Bishop of Leiria-Fatima declares Shrine of Fatima a Jubilee Shrine

Bishop of Leiria-Fatima declares Shrine of Fatima a Jubilee Shrine

Following the decree signed by Bishop José Ornelas, those who will go on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Fatima throughout 2025 may be granted a Jubilee indulgence, subject to the fulfilment of certain rules.

The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Mgr. José Ornelas, declared the Shrine of Fatima a Jubilee Shrine, allowing the indulgences of the Holy Year to be granted in Fatima as well.

In the decree signed on 2 February, the Diocesan Bishop stressed that pilgrimages are a decisive element in the experience of the Jubilee Year and recalled that the Holy Father has referred to shrines as “sacred places of welcome and privileged spaces for the rebirth of hope”.

In this sense, those who go on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Fatima throughout 2025 to celebrate the Jubilee may be granted a Jubilee indulgence, according to the norms established by the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

In a document prepared by the Department for the welcome of Pilgrims and Pastoral Care of the Shrine of Fatima, the areas in which the Jubilee indulgence can be granted are highlighted, which have a particular affinity with the Shrine of Fatima, considering both its nature and mission, as well as its status as a Jubilee Shrine.

In fact, the indulgence is granted by the Holy Father to anyone who undertakes a pious pilgrimage to any holy place of the jubilee, such as the Shrine of Fatima, and devoutly participates in Holy Mass there; in a ritual Mass to confer the sacraments of Christian initiation or the Anointing of the Sick; in the celebration of the Word of God; in the Liturgy of the Hours (Office of Readings, Lauds, Vespers); in the Way of the Cross; in the Marian Rosary; in the Acathist Hymn; in a penitential celebration, which ends with the individual confessions of the penitents, as established in the Rite of Penance.

The faithful can also obtain the Jubilee indulgence if, individually or in groups, they devoutly visit the Shrine and dedicate an appropriate period of time to Eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form and invocations to Mary, Mother of God, so that in this Holy Year everyone can “come to know the closeness of Mary, the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children,” as Pope Francis said in the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025.
As well as obtaining an indulgence, pilgrims will find various ways of experiencing the Jubilee Year at the Shrine of Fatima:

• A portico at the top of the Prayer Area, which, although not a Holy Door, evokes the Jubilee Year and the graces it confers, inviting to hope and reconciliation with God;
• At the end of each official Mass in the Shrine, the community recites the Jubilee Prayer of Consecration, through which, united to Our Lady, the pilgrim offers himself to God;
• Flanking the Prayer Area, a Catechesis Mural that seeks to offer a journey that is both thematic and prayerful, situated in the current Holy Year;
• A Pilgrim's Itinerary, which offers a spiritual and prayerful experience of the various spaces, both in the Shrine and in Aljustrel and Valinhos, linked to the Jubilee experience;
• The possibility of celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation: Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 1pm and between 2pm and 7.30pm, at weekends from 7.30am to 7.30pm (without interruption);
• A daily timetable of Eucharistic celebrations, as well as various other moments of celebration and prayer (including the recitation of the Rosary), open to all pilgrims.