Father Carlos Cabecinhas, Rector of the Shrine of Fatima, presented the program of the Centennial of the Apparitions on the occasion of the IV International Workshop on Religious Tourism that takes place this morning in the Pastoral Centre Paul VI.
Babies at 4 months of age can now participate in the Musical Creative Workshops (Oficinas Musicais Criativas – OMC), an initiative promoted and organized by the Shrine of Fatima. It is the IV edition of an artistic project, experienced from the faith, in which babies and toddlers can participate.
The 1500 children, coming from different diocese such as Lisbon, Leiria-Fatima and Portalegre-Castelo Branco, participated in a celebration called “Meeting with the Shepherds” which occurred in the Basilica of Most Holy Trinity, in Fatima.
This conference will be held on the 14th, at 16h00, in the Retreat House of Our Lady of Sorrows, and integrates the cycle of conferences proposed by the Shrine of Fatima for this thematic year “I have come that they may have life”.
About a thousand pilgrims of the Apostleship of Prayer of Toledo - more than 500 young people, fifty priests and over a hundred families, mostly young - are in the Shrine of Fatima since yesterday, in the context of its 25th Pilgrimage.
The message of Fatima is "after the Scriptures" the "strongest and more impressive complaint of sin in the world” which call the whole Church and the whole world for a serious examination of conscience," said this afternoon the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima at the Lectio Magistralis he gave for the academic session which took place in the Auditorium Cardeal Medeiros, in the context of the celebrations of the National Day of the Catholic University of Portugal, this year entitled "Cultivate the Ecology of Knowledge."
The Bishop of Leiria Fatima said this afternoon at the opening of the XXXVIII Annual Meeting of Hotel Managers, promoted by the Shrine, that "Fatima belongs to everyone" and the pilgrims who arrive have to be welcomed properly.
This Wednesday, the Rector of the Shrine of Fatima said, in a press conference, that the celebration of the Centennial of the Apparitions "has to go through new languages" to reach those who don’t feel "in tune" with Fatima.
As part of the centenary celebrations of the Apparitions, the Shrine of Fatima invites photography enthusiasts and amateurs to participate in the Photography Prize "Centenary of the Fatima Apparitions". The initiative, aimed at Portuguese and foreign photographers, takes into account the close relationship of photography with Fatima, yesterday as today, and the importance of this art to contemporary culture.
In the year the Sanctuary of Fatima reflects, in a special way, on the fourth Marian apparition in the Cova da Iria, which, according to the testimony of the seers, occurred in August 1917, the exhibition "In this valley of tears", adopting as maxim the words of the hymn ‘Hail Holy Queen’ [Salve Regina], presents to visitors a reflection on the political and ideological context that marked the country and the world, during the second decade of the 20th century.
The 5th cycle of the thematic itinerary, that guides the life of the Sanctuary over seven years until 2017, takes as its starting point the apparition of Our Lady in August 1917. The option to set about, in each cycle of this septenary, reflecting on an apparition allows us to identify the fundamental ideas of the Fatima message and deepen its most significant topics, by fasting together in an organic and coherent way.