The auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Nuno Brás, has reported that Pope Francis confirmed a jorney to Portugal in May 2017, "but only to Fátima," to celebrate the centenary of the apparitions.
Nuno Brás said that confirmation was given on Sunday as he greeted the Pope at the end of the Eucharist that ended the Jubilee for catechists in the Vatican.
"I will, but only to Fatima" said Pope Francis after he was informed by Nuno Brás that the Portuguese people "were waiting for him."
Nuno Brás now considers that the papal visit to Fátima can be taken for granted, unless cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
According to the news agency Ecclesia, nothing else has been arranged in addition to the Fátima visit with details of arrival location, dates and time, being kept secret until as late as possible but sources say the visit will be in May 2107.
Ecclesia said that as far back as last September when the Pope met the Portuguese Bishops, he had expressed a "deep desire" to visit Fátima, saying, "tengo ganas de ir a Fátima" - in Spanish as, of course, he is from Argentina.
On 17 March, 2016 during his first official visit as president, Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, formally invited Pope Francis to visit.
His Holiness Pope Francis will be the fourth Pope to visit Portugal, after Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (1982, 1991 and 2000) and Benedict in 2010.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina is the first pope to be born outside Europe since Gregory III (731–741) and the first from the Americas, indeed he is the first from the Southern Hemisphere.
The apparitions to which the Pope referred occurred in the spring and summer of 1916 when nine-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto were herding sheep at Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima.
They claimed to have experienced the visitation of an angel on three occasions. The angel, who identified himself as "The Angel of Peace", taught them prayers, to make sacrifices, and to spend time in adoration of the Lord.
In the Spring of 1917 the children saw a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun".
The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray "the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war"
This was followed by further mysterious apparitions in front of larger and larger crowds and the die was cast for Fátima to change from a rural backwater to a major religious centre of worship.
In October 1930 Bishop da Silva declared that the apparitions at Fátima were "worthy of belief", and approved public devotion to the Blessed Virgin under the title Our Lady of Fátima was permitted.
Fátima now is one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most visited sites, drawing around four million people a year. This number will greatly be exceeded in 2017 with a variety of centenary celebrations planned.
