Pope Francis made a visit to the revered Catholic Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on Saturday, where he participated in a prayer for world peace alongside approximately 200,000 people. The shrine is believed to be the site where the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.
During his two-hour visit, the 86-year-old Pope refrained from reading a speech that was originally planned to be the centerpiece of the day. The decision to omit the speech did not signify any health issues, and the Pope later took the time to personally greet numerous individuals as he was pushed through the crowd in a wheelchair.
The Pope frequently stopped to kiss babies and provide comfort to the sick before boarding a helicopter to continue his five-day trip to Portugal.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni clarified that the Pope’s impromptu decision to skip the speech was unrelated to his eyesight. Throughout the trip, Pope Francis has regularly shortened speeches or improvised instead of using prepared remarks. On one occasion, he mentioned having difficulty with his glasses.
When asked about the skipped speech, Bruni responded, “The Pope always prioritizes addressing the people he encounters directly, as a shepherd does, and consequently, he speaks accordingly.”
Later on, the Vatican shared a portion of the unread speech on Francis’ account on X (formerly known as Twitter). The speech was initially billed as an appeal for an end to the war in Ukraine.
The excerpt read, “To you (the Virgin Mary), we consecrate the Church and the world, especially those countries at war. Obtain peace for us. You, Virgin of the way, open paths where it seems that none exist.”
Pope Francis arrived at Fatima after attending a Catholic youth festival in Lisbon. Fatima is a major pilgrimage destination, attracting millions of visitors annually.
During the Pope’s visit, a cloud of smoke resulting from a wildfire near Castelo Branco, approximately 100 km (60 miles) east of Fatima, caused a haze over one side of the shrine. However, the smoke eventually dissipated.
Fatima has fascinated Catholics since the first reported vision of the Virgin Mary by the children on May 13, 1917. Siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who experienced the visions, were declared saints in 2017. The third child, Lucia Dos Santos, became a nun and passed away in 2005 at the age of 97.
The children claimed that the Madonna revealed three secrets, known as the Secrets of Fatima. The first two secrets were disclosed shortly after the visions and included a glimpse of hell (interpreted as predicting the outbreak of World War Two) and a warning about Russia spreading its “errors” throughout the world. The third secret remained known only to Sister Lucia and the popes, generating intrigue for over 75 years and inspiring various theories about the end of the world.
In 2000, the Vatican disclosed that the third secret referred to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul on May 13, 1981, which coincided with the date of the initial apparition in 1917.
Reporting by Catarina Demony, Philip Pullella, Michael Gore, and Pedro Nunes; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne, Frances Kerry, and Jan Harvey.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
