Original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima To Go to Rome at Pope's Request

Original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima To Go to Rome at Pope's Request

The statue of the Virgin Mary will travel to Rome in October to mark the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. This will be the fourth time it has travelled to the Vatican.

On 11 and 12 October, the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave Cova da Iria and travel to Rome to take part in the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality.

The request came from Pope Francis a few months ago, through the Dicastery for Evangelization, and confirmation of the statue's departure was announced by the Vatican today, 27 February.

In the document released this morning, the Dicastery for Evangelization informs that at the Mass presided over by the Pope on 12 October at 10:30 am in St Peter's Square, “the famous image of the Virgin Mary, known by the faithful worldwide, will be present among the faithful,” enriching “even more this moment of prayer and reflection.”

On the 12th, the Statue of Our Lady will return to Fatima to take part in the celebrations of the October International Anniversary Pilgrimage.

Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, stressed that “the presence of the beloved statue of Our Lady of Fatima will enable all to experience the Virgin Mary’s closeness,” describing it “one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians worldwide.”

In the same press release, Archbishop Rino Fisichella recalls the words of the Holy Father in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Spes Non Confundit, who referred to the Virgin Mary as “the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children.”

Father Carlos Cabecinhas, Rector of the Shrine of Fatima, received with joy the request for the presence of the venerable statue of Our Lady of Fatima at the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality.

He recalled that the statue leaves the Cova da Iria Shrine very exceptionally and only at the request of the Popes. “The special devotion with which Pope Francis looks at this sculpture - as happened in Campo da Graça in Lisbon, during the closing Mass of World Youth Day - is a real stimulus for the devotees of Our Lady of Fatima to welcome the message of peace that the Virgin Mary brought to the world in Fatima,” said Father Carlos Cabecinhas.

The Rector of the Shrine of Fatima also stressed that “in this Jubilee season, the Virgin of Fatima is the woman of Easter joy, even in the painful times that the world is experiencing.”
“Once again, the ‘Lady dressed in white’ will be a pilgrim of hope and, in Rome, she will be with the ‘bishop dressed in white’, as the little shepherds of Fatima affectionately called the Holy Father,” he concluded.

In 2013, the Statue was in Rome at the request of Pope Francis.

The statue goes to Rome for the fourth time

This will be the fourth time that the Statue leaves the Shrine of Fatima for Rome. The first time was on 25 March 1984, when Pope John Paul II, in the middle of the Holy Year of Redemption, asked that the statue, venerated in the Chapel of the Apparitions, be taken to the Vatican to renew, with the bishops of the Church, the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. After this act of consecration, which took place in St Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II personally offered to the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Alberto Cosme do Amaral, the bullet that had wounded him in the attack of 13 May 1981.

The second visit to Rome took place from 6 to 9 October of the Holy Year 2000, as part of the Bishops' Jubilee. On 8 October, before the statue and in union with the entire episcopate, John Paul II consecrated the new millennium to Our Lady.

The third and last time that the statue of Our Lady was in Rome was on 12 and 13 October 2013, at the request of Pope Francis, who chose the statue venerated in the Chapel of Apparitions as an icon to represent Marian devotion in the world, as part of the Marian Day that took place in the Vatican on those days. On the 13th, in front of the image, the Pope entrusted humanity to Our Lady.

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima is the work of Portuguese artist José Ferreira Thedim, who created it in 1920. It usually stands in the Chapel of Apparitions in Cova da Iria, the place where the Virgin appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta in 1917.

The sculpture is 104 centimetres high and was carved from Brazilian cedar, based on Sister Lucia's testimony. It was solemnly crowned on 13 May 1946, and the bullet that wounded John Paul II in the 1981 assassination attempt was later embedded in the crown.

Admission to St Peter's Square for the Eucharistic celebration of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality will be free and no ticket is required. Registration to take part in the Jubilee event is now open on at ‘www.iubilaeum2025.va’ and will close on 10 August 2025, the Dicastery for Evangelisation said.