1917.
The Church believes the Madonna gave three children – Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their older cousin Lucia Dos Santos – three messages, the so-called secrets of Fatima. Dos Santos became a nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97, and efforts are underway to make her a saint as well.
The first two secrets were revealed soon and concerned a vision of hell, seen by believers as a prediction of the outbreak of World War Two, a warning that Russia would “spread her errors” in the world and a need for general conversion to God and prayer.
The “third secret” intrigued the world for more than threequarters of a century, inspiring books and cults convinced that it predicted the end of the world.
In 2000, the Vatican said it was a prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul on May 13, the same day of the first reported apparition in 1917.
John Paul believed the Madonna had diverted one of the bullets that hit him from his vital organs. He donated it to the sanctuary, where it is now embedded in the crown of the statue of the Madonna.
Gracinda , 57, slept outside during the chill night in Fatima to hold her place near the front of the crowd.
“It was not a great sacrifice ... it is very important for me and for the Church,” said Vieira, who had traveled from her home 250 kms north of Fatima in central Portugal.
“This pope is different in everything, I like him a lot. He is closer to us, the people,” she said.
Pope prays for end to wars
On Friday, Pope Francis prayed for an end to wars he said were lacerating the world and urged the faithful to “tear down all walls” to spread justice and peace.
Ahead of the huge openair mass to declare the Fatima visionaries as children saints, Francis read a long prayer before a small statue of the Madonna, leaving a gold rose at her feet.
“I implore for the world concord among all peoples,” he said, decrying blood “shed in the wars tearing our world apart.”
Since his election in 2013, Francis has made hundreds of appeals for peace, including calling for international mediation to reduce tensions between the United States and North Korea.
A banner in the crowd read: “Please pray for peace in Korea.”
In his prayer, which the huge crowd listened to in near silence, Francis also hammered home another major theme of his papacy – justice for the poor, refugees and outcasts.
“We will follow all paths and everywhere make our pilgrim way; we will tear down all walls and cross every frontier as we go out to every periphery to make known God’s justice and peace,” he said.