Pope arrives in Portugal to beatify Jacinta and Francisco

VATICAN CITY, MAY 12, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul arrived at Lisbon Airport at 6 this evening, where he was greeted by religious and civil authorities, including Archbishop Jose da Cruz Policarpo, patriarch of Lisbon, and Portugal's President Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio.

"God has allowed me to return to Portugal and I give Him thanks and bless Him for this," the Pope told those who gathered for the welcome ceremony. "In answer to the insistent call by the bishops of Portugal, I have come to Cova da Iria to celebrate, together with the Catholic community, the beatification of the shepherd children, Francesco and Jacinta Marto, in the same place which was a cradle for them and has now become an altar. I know that your Motherland sings the praises of her heroes and the glories of her saints; The Pope willingly joins in Portugal's joy.

"At the start of my visit, I wish to express my great esteem and affection for all Portuguese, to whom I wish a future of peace, well-being and prosperity, following in their most authentic traditions and the genuine values particular to your country, which are rooted in Christianity."

Following a private encounter with Portugal's president, the Holy Father flew to Fatima, 120 kilometers north of Portugal's capital, Lisbon. Immediately upon his arrival he went by car to the Chapel of Apparitions at the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, which is visited annually by an estimated four million pilgrims.

The chapel, located on the left side of the esplanade as a visitor looks towards the basilica, marks the site of five of the six apparitions of Mary to Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta. On August 19, 1917, she appeared to them in Dos Valinhos because the mayor of the district to which Fatima belonged, Villa Nova de Ourem, had barred their entrance to the Cova da Iria on August 13, threatening them and demanding that they say they had lied about the apparitions.

The precise site where Our Lady appeared to the three children - an oak tree, long since gone - is indicated by a marble column in the chapel on which is the statue of Mary, carved in Brazilian cedar, which was placed there in 1920. This statue has been moved from the site only seven times since then. It is scheduled, however, to be brought to Rome in October for the Jubilee Year.

The shrine, built on the site of the apparitions, the "Cova da Iria," consists of an esplanade, 540 meters long and 160 meters wide, the basilica, built in 1928, at the northern end of the open space and the Chapel of the Apparitions, built in 1919. Near this chapel is a slight hill, surrounded by a fence, from which the three children saw the apparitions. There are also several buildings which serve as retreat houses or guest centers for the ill who come on pilgrimage, the rector's office and administrative offices.

In the center of the square is a giant monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, built over a well, whose water has allegedly been the source of many graces. At the entrance to the shrine there is a piece of the Berlin Wall, 3.6 meters high and 1.2 meters long, weighing 2,600 kilos. This was offered to the shrine by a Portuguese immigrant in Germany to express his gratitude for the fall of communism. Not far from the shrine, in Aljustrel and Valinhos, are the homes of Jacinta and Francisco, and Lucia, which have remained almost unchanged over the years.

When Lucia was a religious of St. Dorothy, before becoming a Discalzed Carmelite, the Virgin appeared to her three more times in Spain: December 10, 1925 and February 15, 1926 at the convent of Pontevedra and on the night of June 13-14 at the convent of Tuy. Lucia was asked to start the devotion of the First Five Saturdays (to pray the rosary and meditate its mysteries, go to confession and receive communion, all in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary) and to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The latter request was also part of the July 13, 1917 apparition.

Vatican Information Service