More than a Thousand Media Professionals Accredited for the Pope's visit to Fatima

More than a Thousand Media Professionals Accredited for the Pope's visit to Fatima

They represent about 100 organisations from 26 countries

More than a thousand media professionals, representing at least 95 media or equivalent, from 26 countries, have been accredited to cover Pope Francis' visit to Fatima, on Saturday, 5 August.

Angola, Mozambique, India, Vietnam, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Venezuela, Australia, Poland, Brazil, United States, South Africa and Czech Republic are some of the countries of origin of the accreditation requests.

Among the accredited media are news agencies such as Lusa (Portugal), France Presse (France), Efe (Spain), European News Agency (Germany), Associated Press (United States) and Reuters (United Kingdom) or newspapers such as the New York Times (USA), Mail on Sunday (England), Correio Braziliense (Brazil) and Clarim (Macau).

The BBC (UK), Eurovision Italy, France Télevisions (France), Televida (Dominican Republic), RAI (Italy), Rede Vida de Televisão (Brazil), Televisão Pública de Angola - TPA (Angola), ZDF (Germany) are some of the television stations accredited, in addition to Portuguese generalist and cable channels.

Radio France Internationale (France), Vatican Radio (Vatican) and Polskie Radio (Poland), in addition to several Portuguese radio channels, have also been accredited by the Shrine of Fatima.

In the shortest trip by a Pope to Fatima, on Saturday morning Pope Francis will travel by helicopter from Lisbon to the Stadium of Fatima, from where he will take the Popemobile to the Chapel of the Apparitions, where he will pray in silence before the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

Two children will bring him flowers, which the Pope will place at the feet of the image. He will also offer a golden rosary.

He will then preside over the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, a prayer in which he will pray for the young people taking part in WYD, for sick and disabled young people and for young prisoners.

He will also pray for peace in the world, for the conversion of sinners and for the Chair of Peter, as is customary in Cova da Iria.

The recitation of the Rosary will be accompanied by 98 young people with disabilities and young prisoners who, because of their situation, are not able to attend World Youth Day in Lisbon.

They will be joined by 14 young people with disabilities who have come to Lisbon with the support of the “Vem para o Meio” programme, an initiative of the Shrine of Fatima, promoted by the Fatima House of the Silent Workers of the Cross (SOC).

At the end of the Rosary, the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Mgr. José Ornelas, President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, will greet Pope Francis, who will then address the faithful present in Fatima.

After the final blessing, the Pope will return to the stadium in Fatima by helicopter and fly back to Lisbon, where, after a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus at the College of St John of Brito, he will have his first official contact with WYD by participating in the vigil with young people in Campo da Graça (Graça Park).