17 april, 2010
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One week after receiving the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who presided over the International Pilgrimage of May 12/13 at the Shrine of Fatima, the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave the Little Chapel of Apparitions – a rare phenomenon - and travel to the City of Leiria. The Statue will leave, for the eleventh time since 1942, the Shrine of Fatima to be present at the “Faith Feast” promoted by the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima. Its arrival at Leiria’s Tourism Office is scheduled for Friday May 21, at 21h15. After being received, it will be taken in a candlelight procession to Leiria’s Cathedral. This trip of the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is included in the program of the “Faith Feast”, which the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima will hold on May 21 thru 23, an initiative – unheard of in Portugal - in which the Diocesan Church intends to make known its different structures, movements and people. Bishop António Marto, of Leiria-Fatima, in a press conference given on April 12 at Leiria’s Cathedral, to present this activity, which is also sponsored by several civil institutions, such as the Municipal Government of Leiria, the Junta of the Parish of Leiria, the District Archives and the Tourism Office of Leiria-Fatima, amongst others, explained: “One of the things to stress (in this trip of the Statue of Our Lady to Leiria) is to show the link between the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima and its Patron Saint, Our Lady of Fatima. It is She that makes well known this Diocese throughout the world. It is She that comes to visit the City Capital of the Diocese”. |
