WelCom May 2017:
In the year which marks the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions to three shepherd children, Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia, in Fatima, Portugal, Pope Francis will go on a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, on 12‒13 May, to observe the anniversary of the apparitions, which began 13 May 1917. Francisco (9), Jacinta (7) and their cousin Lucia dos Santos reported seeing the Virgin Mary dressed in white, holding a rosary. Lucia entered the Institute of the Sisters of St Dorothy and later the Carmelite convent of St Teresa in Coimbra, where she lived until her death in 2005 aged 97. Following her death, Pope Benedict XVI waived the five-year waiting period before her sainthood cause could open. Pope Francis has approved the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of two of the three children who saw Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, paving the way for their canonisation. On March 23 this year, the Holy Father signed the decree for the causes of Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta Marto.