VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI will travel to Portugal next May to visit the world-famous shrine to the Virgin Mary at Fatima, the Vatican confirmed on Thursday (Sept. 24), amid semi-official reports of a papal trip to England later in the year.
The pope will preside over observances at Fatima on May 13, marking the 92nd anniversary of the date in 1917 when three shepherd children reportedly saw, and heard prophecies from, the Virgin Mary, the first of six reported apparitions there over the following six months.
The Shrine of Fatima, built on the site of the visions, is one of Catholicism’s most visited sanctuaries, drawing up to 5 million pilgrims every year.
Pope John Paul II credited the Madonna of Fatima with saving his life after he was shot in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981 — the 64th anniversary of the first reported apparition.
In 2000, John Paul beatified two of the visionaries, the sister and brother Jacinta and Francisco Marto, placing them one step from sainthood.
Their cousin Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, who died in 2005 at age 97, is currently being considered for the same distinction. In Feb. 2008, Benedict exempted her from the usual five-year waiting period between a death and the start of the process toward beatification.
Also on Thursday, Vatican Radio reported that Benedict is planning a visit to England for 2010. According to British press reports, the visit will take place in September of next year. It would be the first papal trip to England since that of John Paul II in May 1982.
According to unconfirmed reports, Benedict will address a joint session of the British Parliament in London’s Westminster Hall, and preside over the canonization as a saint of the 19th-century theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman.
Although the English trip has not been officially announced, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, issued a statement this week that “the prospect of a visit by Pope Benedict fills us with joy.”
