In Portugal, Pope Francis Proclaims Two Fátima Siblings Saints
The children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, along with an older cousin, Lúcia de Jesus dos Santos, told skeptical elders
that they had witnessed six apparitions of the Virgin between May 13, 1917, and Oct. 13, 1917, when Jacinta was 7, Francisco was 9 and Lúcia was 10, according to the Vatican.
By RAPHAEL MINDERMAY 13, 2017
FÁTIMA, Portugal — Pope Francis canonized two Portuguese shepherd children during a Mass on Saturday, a century after the children
and their cousin said they first saw the Virgin Mary here.
The sanctuary is home to two basilicas, but its most important feature is the much smaller Chapel of the Apparitions,
which stands where the Virgin is said to have appeared to the children in 1917, on the side of the esplanade.
The third secret was long kept a mystery, but the sanctuary’s importance grew after Pope John Paul II credited the Virgin of Fátima
with saving his life when Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman, tried to kill him on May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the visions.
Nancy said that There are priests who just look at you from a distance, but he’s simple, humble and wants to touch and greet people spontaneously,
Lara Saavedra, 28, a nun and theology student, said she had walked about 13 miles to Fátima early on Friday
and then spent the night on the esplanade, getting ready for Saturday’s morning Mass.
"It’s also different because the Virgin appeared at a moment of great difficulties,
when the world needed reconciliation," he added, in reference to World War I.