14 april, 2010
“With God present, hope for mankind is possible”
In his monthly reflection on today’s Church and World, published on Voz da Fátima (Voice of Fatima) titled “With Benedict XVI, apostles of Fatima”, the Rector of this Shrine says, regarding the apostolic trip of Benedict XVI to Portugal in the month of May, that the Pope’s pilgrimage to Cova da Iria “is the greatest sign that Fatima has a message for the XXI century and that, with God present, hope for mankind is possible”.
May’s Pilgrimage brings life – according to Fr. Virgílio Antunes – to “the reality of a message of global reach” and to its timeliness and opportunity.
“Since the message of Fatima was heard, the Church and the World found strong motives to hope: peace was sought; the Christian faith was kept alive; the Name of God wasn’t definitely put aside; nuclear war didn’t reach the feared proportions; political blocks were undone; materialistic and atheistic regimes fell; the martyrdom of believers didn’t dim the faith”, he writes in the editorial of the official newspaper of the Shrine of Fatima, where he also underlines the great expansion of the message of Fatima throughout the world.
Fr. Antunes went on to say: “The message of Fatima starts to show its timeliness and opportunity as well as its universality even for the XXI century. The multitudes continue to arrive from all over the world; only in 2009 pilgrims from 144 countries passed through Fatima. There are places of worship, schools, streets, institutions that took this name because they considered it highly significant for today’s world. There are numerous groups of people who, in the five Continents, gather (in prayer groups) in tune with the words of Our Lady to the three Little Shepherds which they take as reasons to hope”.
That’s why – says the Rector – “the word of Our Lady to the Little Shepherds still has ample room to bear fruit: «My Immaculate Heart will be the way leading you to God». The message of Fatima will proclaim the centrality of God and the hope of salvation which will animate our time and our century. Thus it will be a pole of grace and mercy helping the Church to announce the Truth and to fulfill her mission. This is a message for all times, but particularly for the time in which we live”.
Press Office of the Shrine of Fatima
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