(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’s plane touched down at Monte Real Air Base shortly before 4:30pm local time in Portugal. The sky was threatening for much of the afternoon – not in the way it is always threatening a little rain in the height of springtime a thousand feet up and twenty-odd miles off the Atlantic coast – but a serious thunderstorm.
The crowds at the airport were larger than I expected to see them, not only for the weather, but especially since they were there only to catch a glimpse of the Holy Father, who was not scheduled to deliver any prepared remarks and who in fact visited only privately with the President of the Portuguese Republic , Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and then it was to the chapel at the air base where he landed, to share a moment of prayer with the sick children of service personnel and their families.
Pope Francis, you see, is here on pilgrimage.
“A pilgrim of hope and peace,” is how he described himself ahead of his departure – and he has asked the faithful all around the world to accompany him with prayers for the success of his pilgrimage.
Scores of thousands of people have taken him very much at his word, deciding to join him in Fatima for the celebration of the 100 th anniversary of the first of a series of Marian apparitions to a trio of shepherd children: the now Blessed siblings and soon-to-be Saints Francisco e Jacinta Marto, and their cousin Lucia, who became a Discalced Carmelite and died in 2005.
That is the first sign of “success” – at least as such things are measured in worldly measures: people have noticed.
One of the fairly constant refrains of Pope Francis’ pontificate has been his encouragement of popular devotion among the faithful: those acts of piety that moviemakers love so much and seem usually to understand so little, which have of late fallen rather away from the fore of the public Catholic mind, but that nevertheless constitute an integral part of Catholic life and an indispensable piece of the Catholic character, wherever the faith has taken hold.
We are all very much looking forward to what Pope Francis will say in his public engagements this evening at the Rosary to begin the vigil, and Saturday at the Mass of canonisation.
From here on the ground in Fatima, it seems clear that the Holy Father is staking this part of the effort to renew the faith of Europe by counting on the power of the faith to attract, especially when practiced simply and devotedly by the faithful themselves.
In Fatima with Pope Francis, I’m Chris Altieri
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The local papers in Fatima this morning are filled with facts and figures: 12 and one half-thousand people officially signed onto one of the official international pilgrimages; 450 volunteers inside the sanctuary, anywhere from 1 thousand to 2 thousand others throughout the civil parish of Fatima; 600 thousand to 1 million pilgrims from all around the world expected to take part in the centenary celebrations.
Those are just a few.
The Portuguese government has given employees permission to miss work in order to attend the celebrations, while police, fire, medical, civil protection and a dozen other auxiliary public order services have called in reinforcements from every corner of the country and put them on forced overtime.
It’s one of those days I’m glad I never got into human resources and logistics planning.
I get paid to stand around and tell you what I see: and what I see is a small town that has grown up roughly on the top of what is not the tallest hill in a hilly region – a small town with a very large and roughly rectangular plaza set smack in the middle of it, dominated by two very different and differently opposing structures – and a small, canopied structure that, from before dawn to well after nightfall, seems to get the lion’s share of attention from a number of people far exceeding the most generous estimations of the local population (given at 11 thousand and change in the latest census for which we have data); people brave chilly wind and driving rain to take a walking turn around a tiny chapel – though I hasten to add that, until this morning – Friday morning, May 12 th , 2017, the eve of the 100 th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children, two of whom are to be declared saints in heaven on Saturday, the anniversary proper – no one has had to brave more than 10 minutes of rain at a stretch.
But what’s the story?
There are a dozen of them in there: logistics tangles; workers playing hooky; security challenges; infrastructure readiness; even the weather and how it might affect perception , coverage, and participation; national papers asking what the bill will be for the Portuguese taxpayer; human interest stories, from the scouts taking part to the pilgrim grandfathers and grandmothers, to the couple camped out for the past two days to guarantee themselves a good spot, to the weeping for joy, relief and resolution everywhere occurring, day and night, everywhere around us in the plaza of the shrine complex – the entirety of which is dedicated as an area of prayer, by the way, an oasis in the middle of what should be a town bursting with bustle, but refuses to be bothered, however busy – like a chastened Martha about her work.
I can tell you what I’ve seen.
The scenes from Thursday evening were very affecting to me, for I was seeing them for the first time, though even they must eventually become familiar – and 100 years is long enough to wear in any hat – but several hundred and perhaps several thousand pilgrims singing Marian hymns and waking in torchlight procession really cannot fail to move even the hardest of hard-boiled observers.
That, I believe, is the key to Pope Francis’ visit: his confidence in the message of Fatima – at bottom a call to conversion – to reach a world that sorely needs it, and for the Christian faithful to be the carriers of that message into the world, by means of simple acts of pious devotion that have immense power – not to persuade, but to attract.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday morning greeted participants taking part in a conference organised by the Vatican Observatory entitled “Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Space-Time Singularities. The conference is taking place from 9-12 May at the Observatory at Castelgandolfo in the Roman Hills.
Please find below the English translation of the Pope’s words to participants
Greeting of His Holiness Pope Francis to participants at the Conference organized by the Vatican Observatory
12 maggio 2017
Dear friends,
I extend a heartfelt welcome to you all, and I thank Brother Guy Consolmagno for his kind words.
The issues you have been addressing during these days at Castel Gandolfo are of particular interest to the Church, because they have to do with questions that concern us deeply, such as the beginning of the universe and its evolution, and the profound structure of space and time, to name but a few. It is clear that these questions have a particular relevance for science, philosophy, theology and for the spiritual life. They represent an arena in which these different disciplines meet and sometimes clash.
As both a Catholic priest and a cosmologist, Mgr Georges Lemaître knew well the creative tension between faith and science, and always defended the clear methodological distinction between the fields of science and theology. While integrating them in his own life, he viewed them as distinct areas of competence. That distinction, already present in Saint Thomas Aquinas, avoids a short-circuiting that is as harmful to science as it is to faith.
Before the immensity of space-time, we humans can experience awe and a sense of our own insignificance, as the Psalmist reminds us: “What is man that you should keep him in mind, the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:5). As Albert Einstein loved to say: “One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility”. The existence and intelligibility of the universe are not a result of chaos or mere chance, but of God’s Wisdom, present “at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old”. (Prov 8:22).
I am deeply appreciative of your work, and I encourage you to persevere in your search for truth. For we ought never to fear truth, nor become trapped in our own preconceived ideas, but welcome new scientific discoveries with an attitude of humility. As we journey towards the frontiers of human knowledge, it is indeed possible to have an authentic experience of the Lord, one which is capable of filling our hearts.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Tens of thousands of pilgrims are descending on the Marian Shrine of Fatima ahead of Pope Francis’ visit later on Friday. The Holy Father is due to fly to Portugal from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport this afternoon and is expected to arrive at the air base of Monte Reale at 16.20 local time.
Our Correspondent in Fatima, Chris Altieri has been out and about and sends this report on the powerful devotion at this beloved Marian Shrine.
Listen:
All throughout the day on Thursday, as afternoon turned to twilight and twilight gave way to evening, and even after night fell, a steady and slowly but visibly increasing stream of pilgrims built.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims are now descending on the great square that stretches between the “new sanctuary” – the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity – and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary – both imposing structures of some grace and genius, the former in a decidedly modern style and the latter a harmonious blend of elements established in many architectural traditions and periods, including a bell tower, vaulted ceilings, a colonnade, and more than a dozen pieces of impressive statuary – the centrepiece of which is the statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the niche of the tower: it is the work of the Dominican priest-sculptor Thomas McGlynn (a US citizen), crafted according to the indications of the seer and Discalced Carmelite Sister Lucia herself, and paid for by the Catholic faithful of the United States.
The story of the statue makes for great reading.
It is this reporter’s first time here, though, and the thing that has been the most powerfully affecting particular of the sanctuary complex is the chapel of the apparitions, built on the exact spot of the apparitions in Fatima in 1917.
Pilgrims of every age and state of life in the Church – some flush with the exuberance of youth, some filled with gratitude for the graces of a life abundantly blessed, and others, too – people who, to look them in the eyes, have doubtless “seen the elephant” – approach the tiny covered chapel all day long – many of them on their knees – circumambulating the site, pausing, praying, hearing Mass and offering their Rosaries, sometimes singly and in silence, and more often in groups.
The most startling thing about it is how there is … nothing strange or starling about it, really: Our Blessed Lady seems to the pilgrims I’ve observed to be a daily companion, familiar, even – their faith is as comfortable as a sturdy old pair of walking shoes, and definitely simple – simple as the Divine nature itself, which Mary carried in her womb, the bottomless secrets of which she, and she alone, has contemplated with such perfect intimacy.
Here, though, in this place, one hundred years ago, the sun danced in the sky at the command of the Queen of Heaven, who had come to visit simple shepherd children.
It is here that Pope Francis is coming as a pilgrim among pilgrims – and here, we have a powerful interpretative key to the programme of his Pontificate.
Time, and tie again, the Holy Father has encouraged popular devotion – those ancient and venerable practices of piety that Catholics can’t quite seem to quit, and everyone else doesn’t seem to “get” – and here, in Fatima, he is coming to recall the attention of the world to the power of a simple prayer.
“With Mary, I come as [a] pilgrim in hope and in peace,” Pope Francis has said in the motto of this voyage, which he himself has insisted is a pilgrimage.
He is, in other words, trusting the power of popular devotion to move the faithful, and – who knows? – perhaps even move the world once again from the brink of self-destruction.
He is also trusting the faithful to be powerful agents of change in the world, precisely by means of the prayerful witness of faith, which opens hearts to the work of charity.
In Fatima, awaiting Pope Francis, I’m, Chris Altieri
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is just hours away from his departure for Fatima, Portugal, where he will lead celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady there. Our special envoy Chris Altieri is in Fatima, and sent us this report.
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“If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes.” That’s sound advice any time one finds oneself about 20 miles from the Atlantic coast at nearly 1,000 ft. elevation.
We took rain off and on all morning, as we went from one side of the shrine complex to the other: first getting an unscheduled stop at the Carmel where Pope Francis is to stay the night Friday, then our hunt for our lodgings and then the press centre for accreditation and then the refectory for a quick bite to eat.
Cick below to hear our report
That’s par for the course on a journey like this – a pilgrimage, really – though I promise to be here from start to finish, God-willing, to bring you all the story – and it is as a pilgrim that Pope Francis is coming to this place in the hills north of Lisbon, where 100 years ago this weekend the Mother of God appeared to shepherd children , in the midst of what was the most costly and destructive conflict yet in human history, to show the whole human race once again the way to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ.
“With Mary, as a pilgrim of hope and peace I travel to Fatima,” said Pope Francis in a tweet on the eve of his departure. “Let us see in her that everything is God’s gift and He is our strength.”
Here, in Fatima, there is an uncanny mixture of constant bustle and tense calm, with groups of pilgrims of every age and state of life in the Church milling about, now completing this devotion, now moving to another – some braving wind and rain to cross the plaza on their knees – others seeking shelter, others heading home – at least for the day.
The shrine complex is getting busier by the hour, it seems, with volunteers and the inevitable security checkpoints adding to the bustle.
The Rosary of Our Lady, meanwhile, is in the air – quite literally – visibly in the great white sculpture that rises some 80 feet high over the square – and audibly, in the prayers of the pilgrims, whether piped through the public address, or whispered at arm’s length.
In Fatima, awaiting Pope Francis, I’m, Chris Altieri
(from Vatican Radio)…